Finder Won't Launch - Can't Boot From CD's

Gahhh!
I've been trying for two days now to upgrade to 10.4, but I kept getting errors, when you get to the actual installing part. The computer has 256k of original RAM, but as per the help topic, I figured it could be a RAM issue (you need at least 256k) so I bought a 512k and installed it. This didn't help, so I followed info in the forums, saying to get all the software updates, repair permissions, and did all that. Still couldn't get the 10.4 to work. (It's a retail full copy.) I'd also updated firmware before running the installer.
So now, I've run all the security updates, and Finder started acting odd. It started to "go away" and when I went to Force Quit, it started cloning itself. It listed itself once, then twice, then added a third, then a fourth, like someone was typing it in somewhere. I rebooted, and all the Finders went away. ALL of them. My desktop has a big, pretty picture... and nothing else. No icons, no hard drive.
Dock works, I can open programs (which is how I'm talking now). I thought to use my Norton's disk, but the computer isn't able to read the CD -- when I go to start the computer with Norton's, it just sits there, grey screen and the little thing spins and spins...
I thought, maybe the RAM is bad, but "About This Mac" showed it working OK. I removed it and same thing still. (I put the RAM in before the Finder went crazy.)
Really thinking it's the software updates... anyone have any idea, same or different? These are the ones I ran:
"Safari Update" (1.0.3)
"iPhoto Update" (2.0.1)
"Security Update 2004-09-16" (1.0)
"Security Update 2004-09-30" (1.0)
"Security Update 2005-001" (1.0)
Power PC G4 - mirror door
1.25 GHz
256k RAM
OS 10.2.8
Power PC G4 (mirror door) Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Hi!
Sorry to hear that the transition to Tiger isn't working out for you. Did you attempt to load Tiger with a fresh install, or was it an upgrade install using your previous OS?
It sounds like you had problems starting with the original installation process from the Tiger Install DVD, even before you ran Software Update... It sounds like at a minimum, you now have a corrupted Finder.
You can try downloading the OS X 10.4.4 combo update from the Downloads page at Apple's support site and using it to do an archive and install of the operating system, which will replace your OS with a new one while retaining your user data/files. If you do, first launch Disk Utility from the Tiger Install disk and run Repair Disk and Repair Permissions on your startup volume. It would, perhaps, also be prudent to boot your Apple Hardware Test disk and run it through the Extended test.
Another ("cleaner") option is to erase and zero out your hard drive and install Tiger again from scratch, then update the software, running Repair Permissions between updates. This way you'll have eliminated the possibility of introducing conflicts with previously-installed software or files which may not be playing nicely with Tiger. (I'd try the previous approach first, though.)
If you encounter installation errors with either of the two methods, above, something is wrong and I wouldn't proceed with Software Update until the original problem is found and resolved. It may help to disconnect all peripherals/third party devices except the keyboard, mouse and monitor before installing, if you run into errors again.
Lastly, I recommend refraining from installing Norton on your Mac with OS X.
Gary
1GH DP G4 Quicksilver 2002, 400MH B&W rev.2 G3, Mac SE30 Mac OS X (10.4.2) 5G iPod, Epson 2200 & R300 & LW Select 360 Printers, Epson 3200 Scanner

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Welcome To  Discussions Mulcahey!
"...so installed the only operating system I could find...10.2.8."
"...find an install disc for 10.3.4."
What type of discs are these?
Are they a Jaguar Full Retail CDs, and a Full Retail Version, of the Panther Install CDs?
The discs should look exactly like the images in the above links, and not say Upgrade, CPU Drop-in DVD, or "This software is part of a hardware bundle purchase - not to be sold seperately." on them.
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ali b

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Okay...
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Well that sounds like it could work...and I really should get a backup...
BUT!
Saving that as the final straw, would there be any cheap (e.g. free) solutions left? I'd rather wait to buy another external drive, since I'm trying to save money now, so any immediate and cheap solutions would work best.
Hmm... I upgraded to Tiger via download, so I don't have the boot CD for it. But since I already have Tiger, would it be at all possible to get a free 10.4 boot CD to help with this problem? If I explain my plight to Support, do you think they could spare one, since it's very probable 10.4 Disk Utility would work, since the only reason 10.3 couldn't was because it was too low?
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http://www.macmaps.com/directoryfaq.html
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Message was edited by: a brody

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Thanks.

Thanks. Thankfully, when I thought about it, I realized that the computer had booted from the external superdrive to install Leopard, so I figured I'd give it a shot by selecting the install disk as the startup disk and restarting, crossing my fingers and hoping. It worked, so I was able to simply reset the password using the reset password function. Perhaps the issue with the external superdrive is that if it's not already mounted with a system disk before you restart, it won't do it after it starts up in event of failure.
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Some things to report. First, the night before any of this happened, I noticed the fan was running when there wasn't really any reason for it. The computer was idle, no major tasks running. I'm wondering if perhaps the videocard overheated and is causing problems. Perhaps the temperature sensors are screwed up?
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