IMac start-up blue-screen issue

I've seen other posts on this, but I'm not sure what to do next (so sorry for the repetition). I have a PPC iMac from late 2005. A few days ago, it froze while the screen saver was running. I held in the power button until it shut off, restarted it, and all seemed fine. Last night it froze while in use. I forced it to power off, but when I tried to power on, it wouldn't start up completely. I saw the gray Apple logo/gears screen, then it froze at a blue screen. What I've tried so far:
1. Disconnected external Firewire drive used for TimeMachine backups. (Possibly unrelated problem - TimeMachine reported "can't complete backup because drive is read-only" last week; errors did not return after I ran repair disk through Disk Utility.)
2. Restarted in safe mode successfully. Wasn't sure exactly what to do then, but I repaired permissions and verified the disk (repair disk selection was grayed out) through Disk Utility. Permission repair found several "issues", which I assume it repaired. Verify disk reported no problems. System Profiler reported that the 1.5 GB RAM installed (original 512 KB plus 1 GB I installed a year or so ago) was OK.
3. Reset SMU.
4. Reset PRAM.
[While I was started in safe mode, I ran ChronoSync to get pretty much everything synced over to my MacBook. I assume I have some good back-ups on my external drive (was backing up the iMac to that, not the MacBook, but the MacBook and iMac were pretty much in sync, anyway). If the iMac is dead, I'm in good shape in terms of recoverability.]
I have not attempted to start the iMac in target disk mode as I wasn't sure what to look for if I did. The iMac, of course, is out of warranty and didn't have AppleCare. My closest Apple Store is 60 miles away, although there is an authorized repair facility in my city. There's a limit to how much money I'd want to put into the iMac, so I was hoping to attempt more diagnosis before going there.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Faye

Update - some quality time with Google last night resulted in a suggestion to install the latest Leopard update with the combo update (I had updated to 10.5.7 with the incremental update). I downloaded the combo update, installed it, and was able to start up my iMac as usual and log into any of the accounts. I shut down the iMac for the night at that point. This evening, I started it up, started iTunes and Safari, and shortly after that, it locked up again and I had to force it to turn off by holding the power button. Note that I had reconnected my printer and external drive (Firewire) after iTunes and Safari were running - not sure if this has anything to do with anything. I reinstalled the 10.5.7 combo update, but the iMac would not get past the blue screen again, unless I started in Safe Mode.
Carolyn - I'm not sure if you're suggesting I run DU from my other Mac (MacBook) in target disk mode or if I should run it from my install disk. I did just run a repair disk from my MacBook, with my iMac in target disk mode. That didn't report any errors (DU says that S.M.A.R.T. status is not supported), but the iMac still won't boot normally. I had tried to boot from my install disk last night without success, but I may not have held down the 'C" key long enough. Do I use the original install disk (Tiger) or should I use my Leopard upgrade disk?
(I have to admit that the news about Snow Leopard being available for Intel machines only is making me wonder if I should let the PPC iMac die with dignity and get a new iMac or stick with just the MacBook, but it will annoy me if it has died at less than 4 years old. I expected better from Apple.)
Thanks,
Faye

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http://zerofour.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/iMac/blackscreen.jpg
http://zerofour.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/iMac/postits.jpg
Message was edited by: Steve Hayes1

Took it into the Apple Store Genius Bar yesterday and very helpful. Yours was the right diagnosis. The logic board needs replacing. They hadn't seen the 'post-it' note effect before. The iMac successfully started up from a firewire hard drive with Leopard, using the 'option' key on startup. However, there were some artifacts on screen (trails) as the Apple Store guy dragged the 'about this computer' around the screen. No dead pixels, so very sure this is a graphic card issue at minimum, possibly something wrong with the OS booting up as well, as this doesn't apparently work off the hard drive, despite being accessible by target mode. Cost will be £350 ($560 US) to fix, or £200 from a third-party supplier. Seems I may get a new iMac instead. So, thanks very much. Hope I can be of help to someone else on here. Happy holidays.

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Hello Danny:
Welcome to Apple discussions.
The "chime" on startup indicates that the Mac has performed a self-test successfully. I that is not present (and since your computer is still under warranty), take it to an Apple store and have them check it under warranty.
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Do NOT attempt to use a Tiger/10.4 Disc to repair anything even if you had one.
"Try Disk Utility
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2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
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http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
If it still reboots to the blue screen, reinstall 10.6.x
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http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399
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IMac start-up blue-screen issue

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