I finally got my iMac G4 up and running. I installed 9.2.2 on a USB external hard drive via my G3. Starting up the G4 with the button pressed, the G4 did recognize the USB hard drive, and the DVD combo drive still would not operate, so I opened up the case (as many of you may know, there's a lot packed into that small dome). I removed and tested the hard drive, and it would not respond. I removed the hard drive with the good OS install from the USB external case and installed it into the G4. When I fired up the G4 it started right up, and the DVD combo worked as well. Apparently whatever happened to the hard drive effected the operation of the hard drive, no idea why. Thanks to all for your suggestions. I have found that a G3 and a G4 will boot off of USB device with an operating system properly installed.