[X4U] no startup after last update

[Kansas Territory]

PowerMac G4/450   has been running fine for years, update after update.
I haven't been into the office in a couple of weeks..  however when I  
showed up, the computer was running fine. With a list of updates in  
the software update control panel that it wanted to install.

I was running OSX10.4      one of the updates it wanted to install  
was 10.4.1 , also a quicktime update, I think a security update ?   
and maybe an iTunes update ..  anyway I told them all to install.    
installation finished, asked if I wanted to restart.  I clicked  
restart.   now the computer just gets to a gray screen with the Apple  
logo in the middle, and never progresses beyond that.

I tried restarting it..   i've tried completely shutting it down, and  
then start.  Never gets past this gray screen with the apple logo.

I tried starting up with the "s" key held down.. I thought this would  
start it in simple mode or what ever it's called.  but that did  
nothing, same gray screen.

Any suggestions ? !


Kansast