Macbook Stuck on Startup Screen - PLEASE HELP!!

[Joshaurusrex]

Hi everyone,

I know this has been asked before (I did a google search) but none of the advice I found on the net has helped me so far so I thought I'd ask for advice specific to my problem. I am stuck on the grey startup screen with apple logo and spinning wheel.. But I have followed instructions on other sites with no luck as of yet.

I booted up while holding "D" and ran the extended hardware test, the test said that it found no problems..

I booted while holding "Command+S" when it first boots it finds a few errors (about 5) but they go away too fast for me to see.. I then typed in /sbin/fsck -fy which after it's finished says "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be ok" then down 2 lines it says "***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****" << I'm not sure if it said the file system was modified the other times I ran this..

I booted while holding "Shift" AFTER the beep AND before I boot - both do nothing and the Mac stays on the startup screen..

I have also inserted the "Mac OS X Install DVD" and booted while holding "C" but nothing happens.. I get stuck on the same grey screen

I have also booted while holding "Option" while having the "Mac OS X Install DVD" disc inserted which lets me choose to boot from the disc instead of the HD, I went into disc utility and ran a repair on the HD. It comes up with "Macintosh Harddrive appears to be OK" but the time remaining on the repair gets stuck at "about 1 minute remaining" and never finishes.

Is there ANYTHING else I can do? Is there a way to get my files from the HD onto the an external without using the firewire method? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Hellhammer]

http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_doesn't_boot

You could take the HD out of the MacBook and put in an enclosure to transfer the data

 

[Joshaurusrex]

http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_doesn't_boot

You could take the HD out of the MacBook and put in an enclosure to transfer the data

Hi Hellfire,

Do you know if this problem is definitely a HD problem? If I were to replace the HD and use the install disc (would it let me use that insteall disc again?) Would the laptop work again? Getting the stuff off is second priority to getting it working, it's a lifeline for me and my lady while she is away visiting family, and I should be able to get the information off of the other drive at a later date?

 

[Hellhammer]

Hi Hellfire,

Do you know if this problem is definitely a HD problem? If I were to replace the HD and use the install disc (would it let me use that insteall disc again?) Would the laptop work again? Getting the stuff off is second priority to getting it working, it's a lifeline for me and my lady while she is away visiting family, and I should be able to get the information off of the other drive at a later date?

Everything points at a HD failure though it might be just a corrupted system file. If you have an external HD, try installing OS X to it and try if it works. That way you can transfer the data in the internal HD to the external as well (assuming the HD works).