i uninstalled bg2, both the tob and the soa, and when i try to re install soa it acts as though i have it installed already. there are no bg2 files anywhere on my computer, and when i try to run the installer it asks me if i want to remove the entire program. ive done that numerous times now, a split second uninstall and it still wont let me re-install. god i hope someone knows what to do here, im getting the shakes.

BG2 acts like this every once in a while. The problem is that the registry of your computer still thinks Baldur's Gate 2 is installed on your computer. You need to clear your registry of all entries concerning Baldur's Gate 2 manually, then you'll be able to install the game just fine.

cant seem to figure out just how to do that

--Move all your saved games, mod packs, custom portraits and sounds, etc from the BG2 directory.
--From the Start menu, open the Run command.
--Type in "regedit" and run it.
--before you do anything, back up your registry! Under the File menu, go to "export registry" and save the current registry settings. That way, if you delete something important to your system, you can restore your registry to as it was before you started deleting.
--In the Registry Editor, search for "bg2" and delete the files that look like they go with the BG2 game. (Be careful, as you may have other files with "bg2" in them that aren't part of the game.)

Another note.

You might want to allow the system to restart after an uninstall..

Just a common sense note..

Try using a registry claener....Spybot search & destroy does a good job of removing missing registry entries.

It also creates a backup before so problems can be fixed onetime