I Mac won't start -- we get apple logo with spinning wheel, question mark that disappears and then a blank blue screen

My daughter's old I Mac won't start. It is not backed up.  We want to get some things off of it if we can.  
When we turn it on, we get the Apple logo with spinning wheel for awhile, then a question mark briefly and then a sky blue blank screen.  Is there any hope of getting this to work?  This computer is out of warranty.  Does it seem that if we reinstall the Operating System we might find old data?  

First try restarting with the original install disc an run Disk Utility to repair the drive. If you have to re install the OS make sure you select archive and install or else everything will be lost.

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  • Macbook Pro (A1278) - Unable to startup - stucks at Apple logo with spinning wheel.

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    When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is damaged and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to step 5.
    If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
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  • IMac wont boot up - stuck on Apple logo with Spinning wheel.

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    Message was edited by: Tom.Rhodes

    Boot with your install disc, launch Disk Utility from the Utilities menu after selecting your language, and repair the disk. You can't repair the boot volume. Now some other tips. Reinstalling Snow Leopard only replaces all the OS components and basic Apple apps, such as TextEdit, Mail, and Safari, but leaves everything else in place. There's no chance of losing data unless it's already corrupted and lost anyway. There's no need to muck around with the windoze stuff, which, IIRC, won't work anyway.

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