[TYPO3-english] cloning site - HTTP 500 error

[Brandon Walsh]

Hi all, I am new to the Typo3 system and a bit rusty with server administration. I am trying to clone a Typo3 site to make a development/testing version. This had been done previously by someone else, but that person is no longer available and the development site has grown out of sync with the production site. Now I have taken over the project and need to resync the two. So, to do this I have copied the database and all files to the development server.

Now I get an HTTP 500 error! I think this may be related to Apache or PHP rather than to Typo3 directly, but perhaps someone here could point me in the right direction of where to find a solution to this issue? I have googled and found lots of suggestions but nothing has worked for me so far. Where would you start to solve this problem?

Thanks!