MacBook won't boot; stuck on grey screen and "spinner"

[g-boac]

My MacBook (black late 2007 Santa Rosa) won't boot; it chimes, I get the apple logo and grey screen, and then the "spinner", but nothing else happens.

I've let the spinner run for 15 minutes before doing a hard shutdown and an attempt at a reboot; still spinning after an hour. Any idea of how to troubleshoot? Would prefer to keep data intact if possible because a small amount has not been backed up, but can restore most, if it comes to it.

Any suggestions as to what may have happened, or how to fix, would help and be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!!

Mark

 

[Cave Man]

1. Try booting in safe mode. If successful, run Disk Utility and do a disk repair or repair permissions.

2. If 1 fails, reboot with your Installer DVD by holding the option key until you're presented with bootable volumes. Choose the DVD and attempt a repair. If that fails, reinstall the OS.

 

[g-boac]

Thank you! Very helpful response, and, also found a great article on Apple's support website that accurately described my problem to a "t", and how to fix it (including how to perform a safe boot). Thanks!!

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

Mark