Thanks for the replies. Just like you said Tim, The installation program was prompting me to install from the same location. The problem was I couldn't get the Office 97 install disc (CD) to run from either of my cdrom drives. I kept getting a mega-list of errors. Thanks to Rick I went to the Microsoft web site to d/l the eraser program. While I was there reading all the do's and don'ts regarding the eraser program (which by the way wants you to use the Office install disc to remove the application first, then it will try to remove whatever is left over) I came across what turned out to be the real problem. When I first installed Office I also installed the SR1 and SR2 patch. Then I uninstalled a couple of Offices' components and never reinstalled the patches. What I ended up with was what Microsoft calls a mixed install. Until I reinstalled the patches I could not remove/install Office or any of its components. Now that the patches are reinstalled I was able to reinstall Access which was the prime objective to begin with. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
ps: pretty long winded post, eh?
jOhN