Black Screens On Start Up - HELP!

Hi All,
On startup, I am first getting a question mark in the folder (old OS 9), then after thinking for a bit, I get the grey screen and apple as expected, then the screen goes black (unexpected), then I get the blue screen with the normal rectangle and progress bar that OSX is loading, then the screen goes black again and then goes away and brings me to my desktop with all icons as they should be, whew.
I am running 10.4.10, have 1.5GB RAM, a G4 Quicksilver, recently had some kind of Kernel panic upon startup, but only got a black box without any writing in it.
I have a backup drive that is a mirror to my main boot drive and I believe my system got confused after a hard crash, as to which drive it should use. I straightened that out in Startup Disc prefs, then
I zapped the PRAM and got going again, rebuilt the directory with DiskWarrior and now I'm here, still with the question mark and this new black screen thing.
Anyone hear of this black screen thing before? And what it means and how to remedy it?
Thanks for anyone's help.
Steven
G4 Quicksilver 867 mhz Mac OS X (10.4.10) 1.5 GB RAM

Firmware updates can and can't be good.
the archive feature will allow you to reinstall the OS X (using you OS X disk this is) without effecting the applications folder or the users folder. To use this option boot off the Install disk and in the installation window where you select what disk to install OS X onto there will be a options button. Click this and there will be a few extra options, one being archive and reinstall. If this helps you then you will have saved time because you would have repaired the system and will not need to reinstall and applications. (in saying that somtimes some applications need to be reinstalled, Photoshop CS2 is one of them)
Additionally all of your application preference files will still be on the system. A folder will also be created on your Hard drive called 'Previous system' This folder will be fairly large so if you don't need anything from the previous system then delete it. (my rule is to wait for a fews days and iff i don't touch it then to delte it)
So if you want a strategy than:
Run ONYX - clean the kernal cache (i think that there is an automated section that will do a whole heap of stuff including this)
Forget the PRAM
Forget the Firmware reset
If the issue is not solved then archive and reinstall.
If the issue is still not solved then erase and start from scratch.
Just a note... i know that the ? bothers you but if this still occurs after ONYX or the archive and reinstall, test the machine for a few days and see if the kernal panic occurs again. If there is no more kernal panics then i think that there is a few easy fixes to get rid of the ? on startup

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