problem solved tks

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlsetupandupgrade/thread/6903931a-df5a-4f37-9e23-8dd997c16f0b

i googled the problem and found the link

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlsetupandupgrade/thread/6903931a-df5a-4f37-9e23-8dd997c16f0b

which i see is the same as ssc rookie sloution

tks

the first time in installed sql2005 a month or so back it installed ok although i first had to install sp3.at the time i had office 2003 installed on this...

thanks i tried all that but nothing works