Is it time to junk my mac mini g4?

Question

My old 2005 Mac Mini 1.25 GHz is running leopard and I'm only using it to record surveillance videos. I'm using the Security Spy application which still supports Leopard on G4 Macs. A short time ago, this Mac Mini developed a boot problem: It continually resets after the gray Apple logo screen with the rotating wheel or gear. It goes back to the power on chime and never boots to a desktop. I've tried booting to the Leopard OSX install DVD, but nothing. I've tried a variety of boot options with no success. I'm thinking that this ancient hardware is now useful only as a door stop (since it's tool light to be a boat anchor).
I assume it's probably not worth spending anything on, even to have its problems diagnosed.
I would appreciate any input from the learned Mac community. Thanks!

Answer 1

Thanks for the morale support!
I booted Leopard from the install DVD and attempted to install the OS onto the existing hard drive. The process executed for about one hour but did not succeed (no bootable hard drive resulted). Before I spend a few bucks on a new PATA drive, is there any way to verify that the hard drive itself is the problem, other than the fact that I can boot for install from the DVD and that the existing hard drive is about 7 years old?
I'm thinking a new drive would probably fix it, but if there could be another hardware problem, it's probably better to scrap this mini for parts. Again, input and opinions would be very welcome!