mac won't start. Never ending spinning starburst.

[hierobryan]

I tried to wake it from sleep mode, but it would just flash a black screen and make the SuperDrive access sound, then it would repeat, so I had to press ctrl+cmd+power button. Now it's stuck at the white boot screen with the apple logo with the spinning starburst. It's been going for at least 10 minutes now.

Help 🙁

Oh, and this is 10.5.2.

 

[JT the Beard]

I tried to wake it from sleep mode, but it would just flash a black screen and make the SuperDrive access sound, then it would repeat, so I had to press ctrl+cmd+power button. Now it's stuck at the white boot screen with the apple logo with the spinning starburst. It's been going for at least 10 minutes now.

Help 🙁

Oh, and this is 10.5.2.

This could be a hard drive issue. Try booting from your OS cd (the one that came with your computer). If it boots to the cd, then try to run a hardware diagnostics. It may take a few minutes, but it should tell you what is wrong.

I have a very similar problem. It ended up being the hard drive.

 

[hierobryan]

I did what you suggested, but the hard drive is fine.

 

[9822737]

Did you ever find out the cause of this problem? Exactly the same has happened to me today, never ending spinning. Any ideas anyone?