White Screen of Death

I have a MBP at least 5 years old. It was working just fine and now I get the "White Screen of Death" when I turn it on. Any ideas? Is it worth taking to service and paying for it? How can I get my data off the HD?

Hard to say exactly. Your hard drive may have crashed...and if it did...then you're going to have a very difficult time retrieving your data from it (this is why everyone should keep an HD backup).

But first thing...try booting your computer from another source other than the internal HD. Such as an external HD with an OS installed on it...or a OS install DVD.

This will help determine if the problem is HD related...or related to something else with the computer.

If you can boot from one of these sources...you can open up Disk Utility...and scan your internal HD for issues.

- Nick