Startup problem - won't boot from startup disk

I have a MacPro 1,1 with 2 hard disks and 3 volumes. Disk 1 has Tiger and disk 2 has Snow Leopard plus a windows partition for Boot Camp. I am the sole user in both versions of OSX and in both accounts I have the startup disk set to Snow Leopard. Recently when I start the machine it doesn't get past the blank grey screen unless I hold the Option key to show the 3 volumes when I can pick and go.
I've run Disk Utility and repaired permissions yet nothing is fixed.
The only thing I've changed recently is to have upgraded my copy of Cinema 4D but I hardly think that can be to blame. Any suggestions?

Yes. As I wrote in my first post I am the only account holder in both my OSX volumes, Tiger and Snow Leopard, and in both I have Snow Leopard nominated as the start-up volume. Also, in my Windows XP partition (on the same hard disk as Snow Leopard) I have Snow Leopard nominated as the start-up volume in the Boot-Camp control panel. So everything I can think of in every volume on my machine is pointing towards "start in Snow Leopard", only it seems to be having trouble doing that.
As I mentioned before, if I command a restart it works OK, but if the machine is off and I press the button I get the grey screen and I have to power it off with the button then boot with the Option key to see the three volumes.
Disk Utility - Repair Disk run from my installation disk or from my hard disk reports that the disk appears fine. I have repaired permissions from my hard disk to the point that it doesn't report any repair at all.
The MacPro used to start up fine but something has changed, only I have no idea what. I was hoping someone here might be able to tell me it's this or that.

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{ edited 2x }

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Power Mac G5 1.8GHz Mac OS X (10.4)

tracey0808-
Greetings and welcome to the Apple boards.
Bummer about your machine. I have heard of service facilities using what we call "the shotgun approach" when repairing a G5. I am not convinced it is necessary.
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My Mum has an iMac G3 CRT, running at 500MHz, with 1GB RAM, a 20GB HD, & a slot-loading internal CD-RW.
The iMac in question is the model described here: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac500indigo.html
She only uses the machine for email & web browsing, but because it runs OS 9, it won't run a modern web browser (it's stuck on Internet Explorer 5.1.7) so lots of websites don't load properly or work at all. This is fair enough as IE for the Mac hasn't been updated since 2001.
My idea was to upgrade the machine from OS 9.2.2 to (ideally) 10.4.11, or failing that, 10.3.9, which would then let her use the current version of Safari, or possibly even Firefox. (Any thoughts on which would be easier for a currently IE-using technically-challenged pensioner would be welcome, although I prefer Safari myself, despite its shortcomings).
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As Tiger comes on a DVD (I have the retail/generic version) and the iMac has no DVD drive, I borrowed a friends external LaCie FireWire DVD-RW drive (the Porsche styled one). The DVD mounted first time, and the Startup Disk control panel let me select it.
When I restarted, I got the initial OS X pale grey screen with the dark grey Apple logo in the centre, with the spinning circle thing below, but after a minute or so, I could hear the DVD stop spinning in the drive, and a few seconds later the dark grey Apple logo changed into a dark grey "circle with a line through it" logo, with the normal circle thing still spinning below. This is how things stayed for many minutes, so I just restarted with the external drive off, and eventually got back to a normal 9.2.2 boot-up.
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At this point I gave up on Tiger and tried to use the first of 3 Panther CDs that I have. These 3 CDs are burnt copies that came with my own Mac and contain version 10.3.2.
The CD refused to be selectable in the Startup Disk control panel. It's icon was greyed out, and so I couldn't boot from it. I tried running the "Install Mac OS X" application on the CD from within OS 9, but got the same error with the 2 in brackets when I clicked the "Restart" button, just like with the Tiger DVD.
Initially, I suspected that these Panther discs might be machine-specific, rather than the retail/generic version, because of the first CD being greyed-out in the Startup Disk control panel, but then the error dialogue that matched the one I got when I tried the Tiger DVD makes me think that my Panther CDs might be generic after all. Examining the first CD on my own Mac, it appears to be generic, but I'm not 100% sure, as the CDs are copies and as such don't have the usual identifying information on the labels. There are no machine-specific files that I can find on the first CD, which is dated January 9th 2004.
Various websites mention that when Tiger was current, Apple would swap a retail copy of the DVD for a set of CDs. I've looked on eBay but not been able to find any. This doesn't surprise me though, as there will be very few copies of Tiger on CD out there, and even fewer copies that people would want to sell.
There are a few retail copies of Panther available on CD, but if my current burnt copies of these discs are in fact generic, then buying a new set would make no difference. Besides, I'd prefer to use Tiger.
The Tiger minimum requirements (see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1514) say:
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If anyone has any suggestions I'd be much obliged!
Thanks.

The problem is now solved, but I'm not sure how I managed it, unfortunately.
Having read the article at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75430, I checked both my Tiger DVD and my first Panther CD, and neither had the firmware updater on them, despite what the article said, so I downloaded it. However I was sure I'd applied a firmware update to the iMac a long time ago, and the 4.1.9 version number seemed familiar.
When I checked, I had in fact already applied the firmware update a few years ago!
I tried running the "Mac OS X Install" application on the Tiger DVD from within 9.2.2 again, and got the same error message as before. I was wrong about the error code though. It was minus 2 in brackets, not 2 in brackets.
The full text of the error message is:
An error occurred.
"Startup Disk was unable to select the
install CD as the startup disk. (-2)"
I tried selecting the DVD manually in the Startup Disk control panel (as before) and running the application again gave the same error message (also as before).
I then went into Extensions Manager to see if there was anything there that might be interfering with things. The only thing that caught my eye was the LaCie SilverLining control panel (which I think was version 6.4.5a). This was something that originally came on a floppy disk accompanying an external hard drive that I used to use years ago at a place I worked, and I used to find it invaluable back in the OS 9 G1 Power Mac magneto-optical external drive days!
I couldn't remember what it was doing on the iMac, but I switched it off, and then clicked "Restart", hoping that when I rebooted (in OS 9) the error message wouldn't come up when I ran the "Mac OS X Install" application.
However, I'd forgotten that I'd switched the Startup Disk control panel to the DVD, so when the iMac restarted, the initial OS X dark grey Apple logo screen appeared, and I expected the dark grey "circle with a line through it" logo to appear shortly afterwards, but it didn't! The iMac booted up from the DVD, which then let me install Tiger! I was then able to apply the 10.4.11 update, plus all the others that Software Update provided. About half a dozen restarts and several hours later, the iMac is now fully updated & configured, favourites are copied over to Safari 3.1.2, and all I have to do is teach my Mum how to use the OS X Finder, Mail & Safari, as opposed to the OS 9 Finder, Outlook Express & Internet Explorer...
Switching off the SilverLining control panel seemed to do the trick, but since the iMac then rebooted from the DVD, not the internal hard disk, I don't see how it could have possibly had any bearing on things! Very weird!
Anyway, thanks to Allan Jones & spudnuty for their advice. All's well that ends well!

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Can't repair disk/Won't boot from install disk

Apologies in advance for how not-tech savvy I am.
I was trying to create a partition using bootcamp but the partition failed and it told me to repair disk using disk utility.
When I try to boot from the install dvd by holding down C the computer just gets stuck in a loop. It turns on, chimes, makes a whurring noise and then restarts again. I can select the install disk by holding down the option key but it does the same thing. If I try to safe boot it comes up with a flashing folder and a question mark.
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Message was edited by: lizrd91

You would have to be booting from either a newer version retail OS X 10 install DVD
than whatever your computer shipped with, or that original specific disc set it first had.
No other computer's model/build specific restore-install disc set can do this job, since
it would not be correct and can't boot the computer. The wrong software set is on it.
There may be some way to attempt to boot into Single User mode and try fsck...
• Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417
• OSXFAQ - Technical stuff for OS X: how to use 'fsck'
http://www.osxfaq.com/dailytips/07-2002/07-31.ws
There are odd instances where users have applied incorrect use of Boot Camp
to install a Windows version in their Mac, and in so doing, erased or damaged
the OS X partition on their computer's hard disk drive. This is why it is a great
idea to perform maintenance and also keep a complete bootable OS X clone
on an externally enclosed hard disk drive, of the Mac's system & apps.
If you had a current version of DiskWarrior on its own disc media, that may be
able to help fix or restore some file system issues in a hard disk drive.
Perhaps there is more you can do, but frankly if I wanted Windows, there are
tons of old PCs out there awaiting recycle from which to choose. (Not 4 me!)
Good luck & happy computing!
+{PS: Hi there in the down-under ... from here, in the up-over!}+

Startup problem - won't boot from startup disk

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