Mac mini stuck booting from Superdrive

I have a PowerPC Mac mini and a wired Apple keyboard.
I was testing a Linux LiveCD the other day and chose to boot up from the Superdrive through the System Preferences Pane. The LiveCD worked, but then when I tried to restart and use the keyboard command to choose to boot from the OS on the internal HD, I realized that my keyboard isn't responsive during the startup procedure. Therefore, I can't reset the pram either, which is what I imagine would be the easiest way to solve the problem.
Unfortunately I don't know anyway to change the boot method from the Linux end either.
I have various install and utility CD's from several generations of Macs, but the mini will not use any of them to boot. I have the mini installation disc and it does not work. Would an OS upgrade cause it to not boot from an older version's install disc? I know the superdive (and RAM, logic board, etc.) is functional because I can run Linux of a LiveCD.
Unfortunately I can not find any old keyboards to use at the moment, so I can't immediately test whether or not a different keyboard would be recognized. When I looked up this problem, some people said it did and others said it didn't.
The error I'm receiving without a LiveCD in is "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key."
Any ideas?

Try starting up holding the mouse button.
see > The ultimate guide to ejecting a stuck disc from Mac SuperDrive | MacYourself

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I am in a very frustrating position as I try to upgrade my Mac Mini (mid 2010) from OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard to whatever the latest version of Mountain lion is. The reason I am doing this is because the original hard drive died and the Mini sat there for 6 months before we decided to get a new hard drive and revive it.
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IOFireWireAVC.kext
IOFireWireFamily.kext
IOFireWireIP.kext
IOFireWireSBP2.kext
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Mac mini stuck at gray screen HELP!!!!!!!!!

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Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
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b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 3
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 4
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 5
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Step 6
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 6.
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Step 7
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
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Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
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@Bsteely: Sometimes it wakes up immediately because of loosing connection to the keaboard when I send it to sleep. I suppose at the beginning of the sleep mode it into sleep mode, the keaboard connection is closed, then the keyboard "thinks" there is a problem and sends a message to the mini and the mini just wakes up again showing that the connection to the keyboard was lost but established again! This even happened as I had unselected the checkbox "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake up this computer" in Preferences -> Bluetooth -> Advanced.
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Flocarino wrote:
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Step 5) Can you 'REBOOT' the 'Install DVD' from the 'Desktop'?
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Step 11) Repeat Steps 1 thru 5 and if you DO NOT make it to Step 6 then I'll need more information from your 'Console Error Logs'.
End Of Steps ............................................................................... .................................
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<Edited by Moderator>

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