Kernel Panics on Start-up (iMac)

samk

Registered
Apologies if this thread is formatted incorrectly, I'm new here. I was hoping someone would be able to help with a horrible issue I've been having lately with my iMac.

Recently (in the past few months), there has been kernel panics occurring more and more frequently, although there hasn't been any hardware changes made to computer in this time. A couple weeks ago this problem escalated, only allowing me to use the computer for a few minutes before having another kernel panic. A few days later I was unable to use the computer at all because the kernel panics would happen on start-up (during the loading screen with the grey Apple logo on the white background), no matter what I tried. Also, there are some strange bright coloured pixels showing up on the screen.

I have tried:
- Booting in Safe Mode: Made no difference, kernel panic happened again.
- Booting from Install Disc (by pressing C key on start-up): Made no difference kernel panic happened again.
- Booting from Install Disc (by pressing Option on start-up and selecting disc): Still no change.
- Apple Hardware Test: Claimed there are no problems.
- Using fsck prompt: " ** The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK "

And now am stuck for ideas. There are some extremely important e-mails on that computer that I would love to be able to retrieve.

It is a 24" iMac, Intel version (I think) from about 2006 I'm pretty sure. The original install discs are for Mac OS X 10.4.7. I'm not too sure how to obtain much more information since I can't actually start the computer, but if anyone would know how and needs more information I can try.

Thanks to anyone who'd be able to help, much appreciated.

Sam
 
Sound like it could be the graphics card... (or RAM)
Did you try reseting the PRAM or PMU at any point?
Did you ever install any extra RAM? If, try with the original RAM.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I did reset the PRAM but that didn't make any difference. And I'm not sure if any extra RAM has been installed, would there be any simple way to check?
 
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