How do I resolve "Installation failed to Initialize" message?

Question

I've used Adobe products for over 20 years. Now I'm truly stuck, and live chat hasn't been helpful at all (no responses to my questions, just instructions ignoring what I'm saying, which is basically that I tried all the suggestions/instructions already, and they didn't work). My OS is Windows 7, Home Professional. I purchased CS5.5 Design Premium on a CD and attempted to install it. The CD seemed to work; the installation started. Then nothing happened for over an hour, so I cancelled the installation and rebooted my machine. Now when I try to install, I receive a message saying that the "Installation failed to initialize" and that I must clink on the link for Support Advisor. When I do this, the Manager finds no errors. I can't find installation logs. Live chat suggested that I change the ODBE (or something like that) file to "old" and then try again. This didn't work. I downloaded the Application Manager. This didn't help, either. Copying the contents of the CD to the desktop didn't get better results. Live chat suggested that I download the trial version and then attempt to use my legitimate serial number. I said this probably wouldn't work either, because the issues from the first CD attempt hadn't been resolved. Nine hours later the trial version finished downloading, and after all that, I got the same failure to initialize message. I replied to my "case file", and, so help me, the same customer rep responded, telling me to download the trial version. In other words, he completely ignored the fact that I'd tried and it didn't work. I've looked on the forum, and there was a discussion about this "failure to initialize", but the discussion was completely in German, which doesn't help me at all. I'm hoping that someone on this forum can help me through this process; this software is mega expensive and should come with better support.

Answer 1

Jeff,
My state of mind was such that I didn't dare post any updates until I'd made sure that each component of CS5.5 actually worked. Eureka! Using the new administration account, I was able to get the CD to install the software in less than an hour...which does tell me that there was a problem all along with the first attempt which hung for over an hour. I still don't know what is wrong with the rights on the current account, because I haven't had a problem installing other software, so I don't know how helpful this will be to someone in the future who encounters the same "failed to initialize" message and goes searching through this form for answers.
Other notes...I did disable all other running programs; didn't do the modified mode this time, though that had been a previous attempt which didn't work (perhaps because I didn't remove some of the files, such as the cache, or rename the ODBE file -- you know more about this than I do). This was part of the frustration with the live chat experience; there was never an identification of the errors (I didn't know about the logs in the temp file, and apparently neither did the live chatter), so we just kept trying and trying without making other changes that I thought should have been addressed before we continued the attempts to install. I did state this many times, but my comments were ignored.
As per my concern, built upon a comment by a live chatter -- that I couldn't switch between the two administration accounts--, it wasn't a problem, at least in my version of Windows. I went to the shut-down button, selected the arrow to the right, and the first option that appeared in the fly-out panel was "switch users". Completely not a problem.
For anyone else who encounters the same frustrations that I did, I'd strongly recommend communicating with Jeff...don't know how to thank him enough for helping restore whatever is left of my sanity. Thank you so much, Jeff. Sounds so trite to say that I appreciate your help; I'm an editor, but  I'm at a loss for words that will convey the depth of my gratitude. Now I can address all those projects that have been backlogged while I've fought with the installation.