My A1000 shows "the hand" to ask for a kickstart disk first (kickstart is written on screen), then shows a hand asking for a workbench disk after the kickstart is loaded.
I had a white screen problem with my A1000, but it showed the white screen before asking for the kickstart disk. The problem was a bad CIA chip. You might want to open up your A1000 and push all the socketed chips into their sockets because they can come loose. Also check that the daughterboard is properly seated (if your machine has one, not all do).
