iMac does not boot - hearing strange noise.

[buttercup]

So this morning my 20" intel iMac appeared to be sleeping. This is strange since I have it set not to sleep. When I tried to wake it I got nothing. I reset it and now when it boots the sleep light comes on but the screen does not (no chime ether) - I do however hear a strange ticking noise as though it is attempting to read the disk drive (no cd is in it.)

Has anyone seen this problem? I know there is already a similar thread on this but it was resolved and seemed to be related to an install issue and not a hardware failure which I suspect to be the culprit.

Here is what I have tried so far:
1. Unplugged all devices.
2. Unplugged computer for 1 minute to reset it, tried again.
3. Booted holding down apple+option+P+R
4. Inserted the Tiger install disk and held down C when it booted.
(now that there is a disk in the drive it no longer makes the ticking sound..)

I have called apple and I am going to take it in - just wondering if anyone knows what I should expect?

(BTW, this is my third apple computer and I have had to have them all serviced. I have also owned two ipods both of which I have had to have replaced for dead hard drives. I really want to love them unconditionally but it is becoming hard. sniff sniff.)

 

[Roy Hobbs]

My 20 inch iMac did the same thing, one week after I got it.
Hard drive was dead. Called Apple they sent me a new iMac and I sent the
other back

 

[buttercup]

Damn, damn. I need that data!

And yes, I know I should've been backing up more regularly.. but I was in the middle of a project that I just started a few weeks ago.

I should find out in the next 24 hours.. I paid for a queue jump. Cross your fingers for me

 

[buttercup]

It's the logicboard. And they need to order a part.. so it will be a few days. Sigh.

Damn - how many logicboards can one person have die?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/145456/