allow_url_fopen = Off - FAIL (must be = On)

 No update to cheetah required. Should be able to just switch to whatever php version you want in the control panel line plesk or cpanal.

I didn't think Cheethah would even work on PHP 5.6. I think Geek_Girl is suggesting that your server may be reporting the wrong version. If you are running 5.6, try switching to 7+ to see how you go. If the script doesn't work, switch back until it's sorted.

There should be no need to reinstall anything at this stage because Cheetah is designed for PHP 7+

Deano will let you know if Cheetah has to be updated because of a conflict in a future PHP version.

Do I have to reinstall to update the PHP?

Thanks, I'll look into the php version. @Johnk yes those vids were very helpful. I'm very close to having a working system. Thanks everyone for the help.

I find something a bit funny there as well. Cheetah isn't designed on PHP 5.6 . A lot of code in that version has been depreciated. 

Here's a list of system requirements:

https://www.boonex.com/trac/dolphin/wiki/DolTech

@Steve there's a mountain of stuff on the Boonex furum re Paypal. As I said in a PM, use Google to do the search. How about the video I mentioned. Did thar help?

I assume here that you have the Pay to Join option on.

The problem probably lies with your settings in PayPal.  The last time I looked at the Pay to Join feature for a site, it had issues and they finally took it down and went back to the free to join with promotional/standard memberships.

What you see in Cheetah's backend is the settings that Cheetah sees.  It is possible you have more than one version of PHP installed and you see it differently when you go to the server.  By the way, Cheetah can use PHP 7.4 so I recommend you use that version as it is faster than 5.6.  Be sure the op code cache is turned on in PHP as well for improved performance.