IMac does not boot beyond apple logo - help

My circa 2006 Intel-processor iMac does not get beyond the white screen with the Apple logo and the spinning wheel when I power it on. As per other support documents (Article: HT1533; discussion "Mac doesn't boot") I have tried and SMC reset, all of the keyboard controlled reboot options (with no response - and now a disc is stuck in the optical drive), reset the RAM, etc. Apart from taking it to my trusty local Apple store, does anyone have any ideas?
Cheers and thanks in advance. Chris

Please carefully read Apple's Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup advice letter for how to troubleshoot this issue.
Good luck!

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    Graphics Processor: 93 deg. F (34 deg. C)
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