Stephen Hulbert wrote:
thank you KAT - you are so nice to repsond -i think the problem is and may be for many others.. is the new version, J2.5 actually requires PHP 5.2.4 and my server is running PHP 5.2.17 - i believe this is the root of my problems
hi again,
nope, that's not your problem. 
17 is a higher number than 4, so 5.2.17 is the newer version
php changelogs:
Version 5.2.4, released 30-Aug-2007
Version 5.2.17, released 06-Jan-2011
i am running php 5.2.17 on all my joomla 2.5 test installs (and trust me i have a ton, lol) and so far i haven't run into any issues.
just let me know how the manual j2.5.1 installation goes and then we'll look further to find a solution for you asap.