Hard Disk verifies OK but wont boot. Can't re-install or erase.

I have a problem with my Powerbook (Tibook) G4 667.
It won’t boot. After the initial grey screen, it gets as far as a completely blue screen and eventually resorts to the Darwin console (?).
I'm running OS X 10.4.? (sorry - can’t remember when I last updated this machine). The 40 Gb internal drive is partitioned: HDA (start-up disk) 35 GB; HDB 2.5 Gb; HDC 2.5Gb.
This is the ‘family’ computer and is shared by five users for internet and general use.
I don’t use this machine often as I also have a 17” G4 1.5 (Alubook) running 10.4.7.
When I was told that it was behaving oddly I managed to save the ‘Users’ folder onto an external FW drive.
I can access the drive from my Alubook connected to the sick Tibook in FW target mode, although the Tibook HDA (the start-up partition) takes ages to show up on the Alubook desktop.
I have run Disk Utility from both the Tiger installation DVD and via FW from the Alubook and each time all partitions verify OK. I’ve run repair as well and this also gives an OK verdict.
As I now have copies of the data on the drive I have tried reinstalling the system from the Tiger DVD but the drive does not appear as a destination for installation (it doesn’t appaear at all, just the DVD and Network options are visible). I have tried to erase the drive but I get an ‘I/O error’ message when attempting to erase from the DVD disk utility and a ‘Can’t unmount disk’ error when attempting via FW from the Alubook.
I’ve tried everything along the lines of ‘fsck’ etc. as advised by Apple at the link below
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Everything checks out ‘OK’ though I did get a line mentioning I/O error on one ‘fsck’ cycle but it still reported everything as being OK.
It may well be that the drive is dead, but all the tests keep telling me it is alive.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks very much.
Phil

Hi Phil,
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
It sounds like while booted from the Tiger install disc, DU can see the HD to run Repair Disk (which returns an "ok" message), but the installer cannot see the HD to do an installation? As arnie has said, it could be the HD, but could also be other hardware such as the logic board, RAM, or a cable.
Any chance the external FW HD you mention is a 2.5"/portable? If so, I would install it in the PB, boot from the Tiger install disc, and see if the installer will recognize it as an installation destination (make sure you don't go beyond that step or you will be installing the OS over the data you have saved on the HD). If it is recognized, looks like time to purchase a new HD. If not, time to start looking at other components.

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Hi Alnuir,
Welcome to the HP Support Forums, I hope you enjoy your experience! To help you get the most out of the HP Forums I would like to direct your attention to the HP Forums Guide First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More.
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