gryffin

ah achaa!
I was looking for a much more complex system than it was in truth. I’m in, but I’m not sure how stable the setup actually is or why it balked ( crapping out at step 3 ) in the first place.

if I knew the hashing algorithm used, I could use it to manually change the passwd directly thru mysql

scratch that, I rumbled through the install process, as recommended elsewhere, and got to step 4 where it barfed. I then went to steps 1-3, and it said setup was already installed. I went to upgrade.php as recommended elsewhere. Okay, now I have db installed ( 88 records in options table, rather than 85 as I was expecting ).
No it seems to be up, but I don’t have the admin password. How is the default password hashed?
The system really needs some polishing. I dunno why this setup works for others without error.

Thanks!
After mucking around a bit, I found out the basic problem. I had assumed the wp scripts would create the db. ( Tables, data yea; the db itself, apparently not. ) This wasn’t clear to be from the docs or FAQ or read me. Having created a fresh install, established a fresh config file, install.php progresses! Yay! And there was much rejoicing amongst the cursing.
But it comes to an odd stop when trying to create the tables. The install page comes up with an error on the top that says:
SQL/DB Error:
[Table ‘terranop.top_options’ doesn’t exist]
SELECT option_name, option_value FROM top_options
I found that I could copy and paste the create table statements in, but then I would have to copy and past /all/ of the create and insert statements in and I wouldn’t be sure the install was complete.
So I was wondering if you guys had any further insight. Thanks!
( Oh, thanks for your quick responses! )

Yes. Saving the file as wp-config.php in the wordpress root dir.