iMac won't boot.

[i4Collin]

I was using my iMac, and accidentally unplugged it. When I plugged it back in and tried to reboot it, it got stuck at the gray screen with the Apple logo and the spinning wheel. I rebooted it, but it still wouldn't go past that screen.

I've tried:
Unplugging it for more than 30 seconds
It wouldn't boot into recovery mode
Repairing the disk

I erased the disk, and tried re-installing Lion. The installation quit itself the first time, and the second time the progress bar wouldn't budge. Now I'm trying for a third time to get the installation to work, and this time the progress bar is moving very slowly and the predicted time keeps getting longer. I have AppleCare. Is there anything else I can try before taking it in to the store? It is a mid 2010 3.06 with Lion 10.7.3.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I was using my iMac, and accidentally unplugged it. When I plugged it back in and tried to reboot it, it got stuck at the gray screen with the Apple logo and the spinning wheel. I rebooted it, but it still wouldn't go past that screen."

This is why you maintain a -second- bootable, external drive as an "emergency drive".

You can get a USB/SATA "dock" for about $25, and get a "bare" 3.5" (or even 2.5") drive to go into it. You use the free "CarbonCopyCloner" app to create a "bootable clone" of your internal onto the docked drive (note: Apple's Time Machine backup utility CANNOT create a bootable backup drive). Once done, you have a fully bootable drive that can boot your disabled Mac in a matter of a minute or two. Then you can "to to work" on the damaged internal drive.

I realize you probably don't have that now.

But as they say, "once burned, twice shy"....