Powerbook G4 cdrom drive conundrum

Hi,

I have a Powerbook G4 with an empty HDD.

I've been attempting to install a fresh copy of tiger, but the it will not boot from the CD drive. While holding down option at boot it brings up nothing.

Now, I know the drive works to some degree as it was able to explore and run the install CD while in OS X.

The install CD is 10.2, though I don't think that would affect anything.

My question: is the drive broken has anyone seen/repaired this before? If unrepairable what alternatives are there for installing a new system?

Thanks in advance,

Deafstep

Hi deafstep
You say you held down the option key to boot the disc up. Its the C key you hold down to boot up from your disc at start up.

Hears the best way to do it.

1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the Erase tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Highlight the drive, select Erase Tab, then Format type... MacOS Extended Journalled, select the Security Options button, choose Zero Out Data, Erase... after completion hopefully you'll be able to install.

I hope this helps you.