1. What happens if you hold down the eject key on the keyboard (or hold down F12 for a few seconds)?
Nothing happens I end up back at the desktop
2. Has anything been done to the iMac in terms of upgrades?
No upgrades have been done to the iMac, the computer is only used for writing and sometimes games
3. Has the eject function you're trying to use EVER worked in the past?
No it has been like it for awhile and I have just kept on using it as I live in a remote area and getting access to MAC technicians is hard.
The specs of my computer are iMAC OSX, 1.25 GHz, 768 MB DDR SDRAM, POWER PC G4, syst 10.4.11
thanks for your help and advice