when you bootup linux (oel 5.8) the screen displays status information, if something passed or failed... what log contains this data ?

You can check /var/log/boot.log file.

the boot.log file was empty... checked the /var/log/messages file but the error/warnings i saw when rebooting weren't there

Try /var/log/dmesg and/or run dmesg as a cmd

checked out dmesg, and it appears that the dmesg log ends with "EXT3 FS on sda1, internal journal
EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
Adding 16777208k swap on /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:16777208k ",

the error i saw when rebooting had to do with checking one of the volume groups, and their was a failed notation... all the volume groups are mounted properly but i was hoping to see something in the log relative to the failure....

Most but not all console messages appear in one of the /var/log files -- syslog, messages, dmesg.

For the missing ones you need to enable boot logging. OEL being based on RHEL, it should be easy but the mechanism may be broken. More here.

If boot logging does not work for you ...

If the system boots to a graphical login, change the default runlevel so it doesn't ...

Disable the first psuedo-terminal (the one accessed by Alt+F1) to leave it as the console device. With a bit of luck, Shift+PgUp will scroll back to the message.

If that doesn't work Ctrl+S during booting may stop console output (Ctrl+Q to resume scrolling). If that doesn't work, try a camera.