Please Help: Cannot open Energy Saver on iBook

Question

When I click on the Energy Saver preference pane on my iBook (dual USB) G3 (running OS 10.3.9, with a 20 GB hard drive with 13 GB of space left), I get the message "Preferences Error, Could not load Energy Saver." This just suddenly started happening a couple of days ago.
I have searched this forum as well as Google and have found no information about this problem. After I opened Disk Utility while booted from my external hard drive, I ran First Aid and Repair Permissions on the iBook. No change in the problem with Energy Saver.
Here are the additional steps I've taken:
1. As a test, I created a new user account and logged in under that account. Still got the same message when trying to open Energy Saver.
2. I attached my iBook to my iMac G5 via firewire cable and booted my iBook into target disk mode. Then I ran Disk Warrior and TechTool Pro on the iBook. Both programs gave the iBook a clean bill of health.
3. Via the Find command, I searched my hard drive for any files with "energy" in the title. No hits.
4. I went to my ~/Library/Preferences Folder and found the com.apple.systempreferences.plist file. Removed that file, restarted the iBook. Still could not access Energy Saver.
5. I put the System Preferences application into a folder called Sys Prefs Old. Dragged the System Preferences application from my iMac into the Applications folder on my iBook. Opened this new System Preferences application. Clicked on Energy Saver pane. Still got the message "Could not load energy saver."
6. Inserted OS X 10.3 install disc into iBook. Used Pacifist to re-install just the System Preferences application. The application was an older version than the one that had been giving me problems. Opened this application and clicked on Energy Saver pane. Still got the message "Could not load energy saver."
I'm at my wit's end. I can no longer change any of my energy settings on my iBook. If anyone can make a suggestion, I would certainly appreciate it. If your suggestion has to do with using Terminal, please talk me through it in baby talk because I've never used Terminal.
iMac G5, iBook G3   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  
iMac G5, iBook G3   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

Answer 1

Steven
It may help to look in your log files to find out why your applications are quitting.
The simplest way to look at log files is to use Console.
Open the Console application from /Applications/Utilities. It will default to showing the "console.log" and possibly the "system.log". Use the File menu if necessary to get both these logs open, and use the Broom to Clear both windows.
Now try to open the Energy Saver preference pane and see what appears in either of these windows. Copy and paste it here.
You may see a message saying "Crash report written to <pathname of crash.log>". Click on the "Logs" icon at the top left in the tool bar. Then, depending on the <pathname of crash.log> in your message, look under either ~/Library/Logs or /Library/Logs by clicking the disclosure triangle, then click the disclosure triangle for "CrashReporter".
Find the crash log corresponding to your message and select it. It will open at the end of the log. Look back for the last line of asterisks in the log, then post everything after that to the end of the log.