Kernel Panic then restart 4 beeps and fans

[virtuoso06]

Hey everyone. I just gave my powerbook G4 1.5gHz to my mom (I got a new macbook) and there was nothing wrong with it. She must have the touch of death because as soon as I gave it to her, she started getting kernel panics and upon restart, there were 4 beeps from the internal speaker and then the fans would roar. Now I read that this means something about the ROM not being recognized, but I'm not to sure on what this means. I thought maybe it meant that the hard drive wasn't seated properly or the cable was loose, so I opened it up and re-seated the cable. Booted it up, same thing. I removed the airport card and ram one at a time, everything worked properly. I don't understand what's going on, does anyone think they could shed some light on this situation? Thanks so much!