I have and early 2009 MacBook with a non-functiional SATA Matshita UJ867A superdrive. I can replace it with the SATA...

The iBook G4 12" and 14" should boot without an optical drive installed. They should also boot without an optical drive AND without a hard drive installed from an external FireWIre volume or NetBoot volume. If it is not booting from the hard drive or an external source after you extracted the optical drive, then you either damaged another component in the process or reinstalled another component or reconnected a cable incorrectly. If you haven't tried to boot from an external volume, try that. You should also make sure that the RAM is seated correctly and that the DC-in cable is connected to the underside of the logic board correctly. All iBooks very much prone to logic board failure, especially the if the computer is handled incorrectly or roughly while disassembled. If that were the case, you computer would power on, but display no video on the screen f through the VGA port. If it doesn't power on, at a check the power connections. Do not cut any corners by leaving out what appear to be redundant screws....

The plastic clips deform easily, making it difficult to reuse them. The tabs on the back of the bezel that fit into the clips also break off easily.

If any of the tabs or clips are omitted, the bezel will not lie flush nor will it hold the cables that run beneath it in place.

Wear gloves while wrangling with the white bezel—like the white topcase, the matte-finish plastic is very porous and quickly gets grubby.