G3 does not see desktop hard drive.

Hello! Back in April 2006, I purchased a blue and white G3 from my employer. I installed some extra memory, wiped the hard drive clean and installed OS 10.3.x and Adobe CS. Everything worked beautifully.
I shut down the computer, unplugged it, wrapped it in plastic and stored it in a safe place until I moved to my new home. I recently took my G3 out of storage over the holidays and tried to set it up. When I turned it on, I got the “Happy Mac” symbol along with the blinking “question mark”. I was disappointed that all of the previous installations I had put in seemed to be missing.
I decided to re-initialize the hard disk (desktop) and re-install the OS 10.3.x and the other Adobe programs. The G3 has no problems starting up from the start up disk, but there is no desktop ( or hard drive) icon in the upper right corner of the screen. Only the start up disk icon is visible.
When I start to install the OS 10.3.x, I get stuck where it prompts me to select a volume to install the OS. There are no options. I cannot select my hard drive because it simply does not appear. The “options” button is “grayed” out.
I tried using the disk repair utilities and still I had no success in locating the hard drive.
There were 3 items which were showing up in the list, all of which had a “CD” icon. The first icon had a disk with a Japanese sounding name. I could not select it and I could not even verify or repair it. The second icon was also with a disk, with the name “Session 1”. Again, this could not be verified or repaired. The third icon was the start up disk icon.
It is as if my computer can’t see itself! I can’t install anything because there seems to be no desktop to install it into. It is quite frustrating, especially because I had taken the time to set it up last year and everything was working perfectly fine before my computer went into storage. My G3 seems to be “happy” even though it can’t start up without a start up disk. I am hoping that I don’t have a hard drive melt down. I would greatly appreciate some help on this! Thank you!

Hi Limnos, Grant and Eustace,
Till now, I had my G3 on "sleep" with my start up disk in the CD drive. I followed Limnos' instructions and opened up the side again. I made sure I was grounded and I tapped the hard drive. There was no noise or whirring. I placed my fingers on it, and there were no vibrations. The Blue Moo was really blue now. I thought for sure the drive was dead. With a heavy heart, I began to close the computer up. As I clicked the side closed, all of a sudden, I heard the familiar "whir" of a hard drive. I dared not to get too excited. I quickly ejected the start up disk, and lo... the G3 started up on its own!!!!! I had my hard drive icon, my programs, everything was there!
I had no problems re-installing the OS 10.3.x, I had no problems upgrading my Adobe CS programs.
My hard drive was there, exactly where it was supposed to be.
I don't know what exactly what brought it back from the dead. It may have been a combination of all your good advice put together and a bit of luck. In any case, I am up and running and I am truly thankful to all of you for your help. I also learned quite a bit from this experience from you guys, and that in itself, was very valuable to me!
I can't believe how last week, I was thinking I may need to get rid of my G3. But I stuck to it, and with your help, I now have a fully functioning machine!
Buckets of thanks to you again!
The Blue Moo (a very happy Moo indeed!)

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