I am on n iNtel-based Mac Mini running the MacOSX 10.6.8 operating system.
There is no conflict from any previous servers as none have ever been accessed or installed.
The instructions were easy and I followed them exactly.
I got the Apache and MySQL running.
I saw the two web pages just fine in Safari.
I edited the phpmyadmin config.inc.php file so that the 46 characters, "cookie", login/password were as stated.
There is no user "root" so it always fails.
Macs do not have them named as such.
I log in as "FirstName LastName" with a password.
I am admin, not root.
The login to phpmyadmin as "root" can never work.
"FirstName LastName" with a password doesn't work either.
So, I changed the config file to have a login of "firstlast" and the same password that I use when going in or when calling up a "sudo" command in a terminal window.
No dice.
I took out all the changes and still no login.
What am I missing that's right there in front of me?
A reinstall -- as stated -- did NOT overwrite the old files so I deleted the whole XAMPP folder after stopping all processes.
I'm back at square one, grumbling at my Mac Minimal just a bit more than before.
All suggestions warmly appreciated and welcomed.