....since nothing else has either worked or hinted at what's wrong with your iMac, I wonder if your running Apple Hardware Test would be at all productive?
Although I'm back up and running, there are still little "glitches" that I'm keeping an eye on. For example, sometimes in changing from one screen to another I'll have a quick pixelated flash.
Therefore, I'm wondering if the hardware test might be a reasonable preventive assessment. Do I recall correctly that it's best done overnight in order to have the software loop through the process a few times?