HELP : MacBook will not start !! Well, actually ...

Hello to you all Apple/Mac lovers ,
As the title said, my MacBook has gone wild. Here's the thing : I start it up, the gray apple appears and the spinning wheel under it. After an unusually long time of spinning, my computer ... shuts down. And that's it. Hopefully one of you will be able to fix it, usin the info below.
I tried to fix it, and here's what I did :
- I first used the Apple Hardware test (by inserting the installation DVD and pressing D on start up) : no errors detected.
- Then I used the disk utility (by inserting the installation DVD and pressing C on start up) : there, it said that there was an "Invalid sibling link", and that it couldn't complete the verification or repair because "The underlying task reported failure on exit".
- Lastly I used the "Startup Disk" application (found with the Disk Utility) and it first showed me 3 things : the Mac OS 10.5.3 folder from my hard disk (which is what it usually uses), the Mac OS 10.4.8 Install Disk, and then a Network Startup (but that's not gonna work). However it was quite late in the night so I chose the option "Turn Off" (in one of the top menus) and went to bed.
The next morning I repeated the previous procedure but this time the Leopard folder did not show up !! This is where I am at right now. Here are what seem to be my options :
- Re-install 10.4.8 (it will store 10.5.3 in a folder called "Previous System"). It says that I will not be able to boot from there anymore - is that true ? I should like to, because if the system needs to erase all data from my hard disk, then I will need to use my Time Machine backup from my external HD (and therefore will need Leopard).
- Wait for my dad to bring me the Leopard Install DVD (he'll be there next Sunday, 29th of June) from which I will be able to re-install Leopard.
Now I really do not know what is the problem - and if re-installing the OS will solve anything. There is still this strange Hard drive error - any idea if 1. that is the cause of the problem 2. what it means 3. If I need to fix it 4. how do I do that ?
Thanks for all your advice and time ,
#Charles

Your idea, Simon, seems best in my case. Now just out of curiosity - you say that I can recover all my files once I get back to Leopard using Time Machine, but will I also recover preferences/settings, from system preferences to application settings ? My question really is : is there anything I will not be able to recover ?
Anyways, now on to you adsfushi72. You say I need to get my "important files off the hard drives" - you mean I need to back them up in case my hard drive is broken and will need to be re-formatted in the process of re-installing, right ? Well the entirety of it is backed up on another, external hard drive, using Time Machine. The last backup was about 17 minutes before the problem appeared so all I could lose in the process is a few lines of text I typed in between. I love Apple ...
And how about safe/verbose modes ? What exactly are they ? I've used safe mode on a PC before, but I don't know how to start up in that mode on a Mac, what it exactly does or is, how to handle it, and why I would do that right now - I'm not saying I don't feel like doing it, I just want to know what information it could give me or in what way(s) it could help solve my problem. Same applies to verbose mode.
Lastly, a little update : Now when I start up my MacBook I see the Flashing "?" on a folder, which means it can't find a system folder to boot from - right ? So then I start up with alt/option pressed - and it does not detect any drive. When I insert the Mac OS X install Disk is only sees that. Is the invalid sibling link of my hard drive causing it to be unusable the system to boot from or what ?
The weirdest part is that now the hard drive seems to be absent. Before, it was there but I couldn't boot from it - since it seems to be damaged -, but now it doesn't even recognize or see it anymore. It seems the repair attempt is what made it change that way ... anyways thanks for all your ideas .
#Charles

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* [/questions/777886]
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