Macbook PRO....Hanging screen

I am new here and my Macbook PRO(3.5 years old) was absolutely without any problem until now.
I was traveling ..everything fine while I was away, and then came back and did not use the Macbook for
almost 3 weeks. Pulled it out the other day, and started it up...I was asked if I wanted to upgrade a software program...don't recall which one but it was one I use always....I was distracted, on the phone etc..and pressed YES.
Since then I have not been able to get to the desktop. The screen (grey with the twirling circle is just there...I tried all the instructions, Control, Command and Off etc. etc. and I did find my disks.
I inserted the 1st one as I was told to do in the Manual but it does nothing......thankfully eject did work to
get it out.
HELP...Any ideas what I can do?? Another discussion group said my hard disk may be gone.
Youch...any referrals to trustworthy Mac types in Toronto?
Fay

Tags: apple...??, hanging, macbook

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by rea S⃣ n555 on November 15, 2009 at 6:02pm: Resetting PRAM and NVRAM
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.
Your computer's PRAM and the NVRAM are reset to the default values. The clock settings may be reset to a default date on some models.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Fay Fuerst on November 15, 2009 at 6:15pm: Hi...I did as you instructed ...seems to be the same thing..although the screen was black and then it did start up a second time as you advised. Now I have the grey screen again with the same thing although the logo and the twirling circle is a bit smaller it seems.
Should I try that set of instructions again??
Thanks for your quick response....
Fay; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Fay Fuerst on November 15, 2009 at 6:24pm: Hi,
Nathanel asked me to try draining my battery and then leave it like that for 5 hours....and then plug in the power source.
I am trying that....will that hurt anything??
Any other ideas before I do that??
Thanks so much for your responses.
Fay; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by rea S⃣ n555 on November 15, 2009 at 7:00pm: did you hear the chime when it almost turned on?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Fay Fuerst on November 15, 2009 at 7:20pm: Yes.....It chimed.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nathanael on November 15, 2009 at 6:19pm: completely drain the battery to where the computer won't even start anymore let it be in that state for about 5 hours then plug your power adapter in and start the computer up. See if that works; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Fay Fuerst on November 15, 2009 at 6:27pm: I can do that...but one other instruction I had was to reset PRAM and NVRAM...whatever they are..
I did that but it seemed to make no changes.
So I have just pulled out the power source and it has just drained ...not much battery in this Macbook now.
So as of about 2 minutes ago it is a black screen. So I leave it like this for 5 hours....??
Okay ...at 1: 26 a.m. I will know if this works...!
Thanks for your idea..and I will let you know if it is successful!
Best wishes from Toronto,
Where are you?
Fay; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ken on November 15, 2009 at 6:42pm: When the machine was running did you hear any hard drive activity?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Fay Fuerst on November 15, 2009 at 6:45pm: I wish I knew what that sounded like ...it seemed to be a fan going possibly. It seemed to be overloaded as has happened before. I thought that starting it up again would work but it has not, as I described.
I have now drained the battery and was advised to leave it like that for 5 hours and then start it up again using the power source.
Does that make sense to you??
Thanks for your response!!
Fay; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ken on November 15, 2009 at 7:03pm: Yes I would let it sit and then take it from there.

To me it sounds like you may have a hardware and I have a feeling its the hard disk but before we jump to conclusions let it sit for a little bit and see what happens.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Fay Fuerst on November 15, 2009 at 7:21pm: Is there any reason to leave it for 5.0 hours...what about 2-3 hours....would sort of like to see if it works before I go to sleep! Might make me sleep better...smile.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nathanael on November 15, 2009 at 8:15pm: You need to leave it for 5 hours because you are resetting the battery. This is the instructions straight from Apple on how to do it; ▶ Reply to This