i got this flashing question mark, i did some research into this and found out that the hard drive is the cause

You do not mention which iBook model it is (nor the operating system version). It may not be a bad idea to try resetting the PRAM and the Power Management Unit to begin with. Take a look at the articles http://support.apple.com/us-en/HT204063 (for NVRAM on newer Macs, but basically the same) and http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1431.

Jan

There often were more than one build of Apple computer per model number designation...

In the instance of iBook (white dualUSB) there appear to be two with number A-1007.

And both of these were 14-inch display models.

•iBook G3/800 14-Inch (32 VRAM - Tr) 800 MHz PowerPC 750fx (G3)

•iBook G3/900 14-Inch (Early 2003 - Op) 900 MHz PowerPC 750fx (G3)

•Apple iBook Specs (All iBook Technical Specs) for entire series - everymac:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/ibook/index-ibook.html

There are a few fairly good repair guides online, some on http://iFixit.com site.

Here's the link to the early iBook G3 series, includes color + white dualUSB.

If your iBook is a 14-inch G3 white dualUSB model that one is there, too:

•iBook G3 Repair guides - iFixit:

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iBook_G3

Either of these may be able to run a system no later than OS X Tiger 10.4.11.

So a system install disc set could be used to troubleshoot, install, restore &

prepare a replacement hard drive for a new system.

Not certain what the issues are behind your situation, there may be more than

meets the eye. Some models of iBook were more prone to hardware problems

and as they age, fewer opportunities to affordably repair them exist.

Good luck in resolving the iBook G3 issues...! 🙂

>it boots from the CD but Does not locate the hard drive

Does this also mean that Disk Utility (or another disk utility on a CD) was used without the hard drive being recognised/listed?

Jan

Without an externally (FW) enclosed hard drive or second Mac which may be used

with FireWire Target Disk Mode, troubleshooting the internal hard drive in a PPC Mac

may be difficult. These prefer to boot from FireWire external drives; and a new install

could be put on one, if correctly formatted for use, and if the FW drive has a chip-set

in the enclosure that is recognized by the computer's hardware & OS X.

The internal hard disk drive and cable, may be worth looking into. A replacement of

each could be warranted as part of the troubleshooting; given the access problems

in opening up these iBook computers, additional damage may result.

Sorry to not have a specific answer to your question(s).

Good luck in any event...! 😐