just want to follow up here. it seems that my CD laser is faulty. and while trying to reprogram itself with the OS CD, it become unusable. (blank screen) I re-burned the OS with a DVD, and it was able to reprogram itself and is now functional again.

the symptoms i had was after the "Loading CD" the screen went blank and never came back. and eventually, i just had to shut it off. if this happens to you, try using a DVD instead.