Power Mac G4 400 AGP boot from CD/firmware question

Hello-
What is the firmware that I need for 9.0.4? I have 9.0.4 installed, but I want to erase and do a clean install and then move on to 9.1 and on. My system profiler says that my BootRom is 3.2.6f1.
I'm trying to boot from a CD (via inernal CD drive) and I'm not having any luck and I'm wondering if it's a firmware problem. My machine displays the start up disk on the desktop and will open its contents, so it seems that the cd drive is ok. When I hit the apple dropdown menu and restart, I press the "C" and all I get is grey. I get the start up chime, but then grey. I also tried the Start up disk function and was able to choose the OS disk for start up, but to no avail.
My start up disks did not come with the machine, but they are Apple G4 9.0.4 and the person I bought them from said they were intended for a G4 400 AGP computer, which I have. I might add that I have the 9.0.4power pc enabler installed as this was a school machine networked for school use. i don't know if this would make any difference. The problem may be the disks, but obviously, I'm hoping not.
Any help would be big help, thanks in advance.

Hi, veesh678 -
Early models of the G4 (AGP) models came with OS 8.6; later models came with an installer for a model-specific version of OS 9.0.4. The latter disk will have a blue-gray label, be named "Power Mac G4" with a subtitle "Software Install", and has a part number of 691-2657-A (the part number will be in fine print on the right-hand side of the label).
Non-current firmware will not preclude the machine from booting to that CD; a retail OS 9.0.4 Install CD (white label, gold 9, no model named) probably will not work, although a retail OS 9.1 or 9.2.1 Install CD should work fine.
The current firmware version for the G4 (AGP) model is v. 4.2.8, which can be downloaded from this article -
Article #120068 - G4 Firmware Update 4.2.8
Note that to install that version the machine must be booted to OS 9.1 or OS 9.2.x from its hard drive, and the firmware update must be run from the same hard drive.
Before installing firmware update v. 4.2.8, download and run DIMM First Aid (it's a free download) to verify the compliance of the RAM in the machine.

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Power Mac G4 400 AGP boot from CD/firmware question

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