My ibook wont startup - whatever i do!!

i have been having a problem starting my ibook g4 (panther) for a few days now while trying everthing i know or could find to get it to work without erasing the hd. The problem is when i turn it on i hear the chime and then it goes to the blank grey screen with the grey apple logo and spinning wheel and wont move onto the login window. So far I have tried to start in safe mode; do an archive and install (which i cannot do due to a lack of avail space); i have done a hardware test and everything is ok there; i have started up in single user mode and cleared the login window preferences but still no luck. I have also tried to delete some movie files in single user mode to give me more room but i keep getting a message saying "read only file"
I fear i will have to do an erase and install of osx as i have no space left. I am by no means a mac expert and what i have done so far is a result of alot of digging through forums and google. I have a ipod 4gb and thought i may be able to use it somehow to put osx on it and boot from there as i dont mind loosing the music.
If anyone can explain how todelete files in single user mode or use my ipod to reinstall osx your assistance would be very greatly appreciated.
many many thanks in advance and sorry for the extra long post,
rossco
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

I know this is long...
I've been having a similar issue for a couple of days now. I have different hardware and software (powerbook G4 OSX 10.3.9), but the symptoms are close enough. When I try to boot up, it gets stuck on the grey screen with the grey apple logo and the spinning gear. I have tried:
*Starting in safe mode
*Doing an archive and install (which I can't do due to the automatic updates I've installed).
*Using the OS install disk to run disk utility. Disc Utility fails trying to "rebuild catalog B-tree"(By the way, I have no idea what the crap that is).
*Booting in single user mode and using fsck to repair the issue, but it ends up stopping right where Disk utility does. And I also get the error, "disk0s9: I/O error"
I know you can boot in Firewire target disk mode, but I do not have another Mac (I tried it with a PC but the PC didn't know how to read it).
I think that may work for you, providing you know someone with a mac that will be kind enough to let you use some disk space for a bit. Here's some info on Target Disk Mode
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
Also,
When you boot in Single user mode it says," If you want to make modifications to files run '/sbin/fsck -y' first and then '/sbin/mount -uw /'"
Have you tried deleting the files after running those commands?
I really don't want to lose the data on my hard drive (like other people do:)) And of course I don't back up! pffft!
Someone help me!
Sorry, I know this is a tough read!!
powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)
powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

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