We had this problem as well. It turned out that the php.ini file had not been configured correctly to work with mysql. Although php4-mysql had been installed, it was not properly configured. We configured these lines as:

extension_dir = "/usr/lib/php4/20020429"
extension=mysql.so

This fixed the problem we had trying to get the blank page fixed when trying to create the database. We also had an issue when we tried to look at the home page. This problem was fixed by ensuring the permissions were 777 rather than 666 - ie that the application had permission to enter the directories.

With these fixed its all up and running - which is lucky because I have a presentation tommorow to show how it is used!

I'm having exactly the same problem. You can get all the way through the install - have MySQL set up correctly, all the file permissions correct, and when you hit the submit on the page before the database is created all you get is a blank page. The mainfile.php is written - by a previous page I believe - but the blank page comes back immediatly as if something fails very early on.

To start over you have to delete the mainfile.php, but you always get the same result. The same installation works find on my Mandrake box.