i have a powerbook that has gone haywire. i have both os 9 and x. can't boot in x at all, can in 9 sometimes. sometimes i get the four 'beeps' on startup (won't startup after beeps). if i unplug the power and let it sit for a few minutes, i can reboot, though only in os 9. (restart won't work at all.) i did the usual pram reset, of course. i think it may be hardware related, but am not convinced since i can reboot in os 9 if the computer has been idle without power and can boot from the cd. once booted, the computer works fine.

if i do try to boot from os x, i get the smiley face in the beginning, but the computer locks up shortly thereafter, while the little circular mouse pointer is in the top, left-hand corner rotating. help!?!?

It seems your OSX has become corrupt, I'd probably try to backup your important stuff, and reinstall.