Very odd, Blank screen with mouse arrow only. Any help please...

Sorry, typo, 10.5.6

I do have the f/w restore CD and when pressing "c" upon boot up it does nothing, I can here the DVD drive but still the screen remains the whiteish gray and all I can see is the mouse arrow. The arrow does move via the mouse.

Note: Generally when I press the power button to shut down if I have to it takes a couple of seconds, now it a fraction of a second and powers off.

I've now tried to reset PRAM by the option/cmd/P/R keys and the little white button inside. Also, left the power plug out over-night. All to no avail.

Thank you for helping.
Tom

Thank you but no good. I can hear the CD drive spin up but that's it. Remains a white screen.

I've also completely elimated the possibility of RAM as a problem.
Any other suggestions please? This is my machine for photos etc., and I really can't afford to bring her in.

Thank you.

Mr. Brody, that's an excellent idea that I've not thought of. However it did not work.

Something to note:
a) I have to use my second DVD drive as I can't get my first open. So I'm wondering if it's getting by the first DVD drive.

b) I plugged in only one external drive, my tech tools edrive and it won't even allow me to "option" boot to it.

It seems to turn on, white screen, mouse arrow, the DVD drive goes high and then goes down, then nothing.

Thank you so much for trying to help. Really greatful.
Tom

Thank you but doubt thats my issue, I've been having problems with that drive reading DVD's for about a year.

Do you have any ideas how to get it open besides the eject button?

I'm really hurting. I have a huge charity even soon and will need to process a LOT of Medium format images. (Big files) for customers. Something my laptop won't be able to handle.

To have to have a genius bar look at this would kill me. Plus being disabled, it's VERY tough to transport.... yuk.

Thanks so much.
Tom

P.S. Would the display card going bad have these same symptoms?

I could not agree more. However not too long ago I became very ill and it wiped out my savings. I mean every penny. And raising a 13 year old boy on top of that means food on the table and a home sometimes has to take the 1st priority. But I hear you.

Do you have any more trouble shooting tips I might explore?

Thank you so much again.
Tom