The Boot.img for the mini and all other Mac Systems is stored inside a drawer named macboot or something like that.

The auto eject behavior is strange. Normally the cd stays in there forever until you press left mouse button during startup or ejecting it by using an open firmware command. That's also the reason why bigfoot told you to unplug the mouse, as sometimes OF has problems with a device what may result in a all/some buttons pressed result.

Press the alt key until you get into this ugly graphical menu. Now insert the cd. If it appears, try booting. No clue if the menu supports inserting a disk at that sate, but its worth a try.

I would personally burn the cd again, using another media. It still my be a media problem, even if the cd appears on desktop with 2.5. The open firmware is less tolerant in rereads and the drives are known to be failing.

EDIT: nice you got it to boot. Still strange why it didn't by default.

Geit

[ Edited by geit on 2010/10/19 12:41 ]