IMac ate DVD, now won't boot...

Hi,
After using iDVD I had the dreaded "ate the disc" issue, with the typical grinding noise and the lack of ejection. I figured I would play it safe, power down the machine so it wouldn't be reading it, and boot it up again and eject it using the keyboard / mouse button options that are suggested here.
Except it won't boot at all.
I'm stuck on a grey screen, the HD does nothing, and the DVD drive grinds from the instant the power is on.
I have literally no options that I can think of - it just sits and grinds and does nothing, won't boot, won't target disk, won't do anything. None of the hold-buttons-at-start will do anything, because the machine won't get that far. The drive starts grinding before the screen even lights up.
Help!
Message was edited by: productiondesignermatt
Message was edited by: productiondesignermatt

Ok, now it appears to have booted, but the disk is still in there. I'm doing a full Time Machine backup (justincase), but after that... what to do?
I really can't be without this machine for two weeks and it was a custom order so a replacement isn't going to happen.
As someone who works for Apple's biggest UK reseller, am I seriously having to reconsider whether I even want to work there any more - no reflection on my employers, obviously, but this is 3 bad machines I've had from Apple in one year and the return rate I've started seeing on hardware is utterly appalling.
The nosedive in quality after using them for over 8 years is simply astonishing.

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Quote from: erikFC on 05-November-07, 23:41:04
I updated the P965 Platinum BIOS to 1.7 and my system stopped booting. After much experimentation I discovered it would boot if I unplugged the monitor and mouse, so I was able to "upgrade" to 1.6, and it's working again. However, the first time it booted blind with 1.7 it got all the way to Windows before I realized what happened.
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Hi,
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>>Clear CMOS<< and try with just one stick of ram. Also try without any drives or USB devices to see if board posts at all.

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