I now have the Smurf running 9.2.2 off of the hard disk from my iMac, and the 'faulty' drive is sitting on the bottom and is hooked up for music storage (a job it handles perfectly). I'm beginning to think it's got something to do with the DVD drive, because I can't seem to read any DVD's and even some CD's cause problems. Maybe if I try with another optical disk drive or something... *sigh*
In the mean time, any suggestions how I can run the Tiger install DVD without a proper DVD drive? I keep hearing a voice in my head saying "Smurf doesn't boot off of FireWire external drive..." but I don't know if it's true or if it is just the CIA messing with my head.