Mr Papa said:

any clue on the first two? error log?

readdir() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in root\wp-content\plugins\simple-press\sp-startup\install\sp-upgrade-support.php on line 96, referer: root/wp-admin/admin.php?page=simple-press/sp-startup/sp-load-install.php

what did you do differently on third install?  did you create the dir?  was that a critical error?

Mr Papa said:

what did you do differently on third install?  did you create the dir?  was that a critical error?

I did nothing different, it just installed on third try. that is a warning, not an error. I don't get what was the problem.. Hope it was only me.

so far... but pretty small sample size...  thats the worrying part...