Blue Screen with cursor on launch and after clean 10.5 install

Hello,
An interesting problem cropped up on my iMac G5 (Ambient Light Sensor). The machine booted normally, apple logo, spinning wheel, etc. However, when it reached the blue screen right before the desktop would normally load the machine would stall, and all that would display would be a cursor, which could be moved around the screen.
I inserted the DiskWarrior repair CD and was able to navigate my way through the various tools. Menus, windows, all visible. Restarted the computer same problem.
Inserted the Mac OS X 10.5 DVD, along with the C key, same problem, blue screen.
Installed a fresh copy of 10.5 from another computer via firewire disk mode (both computers were PowerPC). That worked fine, but upon restart exact same problem except I can hear the mac os x 10.5 theme in the background and eventually a short talk about VoiceOver.
I've read a few forms online about how the G5 iMacs can be effected by logic board or video card problems that could result in something like what I'm experiencing. However it seems strange that DiskWarrior works just fine. I've tried resetting the NVRAM (through open firmware), PRAM (command-option-p-r) and the SMU.
Any suggestions to this mystery would be most appreciated. Is it more likely to be a Mac OS X 10.5 problem or a iMac problem?
Best regards.

Sorry, I meant to post this in the G5 iMac form - http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1981037&stqc=true

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