going to answer my own question: it looks like I had to open a command prompt while it was booting (shift F10) and then enter the directory /system32/oobe and run msoobe, and configure an admin user (with or without the password does not seem to matter). and just finish stepping through the basic setup required. I was able to get to a desktop and finish setting up the machine. but......... this still begs the question of WHY it happened in the first place. I just don't get it. if anybody sees this and feels like discussing it. I'd like to hear a good professional explanation of why this may happen.
As I mentioned above, I had already setup this machine once before. SUCCESSFULLY with a straightforward installation of win7. no...