OSCommerce 2.2 RC2 - site down after host/cpanel playing around with php

I unfortunately have a OSCommerce 2.2 RC2 site that is down. The goal is to get the site up and running and potentially the further work of bringing it in line with modern times/versions. Our site went down about 20 hours ago - We were seeing a "Content Encoding Error page" - At the time if I switched off GZIP I could se the site however there were issues reported; Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Headers and client library minor version mismatch. Headers:100010 Library:100112 in /home/ukgaming/public_html/includes/functions/[login to view URL] on line 19 Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Headers and client library minor version mismatch. Headers:100010 Library:100112 in /home/ukgaming/public_html/includes/classes/[login to view URL] on line 83 Line one points to $$link = mysql_connect($server, $username, $password); Line 2 Points to $this->link_id = mysql_connect($this->host, $this->user, $this->pass); All the Prices had also set to "0". After several hours our host finally confirmed that "cPanel are rebuilding the internal PHP binary for lsapi which is the cause the the header issue". Great - I can go way and come back to it. 20 Hours later I am still having the same problems dispute the host reporting the work has been done. PHP 5.3, 5.4 5.5 and 5.6 all throw up the Content Encoding Error page with GZip Enabled. Disabled I get the error above (slightly different header and library numbers) and zeroed pricing. PHP 5.6 as above and also has a problem displaying symbols (£ and ±) I get a "�" instead PHP 7.0 just doesn't want to know anything. PHP 5.6 (Native) to the server is the best situation right now. Access to the site is restored with or without GZIP - There is no Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect] errors nor a blank Content Encoding Error page. The problem is on 5.6 native I still have the symbol problem (£ and ±) I get a "�" instead and all my pricing is zeroed (including attributes) although the admin panel does show the price values and my finance calculator module reports the correct amount. Its worth noting we have always been on php 5.3 - Anything newer used to cause similar problems. I have raised it with the host who just keep giving me the "not our problem"