MacBook won't start up

[CinCabo]

My son's MacBook won't start up. He pushes the power button. The chime rings and then the white screen w/ the gray apple and the gray spinning wheel stays on... nothing else happens.
We've tried all of hte following with no result.
Start from the system CD. Push power button and hold 'C'. The CD spins for a while and then it's kicked out.
Push power button and hold 'Shift'.
Push power and hold 'X'.
Press the control key, the command key, and the power button simultaneously and hold for three seconds to try to restart the computer.
After pressing the power button, hold down these keys simultaneously: Command-Option-P-R, until you hear the start up chime at least one additional time after the initial start up chime.
Nothing seems to be working.
Any other ideas?

 

[BlueRevolution]

What about holding option?

 

[chrismacguy]

My son's MacBook won't start up. He pushes the power button. The chime rings and then the white screen w/ the gray apple and the gray spinning wheel stays on... nothing else happens.
We've tried all of hte following with no result.
Start from the system CD. Push power button and hold 'C'. The CD spins for a while and then it's kicked out.
Push power button and hold 'Shift'.
Push power and hold 'X'.
Press the control key, the command key, and the power button simultaneously and hold for three seconds to try to restart the computer.
After pressing the power button, hold down these keys simultaneously: Command-Option-P-R, until you hear the start up chime at least one additional time after the initial start up chime.
Nothing seems to be working.
Any other ideas?

That sounds like a hardware issue, because its refusing to boot from the CD, even after a PRAM reset. I dont think holding Option will do much, but go ahead and try it

 

[BlueRevolution]

Yeah, it's a long shot, but ah well.

 

[CinCabo]

Still not working

Thanks for the suggestion
I tried to start it holding 'option' and it's still doing the same thing.
I also tried resetting the SMC - removed the power cord and battery and held the power button for 5 secs- and nothing......
The part that really worries me is that it's not taking the star up disc.
What is my next option?

 

[niuniu]

Try it again with the battery removed, and another time with the lead removed and the battery in. I had several times I couldn't start the machine up, once was due to some fault in the lead, another time related to the battery..

{edit}
Sorry, nevermind you've already tried that.

Was the machine hot?

 

[CinCabo]

Try it again with the battery removed, and another time with the lead removed and the battery in. I had several times I couldn't start the machine up, once was due to some fault in the lead, another time related to the battery..

{edit}
Sorry, nevermind you've already tried that.

Was the machine hot?

No. It had been very slow but wasn't hot.

I tried the start up disc again after resetting the PRAM and the SMC but it kicked it out.

Is there anyway to back up the files at this point?

 

[Dan73]

No. It had been very slow but wasn't hot.

I tried the start up disc again after resetting the PRAM and the SMC but it kicked it out.

Is there anyway to back up the files at this point?

Remove the hard drive and hook it up to another machine as a secondary HD, or put it in a dock. Then copy.

 

[CinCabo]

Thanks.