PLEASE HELP! OS X v10.3.9 - Grey screen with question mark on startup.

Hi All

I have a Mac PowerBook G4 running Panther OS X v10.3.9 and after the laptop crashing a couple of times and having to force shut down, I tried switching it on again and I now just have a grey screen with a small icon of a folder and a flashing question mark on it.

I believe I have to follow these steps, but my main concern is that I have a lot of very important files on my laptop that I haven't yet had a chance to back up onto an external hard drive. I'm unsure if following the steps mentioned by Apple support is likely to erase any of my files on the hard drive.

Is there any way of transferring my files before using the Restore Disk? I've already tried to transfer by connecting to another Mac via firewire and holding 'T' on startup (on my laptop), but the other Mac says it can't read the connected drive.

I am a total novice on the technical side of Macs, so can anyone explain the easiest and most simple way for me to do this? I am in a real panic as I can't risk losing my files!

Thanks in advance,
Asanta Rai

yes, there is

...hope. Since you're a novice i won't tell you to strip ur mac to get ur HDD out.
What you cand do is boot your mac in Target mode, by pressing the T key after u turn it on. To do that you need a couple of things:
- another apple computer running OS
- firewire cable
You connect those macs, one running normally and your mac in target mode. This way, your mac will appear and function as an external HDD, unless the HDD is broken.
that's the easiest way out. Hope you can solve it this way.

Hi Eagle 29 - thanks for your reply. Since I originally posted, I tried doing as you suggested, but the other Mac says "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" once I've attached my PowerBook in Target mode.

I spoke to a few other people who said I do need to use my Restore Disk to get my Mac up and running again. So I have also tried this (inserting the disc and holding C key as it starts up), but nothing happens! I still have the grey screen with the flashing question mark on it. I've also tried starting up in Safe Mode, but same screen every time.

Nothing I do seems to work...have you (or anyone else) heard of this before!?!

Thanks
AR

Update: I have just discovered I can open my Mac in Open Firmware by pressing cmd+opt+o+f. Is there any way I can back-up my files to another Mac from this screen (using Firewire or Ethernet), or initialize the Restore disk from it?