I have a site that currently running 5.6.3.5 and have tried countless different methods to upgrade to a newer version of Concrete5 – but none of them seem to work. I have installed version 5.6.4 and version 5.7 in my root|updates folder – but neither shows up on my available updates. I've installed migration packages, they also have failed. I have tried directly installing v8.5.1by deleting the concrete directory and replacing it – that also didn't work. GoDaddy advised me to upgrade to php7 first, which I tried, but then my admin panel was not accessible.

I'm at a loss, there seem to be multiple threads with directions, so I know I'm not the first person to have this problem, I just can't find an answer. Please, any advice would be appreciated.