[solved] Blank screen on installation

[JeanBean]

I am installing Prestashop on my laptop in order to check it out. Here's my configuration:
Windows XP SP 3, Prestashop 1.3.1, Apache 2.2.16, MySQL 5.1.50, PHP 5.3.3

The Apache service is up and running, and I got the "OK" page. PHP is configured and tested out (I got the PHP version page). MySQL is up and running (tested via the MySQL command line client).

I follow the installation instructions from the Prestashop website, but when I attempt to install (http://localhost/MyStore/install/index.php), I just get a blank white page and a status message of "Waiting for http://localhost/MyStore/install/index.php...".

Thanks for any clues.

[JeanBean]

I solved the problem by running the MySQL configuration wizard and reconfiguring the instance. On the screen where you configure the character set, I switched it to "Best Support for Multilingualism". Now I get to the first installation page.