1) When moving the users table from the upgraded 1.7 version to a clean one, you must move the users and associated acl tables. This only works if the userid is unchanged. I am not familiar with spupgrade and can provide no further advice.
2) In general, you cannot move 1.5 tables into a 1.7 environment.
3) However, if the userids are unchanged, you can move the cb environment
4) Phpmyadmin is the appropriate tool to use.
5) I really can provide no further support on this issue. It is too complex to provide you sufficient support on such upgrade issues. No guarantees can be given. I managed to build a clean site but only with a great deal of care.

Firstly, thanks for your response.

jciconsult wrote: 1) When moving the users table from the upgraded 1.7 version to a clean one, you must move the users and associated acl tables. This only works if the userid is unchanged. I am not familiar with spupgrade and can provide no further advice.
2) In general, you cannot move 1.5 tables into a 1.7 environment.
3) However, if the userids are unchanged, you can move the cb environment

The thing I am most unclear about is what you said in items #1 and #2.
I am confused because you (and instructions on another thread) have indicated that the 1.5 site should first be upgraded to CB 1.7
My initial objective was to first upgrade to CB 1.7 on my joomla 1.5 site, but the upgrade documentation indicated that this is Not possible - that CB 1.7 is only compatible on a joomla 1.6 or higher.
Is this correct or did I misunderstand this?

What I did is install a new/clean joomla 1.7 in a testing directory, then installed CB 1.7 and CBsubs 1.2.2
Is this correct?

I am also unclear about the CBjuice instructions: Which fields do I move from 1.5 to the 1.7 database? All of them?

Regarding your #3 point: I compared the user id's on the migrated 1.7 site and the user ID's have the same values - they did not change.
In fact, the fresh install of the CB environment is functional in the 1.7 site. The only trouble I am having is that some of the profile Tabs are invisible because some of the fields are missing. I imported the 'jos_comprofiler_fields' table from 1.5 to 1.7 site and that managed to display some of the fields, but others are still not displaying in the user profile page, causing some profile tabs to remain invisible.

Any advice based on this feedback?

Tabs may not be showing because plugins for 1.7 may need to be re-installed.

SPUpgrade or Jupgrade will reliably move only the users and other core tables into the 1.7 site.
The latest version of CB must be installed in the 1.5 and 1.7 sites. Then using phpmyadmin delete all CB tables, and then copy all CB tables into the 1.7 site.

I appreciate the feedback.

Can I please have some clarification on the outline of the process.
My confusion stems from reading a thread about migrating an older joomla/CB site (joomla 1.1 or 1.2) to CB 1.7.

In that thread, they said they first upgraded their CB to version 1.7, and here is where I get confused.
The thread suggests that the most effective way is to first upgrade your existing CB site and then installing a new 1.7 site and migrating the data tables.

I thought that you cannot upgrade to CB 1.7 even from a joomla 1.5 site (which is what I have). I thought i read that in the readme file of the CB 1.7 package that it can only be installed on a joomla 1.6 + website.

Am i mistaken?

If I am wrong, should I (will I be able to) upgrade my CB 1.5.2 which is on a joomla 1.5 site, to CB 1.7 before I attempt to migrate any tables?

A definitive Outline of the process would be of great help.
If I could get that, in a quick outlined list, I would be most greatful.

Community Builder 1.7 is compatible with all versions of Joomla (1.0.x, 1.5.x, 1.6.x and 1.7).

Hi Wolverton - I did this exactly as described (copied CB1.7.1 tables from J1.5 to J1.7), but when I go to my CB administration the core fields are not displaying on the J.1.7 site, and the Tabs relating to the Core fields are not there.

ANy ideas?

thanks,
Geoff