I have tried for over three hours to renew my game pass core subscription to no avail...

Hello and welcome to our community!

We’re excited to have you here and have great conversations! I'd be happy to be of assistance.

I am sorry to hear about this issue. I'd like to confirm if there are any error messages or codes when renewing your subscription. Additionally, are you using the same payment method or you're using a new one? Is there any pending balance that needs to be settled for this subscription?

Looking forward to your response.

You can cancel, then get Game Pass Core, or turn off auto-renew, then wait until the subscription expires, then get core.

Does Xbox Game Pass Core appears active in your subscriptions page instead of Xbox Live Gold?

https://account.microsoft.com/services

Microsoft announced a couple of months ago that Xbox Live Gold is going to be converted into Game Pass Core.
If you renewed the subscription, you should be able to see Game Pass Core instead.

You would have to cancel the Core subscription (and refund if available) and then purchase PC Game Pass.

I have upgraded to a new p.c. and now when logging on to both my Microsoft store and my Xbox app my only options are to purchase the game or purchase a game pass... this confused me because when I go to my subscriptions it is telling me I have core game pass and not game pass... I had gold before and the game was always available to me to play. Why now that I have core it is not available without game pass. I'm so confused. I only purchased a gold subscription because it was the only way the Ark survival would let me play. Sad face