Grey Screen Problem

[nmgnl]

Hi,

I've already read through various posts but none seem to solve my issue.

I can't get past a grey screen on boot up.
It changes from the Apple Icon to a no entry icon with a spinning gear and just hangs there.

Safe boot won't work.

If I hold down Option on start up the only choice is Macintosh HD which when selected just does the spinning gear thing.

Apple Hardware test says nothing wrong.

Command - Option - P - R does reset certain things as I have sound on that was previously muted, but again nothing after that.

I downloaded a bootable disk onto a USB but that's not coming up when Option is held.

Burnt to cd and held down C on startup and although the drive whirred it still eventually when to the apple icon followed by the circle with the line through.

If I start and hold Command S it runs through and sticks at waiting for root device.

Of course I haven't backed up because it's a Mac and they're unbreakable...

Any discs I did originally have are either lost or still in England.

Stuck, please help!

It's a MacBook Pro OS 10.6.X

Thanks in advance
Jenine

 

[nmgnl]

Phoned Apple support and they said I've done everything they'd have suggested anyway so I'm booked in at a store tomorrow for them to reinstall the OS.

Thanks anyway.

 

[nmgnl]

They couldn't fix it or get anything off the hard drive.

Just cost me $2,000 for a new MacBook plus external drive.

If anyone has any ideas for recovering what's on the old drive I'd love to hear them?
I've bought a firewire cable and linked the new and old Macs together but Disk Utility on the new one still won't repair.

 

[nmgnl]

No one then?

 

[F1 Fan]

No one then?

No ideas at all I'm afraid. Just wanted to reassure you that your posts are actually visible!

Sorry for your misfortune

 

[nmgnl]

Thanks, I did wonder.

I've used DiskWarrior which is at least showing the files are still there, it rescued and made a folder on the desktop of the broken Mac then froze when I went to Preview.

I've now got Disc Recovery to try but when I went to turn on the old Mac it was silent which doesn't bode well. I turned it off for the night and I'll try again later.

 

[chrise2]

May I suggest using something like Mozy or Crashplan as a backup solution for your new laptop. Time Machine if you're not into the Internet backup thing. Enjoy your new laptop at least