I had the same problem. The PowerBook saw the PATA hard drive but the option to repair the disk was grayed out. Tried to partition it into smaller sections but it kept failing (timing out). Finally took the whole thing apart and reseated the hard drive and it worked! Thought I was going to have to return the new hard drive but thanks to your correspondence, I was able to get over this hurdle (even though it was 6 months ago!). I am new to this site, but I love it already! Thanks to everyone for your help!!
- Adriane