PowerBook G4 won't turn on, quiet "zap" sound

I just got a charger for my Powerbook G4 15" A1138, and before replacing my hard drive, I plugged it in and it turned right on like it's supposed to. It booted to the white screen with the question mark, as there was no hard drive installed at the time.

After waiting a few days for a hard drive, I installed the hard drive and plugged it in and tried to turn it on. Nothing happened.

I have been trying to get it to do something, and it is totally lifeless. I press the power button and absolutely nothing happens. I've tried holding it and nothing. Tried turning it on without the RAM, without the hard drive, without the battery, and nothing works.

I want to try to test the power adapter, but I'm not exactly sure how to do it without arcing the positive to negative in the connector. I hear the adapter itself whistle sometimes if I listen closely, but it doesn't do it all the time. Maybe it's faulty? It's an aftermarket charger from eBay.

And yes, it is a 65W charger.

After trying again to get it to work just now, I noticed a small "zap" or "click" sound coming from around the power button area on the palmrest, obviously from inside the computer. I can't tell, it may be the Superdrive, but it sounds further towards the display than that.

It's consistent, giving a small "zap" sound every couple seconds while the charger is plugged in. It's very strange, and with all the Macbooks I've had, I've never had this happen before.

Any ideas as to why this thing won't turn on?

Update- I did notice that when I press on the keyboard/palmrest main connector a little bit (feels kind of loose) I got the power light to flicker. I think my problem may be with the connector for the keyboard.

Update (07/18/2018)

Update... I tried control + option + shift + power button for 10 seconds, then pressed the power button and the white light lit up for a second and cut off abruptly. After trying it again, I got no response.

I tried once again without the hard drive installed and no changes... couldn't get it to light up again.

I checked the PRAM battery and it's puffed up. Could that be the problem? When the computer is plugged in there is a buzzing noise coming from it like it's getting/giving power, but I don't know if that's good or bad.

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What happens when you take the HD out again. Does it start up like before with the blinking question mark?

I will try once more, but IIRC I tried it and it didn't change how it acted.

Any ideas? Still haven't gotten anywhere.

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