Gray screen, clicking noise from top left corner.

OK. The article seems to assume that you can get video by booting off of the disc, and evidently you can't boot off of the disc at all.

At this point, the article says to call Apple or to go to an Apple store. Unless someone has a better idea, that may be your best bet. Do you have access to an Apple Store? If so, You can make an appointment with the genius bar and have it looked at. The geniuses seem to have their own bags of tricks, and may be able to get your problem figured out.

Incidentally, I really don't think this is a hard drive failure--I think the problem lies elsewhere. I went through both a logic board failure and a hard drive failure with my iBook, and your symptoms are very different than mine were. With hard drive failure, you can get noises, slowness, freezing, a flashing "?", failing S.M.A.R.T. status--stuff like that. And you should be able to boot off of a disc, even if the hard drive is completely dead or not recognized.

If your hard drive spins up and you have access to another Mac, you may be able to access your data using Firewire Target Disk Mode, as suggested by another responder.

Do you by any chance have Applecare? If so, whatever is wrong will be covered.

Good luck!

I'm having the exact same problem, and I was wondering if you took it into the Apple Store or an Authorized Repair Store? If you did, what did they tell you was the problem?
I've read somewhere else that this problem is an indication that the hard drive is dying or dead.

I also tried the steps in the troubleshooting article that SU had suggested, but still the same problem. Any other suggestions before I go to the Apple Store?

Message was edited by: macnewbie514