Thanks for the info guys. I finally had some time to look at this machine again and I think the DVD drive is bad.

But first ...

If he's getting a grey screen, then later a disk or folder with a blinking question mark, obviously it needs a valid OS installed.

Click to expand...

This is what confused me. No blinking question mark, just a grey screen. As discussed I was worried that it was also a hard disk size problem.

I power up the machine and hold down the mouse button to get the optical drive to eject. It ejects and I insert a retail Tiger DVD and it just makes repetitive noises as if it is trying to recognize the media. I guess this means I need to find a new optical drive. What optical drives can be used with an iMac G4? I have a ATA DVD drive laying around here somewhere. Can I just use any old ATA drive and have it work? Do I need to modify the drive door at all for it to fit?

The HDD has been zeroed so there is no partition map and if the optical drive is unresponsive then I guess that explains why it never gets to the blinking question mark.

I am not used to dealing with the iMac G4s and after the experience of taking this thing apart I am not exactly a fan.