Is its parent directory writable by the server?

Hi,

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

When i try to change the header img for a theme, i get:

Unable to create directory /home/sam/www/mysite.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03. Is its parent directory writable by the server?

I have changed it to:

/home/sam/Public
/home/sam/Public_html
wp-content/uploads

.. but none of these work. I have also tried:

require_once(ABSPATH . ‘wp-settings.php’);
define(‘UPLOADS’, ‘wp-content/uploads’);

I have also checked that the vlue is in my db:

select * from wp_options where option_name = ‘upload_path’;
+———–+———+————-+——————–+———-+
| option_id | blog_id | option_name | option_value | autoload |
+———–+———+————-+——————–+———-+
| 58 | 0 | upload_path | wp-content/uploads | yes |
+———–+———+————-+——————–+———-+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

But i STILL get:

Unable to create directory … Is its parent directory writable by the server?

Any help is very much appreciated.

Best regards, sam.wootton