Circle w/ slash at boot; won't boot DiskWarrior; won't acknowledge OS 10.5

I have a Macbook which suddenly started booting up to a circle and slash symbol, and refuses to go any further.
There were a number of detailed threads about this on the forums, but none of them seemed to fit my particular situation. If anyone has any advice regarding the following, it would be very much appreciated:
I tried repairing the hard drive via DiskWarrior 4.1, but the Macbook refuses to boot from the CD. I can boot from my OS 10.5 DVD, but I am unable to run Disk Utility, as the application sees the Macbook's hard drive, but will not allow me to actually select it in order to verify or repair it. In addition, I have booted up the laptop in Target Disk mode, but my G5 tower fails to see it; however, my tower does acknowledge when there is a CD in the Macbook's drive (such as Disk Warrior or the OS 10.5 DVD).
Lastly, I tried to do an Archive & Install via my OS 10.5 DVD, but when I do this, the install application informs me that it is unable to find OS 10.4 or newer on the hard drive. (The only thing I can't remember is what version of 10.5 the laptop is running, although I update the laptop frequently.)
Anyone have any thoughts? I'd love to try and fix this myself before running to an Apple store.
Thanks,
Will

Start here: Mac OS X- "Broken folder" icon, prohibitory sign, or kernel panic when computer starts.
If a kernel panic is involved visit The XLab FAQs to read the FAQ on diagnosing kernel panics.
You can try this:
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger and Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger, and 4.1 for Leopard) and/or TechTool Pro (4.6.1 for Leopard) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
This will not likely get the computer to start, but it would confirm if the drive is OK or repair the directory. If you can then gain access to the drive via Target Disk Mode then you may be able to recover your files. Then use DU to repartition and reformat the drive. If the drive cannot be repaired or reformatted, then it has most likely failed.

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