What is Mac trying to tell me

When I try to start my first generation Mac Pro, I cannot even get to the OS installation window.
I get an image of what appears to be a Mac with a blinking black dot in the top right section of the image. The image also has an enlarged view of a button with an elongated vertical oval partially green and an arrow pointing up
I cannot find this image or error screen anywhere else to determine what the error is.
I have replaced the hard drive without success. Any help is GREATLY appreciated..

That's an image of a Magic Mouse and the Mac is telling you how to turn it on.

It's a wireless mouse and it's asking you to turn the mouse on.

lol

Wow! I knew i was missing something SO obvious! Thank you...I may be the exception to prove the rule that there are no dumb questions``

ivri33 said:

Wow! I knew i was missing something SO obvious! Thank you...I may be the exception to prove the rule that there are no dumb questions``

Click to expand...

Is everything working fine now?

- Nick

I`m not sure. The installation seems to have stalled at about 20 minutes remaining. This is part of the issue that caused me to replace the hard drive. Should I be accessing the Disk Utilities first

ivri33 said:

I`m not sure. The installation seems to have stalled at about 20 minutes remaining. This is part of the issue that caused me to replace the hard drive. Should I be accessing the Disk Utilities first

Click to expand...

Can you restate the installation problem?

- What you're doing?
- Why you're doing it?
- What the trouble is?
- What OS version are you trying to install?
- What media are you using to do the OS install?

I think that most of us were focusing on the issue in post #1 (the turning on the mouse image).

- Nick

Sorry! Thank you for all the help and patience...
I`m attempting to install OS 10.6.8
My Mac had an earlier OS (original to purchase). I installed from a DVD which I purchased directly from Apple. After about 2 weeks of sluggish functionality, the Mac would not fully start up. After running repairs and verify through the Disk Utility I rec`d an error message of a `hardware` error that could not be repaired. So naturally I did nothing for about 4 months. LOL

This week I ordered and installed a new hard drive. I also placed the original hard drive into bay 2. The OS installation disc is in the Mac, but the installation freezes at 20 mins remaining.

I tried a start up without the original hard drive in bay 2. The installation asks me to select the location to install the OS but there are no items in the selection field.

The diagnostics report that the Memory fails at start up test.
Mark

ivri33 said:

The diagnostics report that the Memory fails at start up test.
Mark

Click to expand...

- Which diagnosics report is this info coming from (what app is it coming from)?
- When you say "memory"...are you talking about the ram or the hard drive? Sometimes folks get this terminology mixed up...so just wanted to verify.

* Nick

Thanks again Nick,
I ran the `system profiler`under the Utility menu from the Installation screen on the Mac itself. There is a Diagnostics option under the Hardware category which details a
`Power On Self-Test`
Last Run 3 mins ago
Result: Failed
Failure Type: Memory
Memory Slot: DIMM 1 DIMM Riser A

ivri33 said:

Thanks again Nick,
I ran the `system profiler`under the Utility menu from the Installation screen on the Mac itself. There is a Diagnostics option under the Hardware category which details a
`Power On Self-Test`
Last Run 3 mins ago
Result: Failed
Failure Type: Memory
Memory Slot: DIMM 1 DIMM Riser A

Click to expand...

Ok...thanks for verifying. That's definitely a ram issue. Did you have this problem ever before? Did you install any new ram recently?

- Nick

No, never had any issues until this..love my Mac!
I have not installed any ram, just the original from purchase.

Is there any type of formatting or set up for the new hard drive.
I just placed it in the bay and turned on the machine.

ivri33 said:

No, never had any issues until this..love my Mac!
I have not installed any ram, just the original from purchase.

Click to expand...

If you are getting a ram error...I'm not 100% sure if this is a new or if it was an existing issue. Hard to say not knowing what was going on before all of the hard drive activities.

I'm probably shouldn't prevent you from using the computer...you may simply have less ram available for use.

Maybe we should get the hard drive issue resolved...then talk about the ram.

ivri33 said:

Is there any type of formatting or set up for the new hard drive.
I just placed it in the bay and turned on the machine.

Click to expand...

Yes.

- Boot the computer from the OS install DVD.
- Open Disk Utility (move mouse pointer up to where the menu bar would normally be...and some drop down menu's should appear).
- Within Disk Utility...you want to format the HD (Mac OS Extended-Journaled).
- Then quit disk utility.
- Continue with the OS install procedure.

* Nick

WOW!!! That did it. The installation is complete and system fully boots up. I'm going to put the bum hard drive in bay 2 and see it I can recover any data.

Thank you SO much Nick!

ivri33 said:

WOW!!! That did it. The installation is complete and system fully boots up. I'm going to put the bum hard drive in bay 2 and see it I can recover any data.

Thank you SO much Nick!

Click to expand...

Good deal! Many new hard drives either come pre-formatted for Windows computers…or not formatted at all. Rarely are they formatted for a Mac out of the box…unless you purchase it from a Mac specific retailer.

Now what about that ram? Are you still getting the ram not-passing the diagnostic test?

- Nick