4.73 to 4.77 Upgrade Failed

I am doing a test migration to a new host. Initially, i was getting 'unable to modify header' so i patched up to 4.77 as per another forum. first time, upgrade went smoothly, but i noticed an empty table, so i wiped the database and had the host import it via SSH

i wiped all the files and re-copied everything and re-patched. this time, i get:

Uncaught Exception
SWIFT_AppLog: Object could not be created in ./__swift/models/App/class.SWIFT_AppLog.php:102...

4.73 to 4.77 Upgrade Failed