Archive & Install hangs

I've got an iBook G4 (PowerPC) with OS X 10.3.9 that no longer boots. The helpful genius bar guy "booted" it in firewire mode (making up terms here) and found that the data files are intact. Diagnosis was a corrupt OS on the hard drive - prescription was to "archive and install" using the original disks. I actually HAVE THEM! They are 10.3.5. I have plenty of space on the drive.

Three times now I have attempted to archive and install, and every time it hangs. I get to the screen that says "Preparing the Disk" at the top. Below the graphical bar that shows how far along it is it says "Checking Target Volume Consistency". Every time it has climbed to "100% completed", but then it hangs - even though the hard drive is still busy busy busy doing who knows what.

Two other details: the graphical bar indicating progress never gets beyond the very beginning of the bar - just a tiny sliver of light blue during the climb to 100%. ALSO, I have run the "test disk", and it checks out OK.

Please help!

How long have you let it run?

First time? About an hour, I guess. I've been less patient with subsequent attempts... 10-20 minutes? BTW, climb to 100% while "preparing the disk" seems slow - maybe 5 minutes to get from 0 to 100%.

Should I be waiting longer? Have you any idea what's happening after it hits 100% as the hard drive keeps chugging away?

Thanks!

Try clicking on Window in the menu bar and select installation log. Choose to show all logs from the drop down menu, and see what it says. The current operation should be at the very bottom. This could give you a clue as to what is happening. I would say it is busy doing something if you can hear the disk working. If you have a corrupt installation, it may take some time for the installer to work it all out.

You may be on to something. Here's what's happening:

During the "select a destination" step in the "Install Max OS X" procedure, my "Macintosh HD" icon comes up with a yellow triangle with a white "!" in it. At this time, and before I select the hard drive, the error log says

bootstrap_look_up(): unknown error code

Then, when I select the hard drive, the warning message prints in the lower portion of the installation window. It says

You cannot install Mac OS X on this volume without changing your install settings. Click Options to change settings. A new version of Mac OS X is installed.

Also, at this time, the error log includes TWO lines that are duplicates (except that one is timestamped three seconds later). They say:

Installer[108] Essentials couldn't be installed because "A new version of Mac OS X is installed."

Then I select "options", using "Archive and Install", with "Preserve Users and Network Settings" selected, and click "OK".

It gives me this message in the lower window:

You have selected to move the files in the System folder on this volume to a folder named "Previous System" and save existing settings and user accounts. After installing a new version of Mac OS X, your existing settings and user accounts will be restored.

I then "continue" and get the "easy install" window, which asks me to have Mac OS X Install Disc 2 ready... I've got it, but I've never gotten to the point where it asked me to use it.

That's when I click "install", and it starts by "checking your installation disc", which creeps to 100% over the course of about 10 minutes, automatically followed by "Preparing the Disk" with a progress bar that never seems to get past 1% (just a tiny blue sliver on the left), yet over the course of the next 5 or so minutes the "X" climbs from 0 to 100% in the text line "Checking Target Volume Consistency: X% Completed".

And then it hangs again.

The install disks I have are 10.3.5, but I've apparently done some automatic updates to bring the OS X on the hard drive to 10.3.9... which I presume is why it's telling me there's "a newer version".

Any suggestions?