Install failure: Tiger & Panther & Jaguar

Question

I have 400 MHz Power Book with 384 MB of memory & a 10GB drive. (CPU Type: PowerPC 750(42.2)) It was running under OSX 10.3.9 successfully when it started to slow up terribly. So I decided to clean it out and try to upgrade to Tiger. Backed-up the hard drive and did an erase-&-install of Tiger. I'd get an "Installation was unsuccessful. Please re-install message." And again. And again. So I tried to erase-&-install Panther. Same message. Tried one or twice again, this time not erasing, but accepting the default "Upgrade" option. Finally it worked, it seemed. Tried to update to 10.3.9. Disk image failed to open, so I opened it on my desktop machine and network-transferred the update install file to the laptop to install. That seemed to work, but some apps refused to open; iTunes, Mail, . . . Tried to install Jaguar; same failure message. Kept trying till it seemed to succeed. Update to 10.2.8 failed. . . . Tried various other things, including DiskWarrior, TechTool, AppleJack, PowerBook hardware test disk. No problems found.
I've currently got it running under 10.3. (There are a bunch of files and folders with (Mac OS 9) as part of their names. These, plus an AppleJack dmg and a ComboUpdate 10.3.9 --all under the root directory-- seem to be left over from an earlier install, even through at least one erase-&-install.)
Oh, yes. The battery has been dead for a long time. If that matters.
Any good ideas, anyone?

Answer 1

If you do an Erase and Install then there cannot be anything "leftover" from a previous installation.
Is this a Pismo or later model or a Lombard? Lombard's cannot run Tiger. Tiger requires a computer with built-in Firewire and USB ports.
I suggest you may want to do an extended hard drive format:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disk. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. Then select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
After formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with the OS X installation.
A dead battery should not be a problem as long as you have the AC adapter connected for power. However, none of the settings normally preserved in PRAM will be saved whenever AC power is removed or the computer is shut down. This could lead to odd behavior because the date and time, display information, selected boot volume, etc. are stored in PRAM.