Monterey fails to upgrade from 12.2.1 to 12.3.1

brand new macbook pro, 16gb and 1tb ssd shipped with monterey 12.2.1

migrated files from earlier macbook using time machine

all apps configured and working fine (Adobe CS and MS Office)

now wants to upgrade to 12.3.1 - downloads the upgrade, starts to install and then aborts failed to install

restarted system and came up with some recovery options, logged in to known user and system loads but is still 12.2.1

no indication as to why the upgrade failed to install - the "see more details" screen disappears