Jeff, I just did the same thing and was having the same problem. It was making me scream so loud I scared the dog! ;-)
What finally worked for me was... (and it makes me feel dumb that I didn't do this the very first time, before I installed and re-installed 20 times!)... was after downloading Flash from Adobe you "must" first (and I think this is the key) "close-out your browser". Do this "before" unpacking the download and using the installer. I finally did that and everything worked beautifully. You know what they say "when all else fails... read the directions!!" ;-) I hope this helps you.
keith @