IMac G5 will not start.

Hello folks, I believe I have quite a tricky problem.
I have an iMac G5 with OS X Snow Leopard (10.5.8) installed. This morning I went to reboot it all and re-install the OS, as it has been a long time since I had done so previously. This carried through well, and I proceeded to run boot camp assistant so as to partition my computer with Windows XP SP2.
It is at this point I should add that my disc drive on the mac is very faulty, and i have been using an external Samsung disc drive to install the software which has thus far seemed readable and compatible.
After putting the XP disc in and commencing installation, the computer restarted and did not recognise the disk. When I tried again, the computer restarted to the point where I was blocked by alternating images of the apple logo and a no permission symbol, as well as the occasional appearance of a folder with a question mark on it.
Now, I really need advice for simply how to get my computer to a point where i can start from absolute scratch. Unfortunately, I cannot do this as I can get no further than the original screen.
I have tried the following:
Pressing 'c', to run through the disk.
Pressing 'x', as to force the start up mode.
Pressing 'shift', to enter safe mode.
Pressing 'cmd' and 's', which supposedly works occasionally.
Pressing 'alt', just in case it was confused between hard drives
Pressing 'cmd', 'ctrl', 'r' and 'p', which again is supposedly useful.
Unplugging from the socket for hours on end.
Unplugging all external connections to the iMac.
I have quite frankly, exhausted all my ideas. If any of you have any insight, it would be greatly appreciated. Remember that my disk drive is external, as i believe that part of the problem rests there.

Hi Aaron,
When the family first got the computer (I inherited it, hence my need to run Windows OS primarily), it had the Tiger OS, meaning I had to install bootcamp separately so as to put Windows on. However, a few years later, we bought the Snow Leopard system and it had bootcamp in the program already, so it just made the process more convenient. As well as this, installing Windows or rebooting it had never been a problem.
Unfortunately, I do not have anything to use FireWire with. I have an iPod, but no other products in which to connect. I say this because somebody said that when they received the rror symbols, connecting it with a MacBook Pro through FireWire seemed to do the trick. However, I do not have this resource at my disposal.
I honestly believe that if my disk drive functioned correctly, therw would not be a problem, but perhaps the Mac can't quite adopt the external drive while in its preliminary loading stages. Getting the drive itself fixed would cost more than the value of the actual computer, so I do not wish to do that.
I am trying to put the disk on a USB, so as to try and reboot it all through that, though it seems improbable. However, I will ddefinitely let you know how that works out.
Thanks for your reply by the way, if you suddenly come up with any new ideas, please let me know!

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