Core i7 mbp will not boot from external disk

One upon a time, I tried to boot my new:
Model Name:    MacBook Pro
Model Identifier:    MacBookPro8,1
Processor Name:    Intel Core i7
Processor Speed:    2.7 GHz
Number of Processors:    1
Total Number of Cores:    2
L2 Cache (per Core):    256 KB
L3 Cache:    4 MB
Memory:    4 GB
Boot ROM Version:    MBP81.0047.B0E
from a bootable Carbon Copy Cloner backup on my external FW800 drive. (This, after I used Migration assistant to move the user over from My MacBookPro 5,1 core 2 duo machine.)
It didn't like it, booting from the CCC clone, that is. There were problems with the boot of the new machine from that external disk and then problems with the boot from the internal disk. I repaired disk permisssions and all seemed to be well booting from the internal disk for several months until I tried to boot from my SL 10.6 2Z691-6431-A CPU Drop-in DVD upgrade included with the initial purchase. That didn't work. I got the grey "restart your computer by holding down the power button" screen with a bunch of words and numbers in the background. This also happened with the grey intsall disks that shipped with the machine with 10.5.7 on them.
Following this, the turning gear times are erratic, varying from 11 to 40 turns on boot up with an odd flicker happening for a fraction of a second during the turning gear screen. From time to time I'll get some beach balling while the login is taking place and all of the icons are loading in. After that, the machine functions fairly normally.
I know there's a problem though and I'm looking to resolve it with any advice the community can offer.
I have used DiskWarrior in the past but not for this machine which has not been used with this machine since it's incompatible. I also have a full timecapsule backup. I also have a partition on an external drive with OS 10.6 on it. Haven't tried to boot from it because I'm scared it'll mess things up worse.

I'm trying to boot my core i7 from any external disk without success getting only the grey restart screen. The machine will neither boot from the 10.6 upgrade disk, nor the external firewire disk.
I'm not sure, but it seems that you're suggesting that I rebuild the OS as though it were a brand new machine without any of my s/w or data, and I cannot conceive of such a monumental task. If you mean that I should reinstall the OS, that would be fine, but I can't boot from a DVD, which is what prompted this query to begin with.
I would like to resolve the external disk boot failure.

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Antonio Hi !
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Welcome to Apple Discussions.
Do you have multiple Accounts defined on that system? The last time you successfully were running, did you run from the Account with Administrator privileges?
Do you have another computer from which you could boot and connect the Macbook Pro in Target Disk Mode to take a look at the drive from your working machine? Perhaps you can run Disk Utility from the working machine and point to the hard disk on the failing Macbook Pro.
Message was edited by: Rick Lang

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http://www.applefritter.com/node/20518
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Robert,
I have no idea what you mean by Apple is not responsive to the issue. If you want help, please start a new topic thread so someone can help you identify the problem without the distraction of other people's problems around yours. Blaming people does not solve problems.
This is the link to post a new topic on this board:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1149&start=0
This is a user to user board. If you need help from Apple, call AppleCare directly here:
http://www.apple.com/contact/phone_contacts.html

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Welcome to Apple Support Communities
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