Hey, Michael!

I got them. But I did something stupid. Instead of putting DW in I put the OS 9 disc (the 9.1 one) in and I can't get it out. what now?

Hold down the click button while booting. It should spit out the disk - eventually (wondering if the straightened paper clip works on a PB G4).

I'll try that.

Got it! Now to try DW. I'll keep you updated.

IT'S BOOTING! IT"S BOOTING! Now hopefully DW can fix it.

aww, It said it cannot be repaired. What should I do?

Not good. Did it give a reason? Erase and reinstall is probably the only option at this point. That will blow away all of your apps, too. Hold on before you do that until you can get a chance to hook it up via target disk and see if you can recover your files, at least.

I've got all I need. It said that it was in a format newer than that version of DW I think.

That's interesting. I thought DW 4 would not boot that machine. Maybe I'm wrong?

I dunno. Shoud I try one of the OS discs?

Were you going to take it to the Apple Store? If not, If you're OK with erasing and then reinstalling, then I'd go ahead with doing that - OS 9.1 first, update it to 9.2.1 and then install OS X including the OS 9 drivers. If you don't really need OS 9, don't even bother with it. Just install OS X.

Another problem. Were all of the OS discs bootable? cause I tried each one, not the update, and It spun for a while, nothing came up. WTH?

Yes, they are. Holding down the C key? It does take a while.

Yes, but is something other than a black screen supposed to come up? How long does it take?

Which OS disk are you trying? It should boot to an installer screen if I recall correctly. I wonder if you have some other issues going on?

All of them. I know it's nothing else. It spins up, then Spins down. DW booted fine.

DW has a very basic system. The 9.1 disk should boot.

How long should I hold C?

Are you getting the "Happy Mac" with the 9.1 disk? That means it has found a viable boot system. Most instructions say to hold it until you see the splash screen, which is a long time, sometimes.

No. I'll try that, but the disc isn't spinning fast like DW did.

Nothing. Eventually, the disc just stops spinning.

Hmmm. Did you eject the disk and reinsert it?

Several times.

I'm beginning to think that there is a hardware problem - either the IDE controller or the mother board.

Also, they get funky if the battery is low. My father-in-law has one (400 MHz G4) that will not boot up or reboot if the battery is not fully charged.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! It Can't be! I know! I ran AHT on it! DW booted! AAAAGGGGHHHH! and I have it plugged in!

Is there any other possibility? It's been down since 4/25!

Let a genius look at it at the Apple store?

OMG! I got the Panther disc to boot! WOOOOOO HOOOO!

What does it mean when it says "checking your installation disc?"

It's just verifying that the disk is not corrupted.

Oh. Well it says "Preparing the disk" now. How long will it take?

Your ADD is showing.

Sit back and wait for it.

Haha! You're right! It's a little over halfway now.

THERE'S A 3RD DISK!? iS THAT NEEDED FOR INSTALLATION!?

For 10.3.

OMG! It's only on the 2nd disk right now!

The reboot after install takes quite a while, too.

Hey Michael thanks for helping Brenna out - My ADD would not have lasted this long

It's at the end of the 2nd disk right now. And BTW Thanks so much, Michael!

IT WORKS!!! SCREEEEAAAAAMMMMM!