IMac starts in the background but all I see is a stalled spinning wheel

Hi All,
I'm hoping you can help me track down the problem with my Intel iMac (running Snow Leopard).
Basically, when I try to start it up, the spinning wheel freezes after a few seconds AND then I hear the sound of Skype starting up in the background. However, I don't see anything except for the gray screen with the stalled spinning wheel and the Apple logo.
It looks like the OS has started running in the background, however, it's not showing it on screen.
I've tried to reinstall the OS, run it in Safe Mode, reset PRAM, HOWEVER, nothing works - i never get passed the gray screen and the stalled spinning wheel.
Someone mentioned this might be due to corrupted/dead RAM chips...
Hope you can help me!
Thank you!!!
e

If you think there may be a hardware problem, run the Apple hardware test. Choose the extended test when prompted. You'll need your original OS X disks, and the test will take awhile to complete.
You may have seen this Apple note on a gray screen at startup, as you've done some of the steps.

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