IMAC G4 stuck in boot

[timtro]

I picked up this G4 (M6498, 17", 800/256/80HD) from a lady in her 80's whose son sent her a new G5, but I'm having trouble getting it to boot on HD or CD. When I turn it on all I get is a file icon alternating between mac face and "?".

Boot from IMAC CD: same thing - I hear the CD track switching a few times periodically but that's it.

Boot from OS9 Install CD: same thing.

I'm not that familiar with iMac, although I've had a few other Mac machines on and off through the years AppleIIe, PowerMacG3). Any suggestions what to try next?

 

[Eidorian]

Are you using the discs that shipped with the machine or other ones?

It sounds like the Mac can't find the startup partition.

 

[timtro]

Thank you very much for responding.

I've been told that if the hard drive is bad that the IMAC will not boot from the CD, which explains why I get the "?" even when using the "C" boot from CD. If that is the case, and if I install a clean hard drive, how do I go about installing the OS on the new hard drive?

I am using the "Programs" CD that came with the machine and also an OS9 disk that I had from a previous machine.

-----I bought a Seagate HD, installed it, set it for "master", tried to boot on the program disk and on the OS9 CD, got something on the screen that made me thing the HD was being recognized, then nothing but the ? file icon. Where do I go from here? Anybody got any suggestions? Anybody?

I reset the PRAM -- still nothing. Battery is good. CD spins... I'm about to give up on this forum.

Anybody?