Stuck on the "gray" screen...NOTHING has worked =*(

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I do not consider myself computer saavy, so pls excuse my poor technical language...

I have a 2-yr old iMac desktop with the Mac OS X operating system. About 2 weeks ago, it suddenly was running very (VERY) slowly. After researching this problem online, I tried doing the whole disk repair thingie or whatever it's called, and afterwards, it was completely fine again, until a few hours later, it was even slower and then it would freeze. I tried unplugging all the hardware cords etc and rebooting, but it would take a really long time to boot up, and then it would freeze again shortly after that. THEN, I tried re-installing the Mac OS X CD, and that seemed to do the trick...for about a day...and everything started slowing and then freezing again.

NOW, when I turn it on it only gets to the gray screen with the apple on it, and just spins that gray circle for hours and will not go to the login screen.
Here's what I have attempted thus far:
1) Have reset the PRAM and NVRAM (or whatever the **** that one is called)....no change, still just gray screen with spinning circle...
2) Have tried restarting in "safe mode"...no change, still just gray screen with spinning circle...
3) Have tried restarting with the Option C combo with the Mac OS X installation disc in...no change, still just gray screen with spinning circle...BUT I can hear the disc start to spin and then it stops. It does that over and over...Oh, and I can't get the disc to eject now.
4) Have tried booting in single-user mode..did the /sbin/fsck -fy and it found some "catalog errors," so I repeated the /sbin/fsck -fy and it said "....Macintosh HD appears to be OK." So I typed reboot and it began to boot up and then, as usual, it stayed at the gray screen with the spinning circle...

I'm at my wit's end. The reason we purchased the $1200 fancy Mac is because the salesguy had us believing that this machine would run perfectly for the next 400 years...or at least longer than your average PC. We have our important files backed up on a ZIP so I could care less about wiping the entire machine clean and reinstalling from scratch...but the only way I've found to do that requires the computer to be booted up!

Pls help =(
 
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Welcome to the Forum. Not sure what the Option C combo is but with the disc still in tell us what happens if u just hold the C key after powering on? will it boot off the Install disc? Which OS are you on 10.5.8?
 
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24" iMac 2.4 - 4GB RAM, Logitech S530 Kbrd/Mouse, Logitech Z2300 Speakers
Do you have any thing attached like an external drive, etc.? If so disconnect everything but the keyboard & mouse and start up. Are you running a drive with Time Machine and have everything backed up? If you do, then give this a try How to restore your Apple software
 
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Tried booting up while holding the "c" button...gets to same gray screen w/ spinning circle, and I can hear the disc 'trying' to start up, but it sounds like it just can't get going. Does that make any sense?

I don't know what version of OS we have? How can I find that?

We have time machine on our computer but don't think we've ever used it? We have files backed up using online service.

I am running an extended hardware test right now (held D while booting up)...am 13 min in...
 
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C

chas_m

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Sorry to hear about your hard drive. Pat yourself on the back for having backed up.

For future reference, option-c does nothing at startup. You could *either* press the "C" key by itself, or the "option" key by itself. The former forced a startup from the optical drive, the latter displays all *valid* boot options.

The good news is that this is not a difficult nor expensive repair, and you can use the opportunity to install a larger-capacity HD if you choose to.
 

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