deleting the configure files and running the installer again worked. I was able to install a clean install without all the crap from the old store. Now I just need to find out what data I need to import to the new store and from where.

I have this new database and all I want to import is customers/products/coupons/orders and related data. would it be best to insert into the appropriate tables all the data from my old 1.3.8 database or insert the data from the 1.3.9 database that I upgraded from the 1.3.8 database from my previous attempt?