Power Mac G5 1.8GHz won't recognize discs

After nine years, I shelved my workhorse G5 (single processer, 1.8GHz, 4GB RAM, 2x1TB internal drives, eSATA and extra ethernet PCI cards, OS X Server 10.4.11) not becuase it wasn't working well--it was--but because the not-for-profit I work with switched to a cloud-based solution, which makes a huge amount of sense.
After watching it sit in the corner for a month, I decided to put it up on Ebay. And of course, didn't think to test it until it was already posted. I mean, come on! It worked fine last month, right?
Oops.
It starts up. The monitor goes grey, and then I get the flashing question mark. (Occasionally I get a circle with a line through it, which is new to me.)
It doesn't recognize the internal system drive. It doesn't recognize an external mirrored drive, whether connected to FW400, FW800 or eSATA. It doesn't recognize ANY INSTALL DISK in the optical drive. The question mark flashes on. When I hold down the option key at startup, the wheel spins merrily for a while, then stops, showing just the right arrow and the reload arrow.
It DOES start in target mode; I can boot another computer off of the internal system drive (or the backup, for that matter). So the drives are fine.
Here're the things I've done, in no particular order:
I zapped the PRAM. (Haven't replaced the battery--3.6 volt half-AAs aren't easy to find!)
I reset the PMU.
I tried to enter safe mode by holding down the shift key. Nope.
I tried--mostly unsuccessfully--to enter single user mode.
I managed (after much trying) to get into single user mode, and zapped the NVRAM. Should have checked the disks before rebooting, because I haven't been able to get back into single user mode again.
I took out/moved around the PCI cards.
I took out/moved around the eight DIMMs.
I emptied everything out and cleaned it as much as I could.
I moved the system drive to the other bay.
I removed the system drive and tried to boot from the external and the DVD.
Nothing has worked.
My fear is that the computer has, in the last month, suffered a failure of either the video card or (shudder) the logic board. Or maybe the firmware has gotten corrupted somehow, since the startup sequence seems to be weird. If it's that, however, I can't figure out how to reset it, since I can't seem to get the computer to start in single user mode.
HELP!

Half height AA PRAM batteries can be found at Radio Shack. The half height AA battery is purple and made by a company called Tandrian. They are more expensive from the Shack.
Here's another online source for the PRAM battery that is much cheaper.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/BAA36VPRAM/

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