G4 won't boot into OS Please Help

Hi this is my first time posting and I have a dilema,

i have an IBook G4 12", and was dropped by my younger son.The computer still powered on but an icon with a folder and exclamation or question mark(not shure which one)appeard. So I put the install disc in and booted of that and worked but it could not locate a disk drive only the cd drive. So I was sure the drive died with the fall, I went to Fry's and purchased a new 40 gig hard drive, installed it and the computer was able to recognize it, so I proceded to install the OS everytihng seem like it was going to be fixed. Restarted the computer and it never booted the OS, it gets as far as a welcome screen but it takes for ever to get there like over an hour. Once its at the welcome screen it will not allow my to select anything and click on continue. So I am stuck I ran the hardware test and everythin passed. I am not sure were to go from here I don't have the mobey to take it to apple and the warranty ran out already. Any help would be apprecieated. Thanks for reading.