Will the system mount the OS discs once it's booted? If not, the drive may not work with burned (CD-R/DVD±R) media (if that's what you're trying to use)
Watch OS versions- that model will natively boot 9.0.2-10.4.11.
Have you tried these three methods of booting from optical disc?
1. Choose in Startup Disk control panel, reboot
2. Hold down 'C' during power on
3. Hold down Alt/Option during power on, then choose disc in Startup Manager
As you speculated, this could be a security feature. If a firmware password is set, it can block booting from optical media. It WILL prevent the PRAM from being reset. To remove the protection, you need to do the following:
Force Removing Password Protection
1) Add or remove DIMMs to change the total amount of RAM in the computer.
2) Then, the PRAM must be reset 3 times. (Command + Option + P + R).
From http://www.securemac.com/openfirmwarepasswordprotection.php
What version of Mac OS is running and giving you the Sound issue? In OS9, I suspect a damaged or incompatible Sound control panel, in OS X, a filesystem permissions issue.
Watch OS versions- that model will natively boot 9.0.2-10.4.11.
Have you tried these three methods of booting from optical disc?
1. Choose in Startup Disk control panel, reboot
2. Hold down 'C' during power on
3. Hold down Alt/Option during power on, then choose disc in Startup Manager
As you speculated, this could be a security feature. If a firmware password is set, it can block booting from optical media. It WILL prevent the PRAM from being reset. To remove the protection, you need to do the following:
Force Removing Password Protection
1) Add or remove DIMMs to change the total amount of RAM in the computer.
2) Then, the PRAM must be reset 3 times. (Command + Option + P + R).
From http://www.securemac.com/openfirmwarepasswordprotection.php
What version of Mac OS is running and giving you the Sound issue? In OS9, I suspect a damaged or incompatible Sound control panel, in OS X, a filesystem permissions issue.