iMac keeps chiming

[dbrdrck]

I have a first gen Intel iMac. Two days ago it froze and had to be powered off. On the restart it did the initial start up chime. Then went to the gray screen with the start up chime going off about every 5 seconds. It never gets farther than that. I've tried to reset the SMC. When I tried to zap the PRAM it did the same start up routine as described above. I haven't been able to find any thing on the web about this type of problem.
Any thought or ideas.
Thanks Deny

 

[Nautilus007]

motherboard

motherboard or harddrive, have you replaced your hard drive? 5 years is a long time.

 

[MTI]

It could also be a failed memory module. If you have multiple pieces, try removing/swapping to see if it cures the start up issue.