Ok, it would appear that the randomly generated password by phpMyAdmin is to long for the config creation tool in WP to handle because when I change the password from ‘AYZXLe3ZvfKAdeum’ to ‘test’ the config file is then generated. If I then change the password in the config file back to ‘AYZXLe3ZvfKAdeum’ (and back to on the DB server) the install portion is ok with it. I might suggest someone (not me – no time) inspect the config file creation code for a password limit bug.
CK