I redid the install, complete from download on and it worked. Only difference is I used a directory called 'Community' instead of 'Forum'.
Other details: Downloaded fresh zip, unzipped on windows box, deleted old directory 'Forum' on host, created new dir 'Community', used WinSCP to copy contents of upload dir on C drive to Community dir on host. Reran install. This time the database inserts took about 10 minutes, but everything completed in a timely manner. Good file check from admin page.
Next step is to set up a few forums and try to get a second domain to point to it from HostGator.