Editing iMac settings from an external Mac My 2010 iMac's display shows up distorted lines on start up then gets stuck at the gray Apple logo screen. After being stuck there for a while it then reboots itself and does the same process over again until I force shutdown. Fortunately I have a MacBook Pro in which I can use to boot from and view the files from my iMac this way. I believe my iMac is having graphics issues but I have an external monitor I would like to use to view my iMac. Is it possible to configure the settings for my iMac from my MacBook Pro so that I can set my iMac to display via the external monitor and if not are there any alternatives?

Thanks in advance!
This sounds like either a graphics card failure or a logic board failure: I would recommend getting the data off that drive ASAP and look at getting that machine diagnosed and repaired.