[G4] problem starting 12" iBook in safe mode

[Maretta Holden]

Hi -

Last year I purchased a 12" (?13") iBook for my grandaughter to use 
at my house.
I set it up with her as a regular user and myself as the administrator.

This week I wanted to perform some maintenance using the AppleJack 
shell script and was unable to start the iBook up in single user 
mode. It appears that the power button is a little sticky and the 
coordination of apple-S with power on to get into single user mode is 
not engaging.

Has anyone experienced this problem? If so, is there a known fix. 
There is an Apple Store nearby if a hardware 'fix' is necessary.

- Maretta