did you start the mysql server? check the preference pane to see if it's turned on. me, I have a launchd item that starts the server automatically at login - looks like this (not sure where I picked this up, and you may have to adjust the path, but it works. put it in /Library/LaunchDaemons):
The preference pane didn't work right in MySQL 4; I don't know if they fixed that or not.

Sorry to keep posting, but I figure that more information will only help determine the problem. MySQL showed that it was running in the preference pane as soon as I installed it and allowed me to make the changes I mentioned above. I was unable to stop mysql from the pref pane, though. I tried shutting it down with sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server stop and got ERROR! Manager of pid-file quit without updating file. I restarted the machine and am unable to start mysql with either the pref pane or terminal. Pref pane asks for my pw, but nothing else happens. Terminal gives same pid-file error above.

Your post reminded me that I'd set up a launchd item the last time I tried to set up mysql. It's a little different, but looks to be similar. When I looked for it, I noticed that I've got two mysql folders in usr/local. One is usr/local/mysql and the other is usr/local/mysql-5.1.35-osx10.5-x86, which is the version I installed this morning. Both folders have all the same subfolders. Could this be an issue?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<true/>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.mysql.mysqld</string>
<key>Program</key>
<string>/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe</string>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</plist>

I have a folder called "mysql-standard-4.1.22-apple-darwin8.6.0-powerpc" and a symlink called mysql that points to that folder. if you have two versions installed, I'd suggest you delete the folder called mysql and replace it with a symlink to the recently installed version, otherwise your system will be trying to start up the wrong version.

Ok, I see what you're saying. It does look like the same situation. The Mysql folder is just an alias. Does it look like I missed any configuration steps because mySQL will not start up at all.