[Plugin: W3 Total Cache] W 3 Total Cache causing 500 Internal Server Error

Just updated to the latest version of WordPress, and noticed the update made it run a lot slower on the front end. So I went into the W 3 Total Cache plugin to check the settings. The moment I ran the auto-install portion of w3tc (pink box on the top), I got a 500 Internal Server Error. Front end is 500 internal server error, and so is the backend WP dashboard.

Did some forum searching, and the creator of the plugin suggested the following in this thread (which is now closed):

There’s another update coming today that better handles update issues. It’s really best to do the following rather than changing the new user groups, which were painstakingly created for your benefit:

(1)Remove W3 Total Cache rules from your .htaccess file in document root
(2) Delete from wp-content/
db.php
object-cache.php
advanced-cache.php
w3-total-cache-config.php (if you want)
(3) Then rename or delete wp-content/plugins/w3-total-cache/ if you still have any issues accessing WP Admin and reinstall once you can login again (and rename it back if you have)

1. I made sure the public_html folder was chmod 777 and replaced the .htaccess file to the default:
contents: # BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

2. I deleted the db.php, object-cache.php, advanced-cache.php and w3-total-cache-config.php files from my FTP server.

3. I deleted the w3-total-cache folder from wp-content

So I did all of the above, but still I’m getting 500 internal server error. Can’t bring up my website or login to the backend dashboard. Not sure what the best route is to get my site back up and running.

Any clues where to go with this?

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/w3-total-cache/