Mac Mini (2009) no start or recovery boot
Late 2009 Mac Mini, 2.53 Ghz, Core 2 Duo, latest Lion 10.7.5, first showed massive slowness, then upon restart would restart automatically several times and finally trying to boot into a corrupt Windows 7 Boot Camp install. Now it just sits with the Apple Logo and no spin, tried resetting PRAM, Command-R (just sits and then freezes), holding down "Option" will bring up HD and Recovery Drive with same outcome. It was recently purchased used and came with no original Snow Leopard Install Disks, of course there is no Time Machine backup available and no USB recovery thumb drive was created.
Here's what I think:
1) Best case scenario would be a corrupted HD directory, and I will need a Snow Leopard Install Disk or Lion USB Install stick to boot up the Mini and repair the directory, or get DiskWarrior or TechTool Pro to fix it.
2) Worst case scenario would be damaged Motherboard.
Any other ideas? Does bad RAM show these symptoms? Any unseated cable connectors (highly unlikely)? Will the Apple store folks boot up his Mini and run diagnostics for free?
Any input is greatly appreciated, the person using it needs it for college.