long and short of it is

1 - uploaded and extracted zip

2 - changed folder permissions to 777

3 - tried running /install and I get the above

Could you please explain in newb english. In other words, if you are going to say something like "make sure mod rewrite is on" please tell me how to do that.

The installation is on an arvixe shared hosting plan. The domain is an addon to the primary with its own URL. The install is in a sunbdirectory of the domain directory.

the domain directory does NOT have an HTACCESS file as I just deleted it.

FYI, I installed the old version of Oxwall in a different subdirectory of this domain and it worked. I tried to manually upgrade it by uploading the upgrade files and I got a different error message, so I deleted that database and the install.

I kinda need to get this up as my site manager, although very patient, is getting anxious for an update to the clunky dolphin install. So I either go with his expensive package or try out oxwall again.