[DM-MUG] 600 MHz iBook refuses to take OS X

[CW Smith]

Mac mystery of the week:

My friend Rose called me a few weeks ago when she was trying to upgrade to
Panther on her 600 MHz iBook.  The machine bombed in the middle of the
install and wouldn't (of course) boot to OSX afterward.  She booted from th=
e
installer CD, and tried again to install OSX, but the machine told her OSX
was already installed.  I showed her how to change the startup folder to
OS9, and she's at least able to use her iBook now.

A couple of weeks later, she brought her iBook to me to see whether I'd hav=
e
any luck.  I began by removing all visible OSX system files and emptying th=
e
trash.  I then tried installing Panther, with exactly the same result.  I
wiped OSX files again and tried installing Puma (10.1).  Again, same result=
.

I then backed up her hard drive to my iPod, wiped her drive clean, and trie=
d
installing Panther again.  Nope.  I wiped her drive clean AGAIN, then tried
Puma.  No way, Jos=E9.

I wiped her drive once more, put her files back on from my iPod, and gave
her iBook back to her in the same condition in which I received it: booting
from OS9, with no OSX.

I suggested to her that Apple had a program for dealing with defective logi=
c
boards on iBooks, and suggested that this may be the root cause of the
problem.  She took it to an Apple dealer in Chicago, who agreed that the
logic board may be to blame.  Apple, on the other hand, says that this is
NOT indicative of a faulty logic board and has washed their hands of it.

What would cause these installation problems?  Are there other files,
perhaps invisible from OS9, that are interfering with the installation
process?  I know her processor and memory are capable of Panther (I have an
old Blueberry iBook that runs Panther without a hiccup), but I'm at a loss
as to what the glitch is that's causing the installation crashes.

Any help in this matter would be much appreciated.

Peace,
CW