Macbook pro 17 starts but then just turns off

Question

My 17 in macbook pro starts with the chime, shows the apple, but then turns off before it goes any further. This happens whether using just the battery or just the power adaptor or both.
More info: Below the apple symbol, there appears the spinning icon and below that an approximately three-inch empty bar that starts to fill up with black from left to right but only gets a fraction of an inch before the computer shuts down. I assume that filling bar is indicating the beginning of the start-up process.
I can 'slave' the computer to another working one and see all my data and so forth. But on its own it simply shuts down.
I have tried starting in 'safe mode' but the same thing happen, with all the same start-up icons and then it shuts down. I have tried holding down command, option and P and R together. Same result.
Any suggestions?
What is my problem?
wanessen

Answer 1

OS X Mavericks- If your computer stops or delays while starting up with progress bar
OS X v10.6- Gray progress bar appears under Apple logo during startup
Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
Also see:
Reinstall OS X Without Erasing the Drive
OS X Yosemite- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
     Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
                 if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.