6175 to .7.2 blank admin page

That version of mySql should be OK.
Have just noticed the link to your screenshot, and unless you intend a very sparse site, that's typical of calling up a menu which doesn't exist in 0.7. Things like article/review are favourite. Just delete menus one by one, starting with the most likely.
If you just want the forums, may be possible to just upgrade them. Have a look in e107_admin/update_routines.php for an idea of what's involved.

Like I said, my admin page is blank steve, Blank, no content, zip zero. View source shows that there is no content. When I go to the front page I see that screen shot, but I cannot adjust anything because I have no admin. Is there a way to do it manually?

So far I am not impressed. I cannot update my site and nobody seems to know why, of course Steved seems to be the only one who ever answers and I have this issue which also goes unresolved. I guess you get what you pay for, but it is still frustrating. The whole point of a CMS is that your not supposed to have to be a hacker to make it work. I wish just once that were the case.

klaypigeon, I can understand your frustration; unfortunately your problem seems to have ended up in the "difficult" category, which means fewer people might know the answer. (And don't think I have a clue, either - I'm no expert on this stuff. I just poke around and read things until it works).
In your position I would try a few "off-line" things:
1. Set up one of the php environments such as easyphp or xampp on a local PC - makes it easier to see what is going on. Given that your real server is mysql5, I suggest xampp - apparently you can switch versions "on the fly" with that.
2. Do a clean install of 0.7 to be sure that works.
3. Set up the 0.6175 database and files, and then go through the upgrade process locally.
4. If you want to minimise downtime, set up a test site on the real server, upload to that and check it works.

Dependent on your site content there can be quite a lot of work to move from 0.6175 to 0.7, so step 3 can be a good move anyway.

Having said that, your problem sounds like a file access rights issue. Trouble is, from the posts here its clear that there are a seemingly infinite number of ways to set up a web server, some of which cause far more problems than others. No consolation, I'm sure, but I don't think your experience is typical otherwise these forums would be flooded with problems. Certainly I've used CVS versions in a desultory way for a long time before the first release, and have done one upgrade and a number of clean installs without major problems.

I am having the same problem, the blank page blues. I think I will load a fresh install of 7.2 then load a copy of my current db into it to see what happens.

I've seen problems on a site not using English where the blank admin page was caused by a faulty language file - switching the site to English fixed it. (And I guess the same problem would occur if there was a problem with one of the English language files).
If possible switch at least admin to the e107v4 theme before converting - that tends to at least display something!