Backing up from a dying (?) Quiksilver G4 tower

[LtPage1]

G4 tower starts up, but stays at the blinking ?-folder icon. When I start it up holding the T key, to start it in Firewire target disk mode, it shuts down a few seconds after the startup chime, while the screen is still black.
I have access to a Firewire enclosure, but I can't get the drive from the G4 to mount, on my G4 Powerbook (running Leopard).

What am I doing wrong?

edit: tower is running 10.3.

 

[bearxor]

Possibility that the hard drive is completely dead? Do you have another hd laying around to test functionality of target disk mode and your firewire enclosure?

 

[LtPage1]

Hm. I'll give it a try- I can hear the drive spinning up, so I didn't even think of that. I'd be surprised, though.