I tried...

[Shlobbs]

Rick, your suggestion was to:
1: Do the cuda reset.
2: Try a restart off the CD. With a blank hard drive you shouldn't have to do anything special to get it to start off the CD.
3: Can't hurt to run PRAM resets however I think doing a cuda reset auto resets the prams anyway.
4: Rerun drive setup and initialize your drive again, then load your OS on it if you get to that point.

I did the CUDA reset, and the computer won't start up off the CD. I get messages that say "bus error" or "address error" every time.

[lasvegas]

This would have been much easier to respond to if you had simply continued the original thread (http://www.macgurus.com/ubb/Forum26/HTML/000114.html).

Reading back, there are a couple of additional solutions to try.

1) Boot the computer with a Mac OS CD in the drive. Hold down Command-Option-Shift-Delete until the Finder icons appear. This will prevent the apparently corrupt driver from the ATA drive from ever loading. Run Drive Setup in the CDs Utility folder and Initialize the drive.

2) If you're still unable to boot the CD using this trick, then open the computer and remove the power connector from the hard drive. This is the cable with the Red, Yellow and two Black wires. Once removed, boot with the Mac OS CD in the drive. No need to hold any keys since the CD is the only bootable drive. Once booted, carefully plug the hard drive's power cable back in. Yes. Do this with the computer running! Now, run the Drive Setup to initialize the hard drive.

Now. If both of the above fail. IE: The system locks as soon as the drive is accessed. Then the drive is dead and needs to be replaced.