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My mid-2009 MacBook Pro 13''' is not booting anymore. It shows the gray startup screen and nothing else happens, no spinner, no nothing.

I've tried everything in http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570 to no avail. Resetting NVRAM/PRAM does make it do another chime, but that's it. Trying to boot in safe mode or single user mode has no effect, I get just the gray screen.

Could bad RAM do that? What would you suggest?