I deleted all the partions from the drive and left it as a single raw unpartitioned space. I did this using the win xp install disk. Then I put the mac os disc in held down c powered up and nothing. [/QUOTE said:
I think that's your problem - if I understand you correctly, you've formatted your Mac's hard drive with a Windows XP disk - no wonder your mac won't boot! - If you have access to another (working!) mac, make sure it's powered on and then you should connect it to your mac mini (powered off) with a firewire lead. Hold down the 'T' key (for Target Disk Mode) on your mac mini's keyboard whilst you power on your Mac mini. - Wait a few seconds until you see a floating Firewire symbol that appears in your screen connected to the Mac mini. - You can then use the Apple's Disk Utility (Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility) on the working Mac, to format your Mac mini's hard drive (which should have mounted on the desktop of the working Mac) to a Mac OS Extended format. Once done, you should be able to boot fine from the Mac OS Disk, and proceed as normal.