ibook g4 will not boot grey screen with wheel

I have an ibook G4 that will not boot. It gets as far as the grey screen with the spinning wheel and after 30mins has not moved beyond that point.

Any suggestions?

I've already tried holding down the power button then the option, command, p and r keys and after 30secs there is still no second chime or third for that matter.

it also will not boot into safe mode.

Before this point, i was having problems restarting. In a situation that i now deeply regret (palms forehead) I pressed the power button so this problem arose.

Can I be saved before having to go to the apple service center?

Much thanks in advance.