Busted iBook CDROM?

[xineizer]

Last week, we decided to backup and re-install our old white ibook. After backing up all the necessary documents, I proceeded to boot up the ibook via cdrom to facilitate disk formatting and OS reinstallation. During the initial stages of installation, the Panther installer verifies the installation cdrom, but after a certain percentage of verification, it reports that my installation CD maybe damaged. There are no scratches, fingerprints, or other signs of oil or dirt on the disk and I recently used it to reinstall my PB.

I don't have a CDROM cleaner and wasn't able to try and clean the drive. But looking at the drive and the lens, it looks very clean. (Bloom keeps the iBook well kept from dust and dirt).

Anyway, I finally got Panther installed on the iBook. I just told the installer to skip the checking of the installation CDROM. However, my question is...

Is it possible to install OS X from scratch on an iBook from an external CDROM?

I tried it with several brands of USB-based CDROM drives. The iBook will detect the drive and try to boot, but it won't proceed.