I think I found the problem. jgoddard is correct, Word press produces so many database errors trying to verify if an and all tables already exist that PHP will produce a Fatal error:
This is not a PHP issue. It is a bad coded installer.
I am testing this in a clean updated PHP and MySQL environment. Its been almost a year… can the word press folks look into this? Ofcorse you can hack through this uping the memory allocation in the php.ini file till the install is done then move it back to a resonable level.
My two cents.. Hope this Helps..
Jason
Used Cisco Wic-1DSU