MacBook pro taking forever to start. Gray screen w/ loading bar & gray wheel

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Hello all
So my MacBook Pro that I purchased from best buy brand new in February 2010 has recently started acting up.

******Currently the start up is taking forever. It would stay on the gray screen with the loading bar and gray spinning wheel. It takes so long that I force shutdown it consistently.*******

My MacBook is full of files I'll admit that it's probably reached an over capacity storage wise. When the MacBook is on it often freezes. But at the moment the startup is taking forever and has been doing this for a week now. I'm afraid I'll never have access to my files again and that my MacBook pro has stopped working.


* this is my problem and I can't eat because of it. I'm scared. I've gotten past the gray screen with loading bar before despite taking forever to load. But now it's taking even longer. Will I ever get past it? What should I do? Thank you I'll appreciate any help I can get. Have a great weekend
 
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I'm sorry, but 62 views and not one reply... Just like my Mac I'm going to hang myself...
 
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Try starting up in safe mode, if successful do some file pruning, you should have at least 20 gig free space to give the system breathing room

Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator
 
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Hopefully the safe mode option works for you. I have a similar problem which I touched on in detail yesterday, but it has come close into line with this problem. Here is what is happening to me.

My Macbook pro won't boot. It's a 2007 model. It was running OS X Snow Leopard 10.5.5. Now however, It stays stuck on the apple logo screen with not even a spinning wheel. The Optical drive isn't working and so I cannot try to reinstall the OS X from there. Which wouldn't be possible anyway because I cannot find the disk. The shortcut keys on startup don't seem to work either. The only ones that do, are CMD D and CMD V, which are Apple Hardware test, which found no problems, and Verbose mode which froze at Loading System\Library\Extensions.mkext...and won't go any further. None of the other startup shortcuts are working. But I did rip a copy of the OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 from another Dvd I used to own but sold off along with my other Mac. I have it ripped to an external hard drive in .DMG format. However, I cannot get boot mode working to try to boot from it. At this stage I know it must be a software issue since it passed the hardware test. But I would do anything to get this laptop running again. A repair, even a clean format and install? What can I do? Please help.
 

pigoo3

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Hello all
So my MacBook Pro that I purchased from best buy brand new in February 2010 has recently started acting up.

You may have purchased this MacBook Pro new in February, 2010...but in August, 2012 it's now 2.5 years old.;)

My MacBook is full of files I'll admit that it's probably reached an over capacity storage wise.

This can be pretty important...let us know what size hard drive you have...and how much free space is left.

- Nick
 
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Try starting up in safe mode, if successful do some file pruning, you should have at least 20 gig free space to give the system breathing room

Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator

Thanks for the response

I did try what you said to do, but it's still stays on the gray screen with the gray apple, the gray loading bar and gray wheel. It's still taking forever to load. And when I say forever I mean forever. Hours. To the point where I'll have to power it off and on again. The loading bar just shows little progress at a time. And as of two days ago the loading bar doesnt seem to be getting past the 1/8 mark of loading. :'(

Thanks for the response everybody. I'm getting pretty desperate here and worried I'll never have acces to my files again or I'll lose them forever.

I'll appreciate any more help I can get.

Thanx
 
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can you boot from the restore DVD

If so, if you have an external drive you can get to the installation screen and select Disk Utility from the menu bar, reformat an external drive, install OSX on that drive and boot from a clean USB disk, that will at least get you booted up and you can begin toubleshooting the internal drive from there
 
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can you boot from the restore DVD

If so, if you have an external drive you can get to the installation screen and select Disk Utility from the menu bar, reformat an external drive, install OSX on that drive and boot from a clean USB disk, that will at least get you booted up and you can begin toubleshooting the internal drive from there

I don't have The DVD boot disc with me at the moment. It's somewhere in my home in California. Not exactly sure Where it is though. I'm also in my home in Iowa right now. I don't know when exactly I'll be back to California. Are there any other procedures I can perform without that stinkin disc? Thanks so much L for your patience and time

P.S. my sister has the same MacBook that I have here with me in Iowa. She may still have the friggin disc. I'll ask her when she wakes up. Hopefully it'll work. As far as an external drive, no we don't have one.


Sincerely,
Mac&Me
 
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UPDATE: UPDATE UpDATE!!

Okay so after more than 3 or 4 or so hours of the gray screen gray wheel and loading bar the loading bar finally completed.

Now it's on the gray screen with with the gray apple and and gray spinning wheel spinning for an hour now

What's this mean?

Also my sister does have that disc. What should I do with the disc? Thanks good people

I greatly appreciate the continued help
 

Slydude

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If her disc is one of the gray ones it may not help unless your mac is the exact same model as hers. It's worth a try however.

Assuming the discs are the same insert the disc into the Mac and power on. Immediately hold down the OPtion key. If the disc appears in the list select it and let things load. When it las run Disk Utility and repair any errors that are found. When the repairs are finished try rebooting.
 

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