Thanks for your reply.
Your suggestion prompted me to think that I should be importing the tables into an empty database. So I dropped all the tables in the new database and then imported the old and it work OK!
BUT sadly it did not solve my core problem.
The reason why I had to do a complete new WP install was the following:
I was using V3.2.1 and everything has been OK for months. Then suddenly
I can not upload images due to HTTP error, and also can not edit or preview a new page change, due to the following error:
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
I have tried every suggestion on the forums with no joy, hence my last attempt was to delete all and restart!
BUT as this did not solve the problem, I am now wondering if it is existing because of something in my content folder or maybe in the structure of the old database??
??