Internal server error 500

Hi,

I’m really new to WordPress and also to programming (just started studying computer science in Switzerland) so don’t be astonished by my comment below ;):

I wanted to upload a simple demo content from a theme which I recently bought. I spent days on working it out but always got stuck. A 500 Internal Server error occured. I spent hours on fixing it via dreamhost support but just got stuck again and again. The things I tried:

1) My Host said I should try it with the following: create a folder .php/5.3 with a custom phprc file with:

upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M
max_execution_time = 500
max_input_time = 500

I wasn’t really sure about the directory. Which is the correct directory for this folder .php) Is it only /admin or /admin/wp-admin, /admin/wp-content or /admin/wp-includes

I also tried to add the text above into a php.ini file.. Did I do that right or wrong?

2) rename .htaccess file to .htaccess_old (permalinks > save in order to generate a new .htaccess file)

3) customize the wp-config.php file with the text right under:

<?php
/** WP_MEMORY_LIMIT 64M */
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '64M');

But the upload limit is still on 7mb by the WordPress Importer..

4) and finally splitting it to 10 different .xml file or putting the original .xml file into a .gz file in order to get it uploaded but it still didn’t work..

What should I do?
Hopefully someone can help me!

Cheers from the swiss alps!