Indigo/Panther won't boot past gray apple screen.

Right before this started, the finder was stalled with a pinwheel in an almost-loaded configuration--menu bar not fully there, nothing on desktop yet. I finally shut it down with the power button, and since then, every attempt I make to boot up stops at the gray apple, except:
1. I can boot to the Restore CD if I wait through a lonnnnng gray apple phase--probably 5 minutes--after which all the CD's options load and seem normal. I tried restoring, which went without a hitch until restart, at which is simply stalled as before.
2. I can boot to Open Firmware.
I reset the PMU, and I tried resetting the PRAM, and might have done so I guess, but the chimes sounded abnormally close together, sort of like a broken record, and then of course when I let up on the keys, I got the gray apple.
Any clues? I'd certainly appreciate any thoughts you might have. Thank you.

The threadstarter has problems with his Indigo iBook.(366MHZ, firewire)
The AHT is available for Clamshells with firewire.
The next thing would be using Panthers Disk utility prior to installation.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=169576&seqNum=10
Try to verify and repair your volume. With disk utility you can erase the HD and overwrite it with 0, (erase option) if there are too many bad sectors this process will fail.
You can pull out the RAM stick underneath the keyboard and swap it with the one from your tangerine and see if it works better.
Message was edited by: bund

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I am trying to get this machine to boot, and things are very strange.
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Message was edited by: MixtapeChick

MixtapeChick:
Welcome to Apple Discussions. Congratulations on your "new" PowerBook. I suggest that you begin with this combination procedure:
• Shut down the computer.
• Locate the following keys: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously later.
• Turn on the computer.
• Press and hold the Command + Option + P + R keys immediately after the startup chime.
• Hold keys down until you hear the startup chime for the third time.
• Release the keys and immediately hold down Shift key to start up in Safe Mode.
• Log in and empty Trash.
• Restart normally and log in.
Let us know how it goes.
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Macbook won't boot past gray screen.

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Indigo/Panther won't boot past gray apple screen.

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