Mac osx 10.5.5 stuck on gray startup screen

The problem started when I couldn't update my computer with software update because that kept quitting. Most of my applications quit when unresponsive, but I am taking that in for repair this week, so that's a different story. It mainly started yesterday when I went to turn on my computer and it took about 30-45 minutes to start. But it did start in the end.
Now, it just stays on the gray start up screen with the apple logo and a spinning loading sign (not the spinning wheel though), so I was wondering how I could get it to start up because I need it tonight.
Also, I have already tried:
-A safe Boot: When I did this, it did the safe boot but afterwards it just turned off and never restarted itself, so when I turned it back on, it was stuck yet again on that gray screen.
-Also, I reset the NVRAM / PRAM: This did nothing, it just got stuck on the screen again and soon shut down within the next half hour.
If anyone could help me I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

HI and Welcome to Apple Discussions...
Have you tried booting from your install disk and running Disk Utility?
Insert Installer disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu (Panther and earlier) or Utilities menu (Tiger and later) and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
Carolyn

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I let it sit for about 10 minutes hoping that it was just running really slowly and it still did nothing. So I tried it again and the same thing happened. I even tried it a third time and still no luck. I have taken GREAT care of it and I've never had a problem with it whatsoever! The only thing I have done the past few days was installed iTunes 8. I am a little upset because this is my first Mac and I have had it 13 months now (Which means it is out of warranty because I didn't extend my Applecare) I have not been able to try and restart it with the installer disk because it's at home. Does anybody know what could be wrong?

The exact same thing happened to me but I may be able to add some more details to the process.
First, I also installed the itunes upgrade. Turned on the computer, started up itunes and left it running.
Then when I came back, the finder section of the desktop (apple icon and menus) was not there. First I tried to run the hardware check up (hold D while computer starts up) and it showed me no problems. So then I tried to reboot it and run the diskutility applications to see if it could identify the problem. The first time I ran the program, i got "Underlying Task Reported Failure on Exit".
So I rebooted the computer and tried to get to the desktop again, only it didn't show the desktop anymore. It just got stuck on the gray screen with the apple and the spinning graphic. My apple CD is also stuck in the drive and I am also getting a bit desperate.
Sadly, I can honestly say that it is not a hardware problem. This is a Mac Software problem that is in their hands to fix. I have a lot of information in that computer that I cannot afford to lose and I no longer have applecare, so fixing it through the appple store is going to be pretty expensive considering that it is just a software issue.
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Jason: Your present situation is not clear from your posts. Do you still have an installer DVD stuck in your optical drive? When you power up the machine while holding down the "c" key with the installer DVD in the drive, does the machine start up? If not, exactly what does happen?
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First,
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
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Solved!
Go to Solution.

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My iPod is stuck on the startup screen, showing just the apple logo. Has anyone had this problem before? If yes, then how did you solve it?

My iPod is stuck on the startup screen, showing just the apple logo. Has anyone had this problem before? If yes, then how did you solve it?

Try:
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Mac osx 10.5.5 stuck on gray startup screen

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