My Macbook won't start up...Please help!

My Macbook powers on but doesn't go past the grey screen with the apple. The gear thing keeps turning but it doesn't start up. What can I do? I'm a bit technology challenged but I want to try everything before I take it in. I'm scared of losing all my information. I'd appreciate any suggestions you guys can give me.

Greg's suggestion is what you need to do. I will only add that you should repair the hard drive before attempting the Archive and Install. See the following:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) 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, then quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

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Thanks for the question. I understand that your MacBook Pro won’t turn on. The following article may help to resolve your issue:
Troubleshooting: My computer won't turn on
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1367
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1573
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I apologise for my English from the very beginning. Be patient please...
I see from older topics that I am having a rather common problem. I just got this iBook G3 900 MHz 12' 680 Mb RAM from Ebay. It lasted 5 days (working fine) and then it suddenly died.
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Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
No problems with your English whatsoever.
Have you tried your friend's adapter with the iBook? Was your iBook plugged into the adapter when it rapidly discharged your friend's battery? It could be an adapter problem. The adapter should show green when the battery is not installed, and amber when it is — exactly the opposite of what you are seeing. The amber light is supposed to indicate that the battery is charging. The green light means that it is NOT charging. When things are working right, the green light means the battery has stopped charging because it is completely charged. When things aren't working right, it just means the battery isn't charging — for whatever reason. Since your adapter is showing the lights the opposite of what it is supposed to do, it's an indication that it may not be working right.
These are the four most common possibilities when the battery will not charge:
(1) there is something wrong with your battery
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(3) there is something wrong with your power input board (the part that contains the port where you plug in the adapter)
(4) there is something wrong with your logic board
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Usually, if it is a logic board problem, the iBook simply will not run from the battery. This happened to mine. The battery showed up in the battery status indicator. It was recognized by the computer and charged by the adapter (as shown by the battery status indicator). However, when I unplugged the adapter from the iBook, it was just like pulling the power cord from the wall on a desktop. The iBook immediately shutdown. Dead.
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Your experience does not exactly match either of ours. It is my best hunch that if your adapter is not the problem, then it is the logic board and not the DC-in board at fault. However, this is not the problem covered by the iBook Logic Board Repair Extension Program.
Since you already have the extra DC-in board, if it proves not to be the adapter at fault, you may want to try installing the DC-in board, in hopes that will correct the problem.
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[oracle@dina admin]$ lsnrctl start
LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on 07-JAN-2008 10:40:06
Copyright (c) 1991, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Starting /home/oracle/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1/bin/tnslsnr: please wait...
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You may want to try this:
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