[Michael Adams (mdawaffe)]

“The database used was one from a bbpress install of over one year ago.”

Are you trying to run the install script or the upgrade script? If you already have a database, you should be running the upgrade script:

bb-admin/upgrade.php

Is it a complete database, or did you only keep certain tables?

In your PHPMyAdmin, what bb_ tables do you see before and after running the install/upgrade script?