Server issues, editing php5.ini

Hello most kind WordPress experts! I know this isn’t a WordPress-specific issue, but I have searched the interwebs high & low for days and despite the seemingly endless amount of help and how-to articles I’ve read on the subject, I just cannot figure this out, which leads me to believe there’s something really dumb and simple I’m missing, as per usual.

I need to edit my php5.ini file in order to change the maximum number of seconds a script is allowed to run before timing out, as I get a timeout error more often than not when trying to load my site.

I use a shared Linux server from GoDaddy, and I (finally) figured out how to connect to the server via ssh. I found the php5.ini file, downloaded, edited, tried to re-upload. Permission denied. Tried the su – command to login as root user, command not recognized. I’m using Filezilla to connect to the server. I attempted to use Terminal (I’m using Mac OS) several times, but can’t connect using that. It says “operation timed out” every time.

I contacted GoDaddy support, and their response basically said “can’t help you, Google it”. Thanks GoDaddy, I hadn’t yet thought of that. [note sarcasm] They did say that I needed to upload a new php5.ini to the root directory, but I can’t even access the root directory because of the permissions. Which goes back to the whole “logging in as root user” thing I suppose. Which, as mentioned, I cannot seem to do.

Sorry this post is so long, this has been a days-long process of trying to figure out how to do something that (I think) is supposed to be relatively simple, and I’m at my wits’ end. I have Googled my brains out, tried everything, and this just isn’t working for me. I’m desperately hoping someone here can point out whatever it is I’m missing to me.