“already installed” problem

What you need to do is restore the database completely, then just put the files back on the site. You do not run install again – just put it all into place.
Or have I misunderstood ?

Thanks for picking up on this. After I remove the tables from the db and reinstall 1.5, I get a clean blog with no content — but it works fine and there are all the normal 9 tables in the db, waiting for data. I use the SQL interface to populate the db with the old files and that works, producing 10 tables. Going back to the blog, I find a nessage telling me I haven’t yet installed WP. When I install per the script wizard, it tells me I’ve already installed it and need to empty the db tables if I want to install it again. I don’t, but I can’t find the installed iteration — only the script wizard, at the normal url (which is, fyi, till.co.nz/tillnet )

After I remove the tables from the db and reinstall 1.5,
That’s the whole idea as Podz said: do NOT reinstall! Just put the files and the restored db there – it should work.

I’m not making myself clear. The blog shows ONLY the install wizard once the db is repopulated. The sequence I’m following is:

1. The 1.5 gets installed and has empty tables in the db, but otherwise works fine.
2. I repopulate the db.
3. The blog says I haven’t installed WP and presents the install wizard.
4. The install wizard instructs me to empty the db.
5. It’s a closed loop.

1. Import the 1.5 db into the DB
2. Upload the WP 1.5 files
3. DO NOT RUN INSTALL – just see your blog.

No glory. At the front door, I still get this:
“It doesn’t look like you’ve installed WP yet. Try running install.php.”

Look, if you have the backup DB from your previous 1.5 install and your backup files from your WP1.5 previous install – that should work.
My (and I guess Podz’s) understanding was it is a simple restore.

Mine, too, it’s just not working.

Could the fact that there are 10 tables in the db backup and 9 in the db established by 1.5 indicate that I’ve somehow screwed up and backed up the db AFTER my failed version 2 install? If so, would repopulating the db after a clean install of 2 work?

One possibility is that backed up after the upgrade. The other is that there used to be a plugin in your WP 1.5 that created its own db table.

You could try the script here. It worked for me to revert a 2.0 install to 1.5.2. It was a very minimal set of pages, but seems to work for others except one – see comments.

I think you have your backup of the database – be sure before you try anything like this.

https://somethingunpredictable.com/archives/29/12/2005/wordpress-database-downgrader/

That’s quite a script! I didn’t need it, though, in the end, although I did run it and it may have worked some kind of “magic.” Immediately after running it, another wizard popped up when I went to the homepage of the blog saying it would upgrade my version to the “latest” and I ran that, as well. After which, I repopulated the db and viola.

What that means, incidentally, is that WP wouldn’t let me downgrade and run, for some reason, perhaps because the version 2 I was using was a clean install?

I have NO idea why it worked, but I’m a happy camper. Persistence pays, or something.