spinning circle hang up

i have a problem with my macbook when i try and boot it up it chimes and then stops at the apple screen with spinning circle and stays like that for as long as i leave it.
Tried to start in safe mode, no luck
tried to boot from installation disc, no luck
tried the pram thing a couple of times, no luck
tried turning it on without the hard drive got a flashing folder
tried turning it on without the battery, still no luck.
does anybody know how to help me????
i dont care if i lose all my information because i have made a point of backing up constantly, any help greatly appreciated

put your installation discs in, if you have backed up with time machine, restore from that using the menu, or reinstall, (archive and install or fresh if there is nothing of importance)

hey i have put my installation disc in and it wont even give me the opportunity to do anything it just sits there spinning round and now my disc wont eject, so frustrating

I have the same problem, except for the fact that I am able to boot from the installation disk and run the utilities. I attempt to repair the permissions and it gives me an Error saying: The underlying task reported failure on exit. I'm lost as to what this means.

Yea I could just erase the disk and start over or do a reinstall, but I don't want to do that because I do not have a backup with time machine or anything. I haven't had the funds to purchase an external hard drive and its not possible to get one now and back it up without being able to boot up the computer properly.

Sorry to highjack this one, just thought I could piggyback a ride on this one by chiming in and giving my info/input.

OK so after looking at the Apple Discussion forums, it could be that Itunes 8 update is the culprit for the possible hard drive crash or failure. It may be that you and I need to take our Mac's to an Apple store and have it serviced, if still under warranty that is. I have no clue how to check when my macbook was purchased or if there was an extended warranty on it or just the standard one year plan.