MacBook Pro Won't Boot

[Sjfootballer01]

I went to turn my computer on this morning and it wouldn't boot up. It turns on tries to start up then turns itself off; it doesn't even get to the blue screen just the grey one with the apple logo. I'm guessing this means the HD is fried. I tried booting up the computer with the Leopard disc in same thing happened. I have a few questions though/

1. I have so many files I didn't get to back up. If I put the HD in an external case will I be able to access those on a different computer?
   
2. My laptop was quite old and probably needed replacing anyway, but will Apple be able to get the files off my HD if the case fails? How much do you think they would charge for this?
   
3. Does this in fact sound like the hard drive to everyone else?
   
4. Which case do I need to put the drive in?

Thanks

 

[DustinT]

You will most likely be able to get the files off. The first thing I would do personally is pull the hard drive and copy the important files. Thats your first step so you don't loose anything.

Then you can start troubleshooting.

 

[Sjfootballer01]

I actually didn't need the case. I hooked my laptop up to another computer with a firewire cable and was able to backup my files. What should I do now to try to troubleshoot it?