HELP!!!!

[cali]

ATTN. MAC USERS/KNOW-IT-ALLS

I know I saw you out there once. I need help. I have a brand new 30 day old powerbook, it is running Mac OSX 10.2.6.

The following is copy-pasted from y!m:

meublechat: basically my computer just like stopped during the chat
maykashara: and you cant restart it?
meublechat: it tried to load a webpage and then like sat there not working but not frozen
meublechat: just not doing anything but spinning the little spinny thing that goes when its doing something.
maykashara: i fucking hate that thing
meublechat: and then i tried to force quit but it wouldnt let me do that
meublechat: so then i tried restarting and it wouldnt fucking do that either
meublechat: so then i unplugged it and pulled the battery
meublechat: and now when I tried to start it it couldnt find a disk to start up from (NOT FUCKING GOOD)
meublechat: so i put in the actual startup/system install disk and had it boot from that and it WOULDNT START FROM THE STARTUP DISK
meublechat: at which point I go "OHMYGODMYWORLDISCRASHINGDOWN"
meublechat: at which point my world does, in fact, come crashing down
meublechat: so then i sit down and let it sleep a bit and tried restarting
meublechat: and it started from the startup disk but not really cause it only wants to let be reinstall my system which i dont fucking want to do
meublechat: and its labor day and im leaving on fucking thursday and WHAT THE HOLY JESUSFUCK DO I DO??? OH MY GOD MY LLIFE IS ENDING
maykashara: whered you get your computer from?
meublechat: macconnection.com
meublechat: im fucked i called my friend the computer tech
meublechat: he says i probably need a new hard drive
maykashara: can you save your data
meublechat: probably not if i have to replace it
maykashara: oh god

So ok here's the deal. I have tried restarting and I get a grey screen, I try restarting from the disk and the apple sign comes up and the dial spins but it won't boot. I do not know what to do. Does anyone have any advice on this matter?

Comments

[eponis.livejournal.com]

Erp. Not to worry you, but that is bad.

Is it a plain gray screen, rather than a screen with a flashing question mark in the middle? If the latter, then it can't read the hard drive. If the former, then, um, there are deeper problems with the hardware. The fact that you can't even start up from the startup disk suggests the latter.

There are often ways that they can save/retrieve files, even from a broken hard drive, but basically I would suggest that you go to the nearest Mac tech-repair store (not Apple store) as soon as you can. They'll have equipment and software to see what might need fixing and whether they can save anything.

In all honesty, in 20 years of Macs (with programmers as parents and a trained Mac repairman as my brother), I really haven't seen that before, where it just shows plain gray. Good luck?

[isilya]

Have you tried -

Ctrl + Command (apple squiggle key) + Delete + Power Button?

Then let it run.

I suspect the reason why your disks won't work is because you have upgraded to 10.2.6, and your disks are 10.2 or something like that.

Also, I've found asking for help at http://macosx.livejournal.com is often the way to go.

Good luck!

[theantimodel.livejournal.com]

At this point I'm pretty sure I've tried everything. When I start from the system/startup disk it only loads the OSX installer but if I try to install it gets to the point where you have to choose a disk to install it on and my HD doesn't show up. Also in Disk Utility although it lists my hard drive as a selectable volume it won't let me select the verify or the repair buttons. I think I'm going to take it into a repair show tomorrow, my real problem is that I'm leaving for London on Thursday and had been planning on taking my powerbook. Thank you for helping though.

Also, this icon that I'm using? I love it a lot. "" Do you have any idea where I could find more pictures of the same style, colorwise?