My intel iMac will not boot past white screen

I'm going to get an adaptor for my monitor to see if I still have the white screen. do you know of anyway I can test this without opening my computer and any way That I can recover my files without opening it?

For trying out an external display you'll need a Mini-DVI to HTMI or VGA adapter. But that won't matter here as the dedicated GPU feeds the external display as well.

As far as gaining access to your files without opening the system you might be able to get your system into Target Disk Mode by holding the T key when you startup the system and then connect a FireWire cable between your system and a second Mac. Basically you're treating your Mac as if it was an external drive to your working Mac.

so would using firewire to usb on a Windows PC work or would it fry my usb port. Or is there another way i can do this as I only own one mac and its the one that's dead :(

Sorry, needs to be another Mac to work. Here's an Apple T/N to explain: How to use target disk mode to move files to another computer and it must be back to back no conversion possible either.

So that puts us back to square one then ;-{ You'll need to take the drive out to gain access to the files. But you still have a problem! As you need to have a means to access them. You'll need to install a driver on your Windows system so it can read the Mac formatted drive: 4 Ways to Read a Mac Formatted Drive in Windows And you'll need either a HD case to hold your drive or a this: Universal Drive Adapter