I might as well finish the conversation with myself
The problem was something along these lines
The session directory had the wrong permissions on the new server.
It appears the 2 servers are set up differently -- I didn't need to adjust this on the first server. I would bet this is in the instructions on installing UBB but who reads anything LOL!
Here is a sign post for the next guy who tries this and refuses to read anything on what to look at.