Thanks. I tired to go back one screen and again it failed with the XML response error. I have also dropped the DB and tried reinstalling three times now to no avail. I have in the past installed Mambo and Joomla and had no issues.
Did you get fancy with renaming configuration.php.dist? I just googled it and a ton of people said this triggered the error for them...that or permissions.
I've always packaged up a local install and stayed away from enabling the FTP, so I have to bow out of this one...sorry.
I still cannot get this installed. I am getting the same XML issue referenced earlier when attempting to get the sample data installled. I even hired someone with alot more experience than I at Joomla Lancers and they have not been able to get it installed yet either. I am hosting at Apollo Hosting.