Help w/ re-installing OS after HD reformatt/restore

Question

I have a 12" G4 powerbook. I had bought it from a friend and was trying to reformat and restore the HD the other night. I walked away from it to let it do it's thing and came back to the gray screen (like when you boot it up after a restart) where it has the loading circle icon at the bottom. However, it never goes on from there. It just stalls out there and the circle keeps going around and around and around. No HD sounds or CD-drive sounds. I've tried re-booting with the 1st and 2nd install CD. and also re-booting without any CD's. Same thing happens. Any help?

Answer 1

hunt3r:
Formatting, Partitioning Zeroing a Hard Disk Drive
Warning! This procedure will destroy all data on your Hard Disk Drive. Be sure you have an up-to-date, tested backup of at least your Users folder and any third party applications you do not want to re-install before attempting this procedure.
Boot from the install CD holding down the "C" key.
Select language
Go to the Utilities menu (Tiger) Installer menu (Panther & earlier) and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
Select Partition tab in main panel. (You are about to create a single partition volume.)
Select number of partition in pull-down menu above Volume diagram.
(Note: 1 partition is normally better for an internal HDD. External HDDs usually have more than one. See Dr. Smoke’s FAQ Backup and Recovery for tips on partitioning external HDD.)
Type in name in Name field (usually Macintosh HD)
Select Volume Format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Click Partition button at bottom of panel.
Select Erase tab
Optional: (Select the sub-volume under Manufacturer ID (usually Macintosh HD).
Check to be sure your Volume Name and Volume Format are correct.
Select on Security Options button (Tiger) Options button (Panther & earlier).
Select Zero all data. (This process will map out bad blocks on your HDD. However, it could take several hours. If you want a quicker method, don't go to Security Options and just click the Erase button.)
Click OK.
Click Erase button
Quit Disk Utility.
Open installer and begin installation process.
Choose to Customize and deselect Foreign Language Translations and Additional Printer drivers.
Check box to install X11 (Tiger) BSD Subsystems (Panther & earlier).
Proceed with installation.
After installation computer will restart for setup.
After setup, reboot computer.
Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
Select First Aid in main panel.
Click Repair Disk Permissions.
Connect to Internet.
Download and install 10.3.9 Combo Update (Panther) or
10.4.10 Combo update (Tiger)
Computer will restart after updates.
Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
Select First Aid in main panel.
Click Repair Disk Permissions.
Please do post back with further questions or comments.
Cheers
cornelius