2 issues with Brides ibook

Question

The HD on her 14" G4 1.33 went out & I replaced it. I had backed the HD up a week or so prior to the HD going bad. I think I reconnected everything correctly using I fix it. I have run into a couple of problems and have been unable to get it up and running.
Not sure what happend to slot loading Combo CD/DVD drive. in the 4 years we have used this ibook I never noticed an apparent door on the drive. There may have been a Tech Tool disk in the drive to see if possible it might have been a software issue before dis assemblying the ibook to replace HD.
Now it appears that the slot drive door is closed/locked in such a way that I am unable to insert Mac 10.4 OS X disk to format HD install 10.4 then or go to external and install BU onto new HD. hitting eject /F12 key @ StartUp does not help not at all.
When I attach Firewire from G4 Tower to i book and start Tower in Target mode then start The target HD icon comes up I go to the HD to disk Utility an only thing that showes up under drives is the Target Drive 114.+ gig and under it the same Target drive named Big Mac Otto. The
newly Installed HD does not show up any where
I was thinking that new HD Would show up that I would Erase it and format it as an Apple HD.
Am I missing some info or have I missed a step
I was hoping to have it up and running so we could offer it to her pop. He's never had a computer but really loves the ipod we gave him with all the bird songs we could find on it & I was thinking we might get him on net and he could put more bird songs on his computer and his ipod without our help we only get to visit once or twice a year
when starting lap top w/out Target on, a little sad face / ? flickers back and forth on the screen and I think that is as it is supposed to be at this stage.any ideas are greatly appreciated

Answer 1

There may be some other computer options in quality rebuilt or repaired
portable Macs, or even an iMac, from a reputable company. Some are
older, few have OS X discs, some have a sample OS X running inside to
show they do in fact work; and various short term guarantees or other
terms apply to some of them that are offered by real companies who do
their own tech work. My few experiences with wegenermedia (in SC) in
person by phone, and email, leads me to think they've done a good job
in most of their dealings with people. They fixed one of my Macs & also
were helpful in a friend's parts inquiry from New South Wales, AU.
In any event, checking out the computer to see if there is a greater issue
than the hard disk drive, or cables, going on, is an important step; since
some models may have a loose connection or weak point on the logic
board, while others may have something less costly going on.
Were you able to see if the optical drive had anything inside it? The use
of a mouse, whose button gets held down on startup, may help to eject
a disc from those slot-load drives, if a touchpad or other problem exists.
Since hard disk drives are among the first things to go, after several
years of use, replacing or testing the unit to see if that was the issue,
is normal troubleshooting; but additional issues point to other problems.
Hopefully you can find a simple solution to this situation, that is worthy
of your efforts and also works to solve the intended purpose in fixing it.
{When it's in the cards (and budget) the nice way to go is to provide a
new or certified special deals Mac from Apple (online) and then within
the first year, get the extended AppleCare protection on it. Then the
item is correct or covered right out of the box; few surprises & right on.}
PS: an artist-blacksmith buddy says there are two tool categories;
things are either a hammer or a screwdriver. Pointy or blunt tools.
Good luck & happy computing!