update report malfunction after restore from backup

I restored from a backup yesterday and the front end of the site is functioning normally. The back-end is also normal, with the exception of when I try to look at my module update report(admin/reports/updates) it navigates me to a blank screen. admin/reports/status informs me that my "module and theme update status is out of date", and provides a link to admin/reports/updates that gives the same result.

Details about my site:
Drupal 7.1, originally built on drupalgardens.com. back up was from 2012/01/14 and everything was up to date and functioning properly at that point. www.jvfb.ca

Backup process:
copied root folder to my hard drive with filezilla and downloaded DB with myphpadmin.(p.s. I've become aware that there are better options for backup available and I will be using them in the future)

Restore process:
deleted root folder from server root folder with filezilla, cleared DB with myphpadmin. uploaded all files from backup into root folder with filezilla, imported sql file with myphpadmin

What I've tried:
1.ran update.php successfully to no effect
2. tried to access admin/reports/updates through different links
3. tried to update HTMLPurifier with filezilla as admin/reports/status informed me that it was out of date. upload worked fine, status alert did not change
4.searched drupal forums to no avail

my questions:
1. Is there a fix that I can perform to the current site?
2. Did I perform the restore inappropriately? and if so how would I go about doing it differently so that it works?