Trouble during start up Powerbook G4

Hi all,

My G4 freezes during startup and appears flashing question mark. I have follow the instruction to use Disk Utility but can't found my HDD drive (80 gig).

I can only repair the dics itself.

I don't want to lose the files inside my drive, is there any way to fix this system?

Thanks for any help, I really appreciate.

have you recently installed any new hardware or software? have you tried booting from the install disc 1 which has disc utility on it? also rty holding down shift during startup. if you recently installed anything thats causing a conflict, this allows you to boot into safe mode/boot with extension off, then you could remove the offending app or hardware.