[X4U] Can't startup in Single User mode

[ksimones at spymac.com]

Hello all.
I'm posting for a friend who can't startup in single user mode and I don't have
any answers for him. I thought he may have a bad keyboard, but he tried a new one
and still doesn't work (cmd+s during startup).

He has a G5 1.8 1 gig ram, and says that it has always done some crazy things
since he got it that the 3 he uses at work don't do. Kernal panics, all the fans
turn on and crash the system, etc. He's booted from CD and ran disk utility and
permissions fixed 2-3 times until nothing was needed. The only way he can boot
from CD is to choose it from the startup control panel - Holding down "c" during
startup doesn't work.

Below is the text he sent me:

>Tried unplugging everything - network - no mouse - new keboard - 
>new mouse - all usb ports - yadda
>
>Took out all ram tried each pair in current sockets then moved 
>sockets still nothing
>
>Stock system nothing added extra - rechecked all connections 
>and everything else works 100%
>
>Up to date on everything and firmware 5.1.5f2 most up to date 
>and reinstalled again after last system update 10.3.9


Any help would be greatly appreciated. It's strange that such a basic level task
can't be done on his machine.. One thing I just thought of and haven't suggested
to him is to reset the system via the CUDA button or remove the battery.
Is there anything anyone can think of for this one?

TIA,
Kevin