Hd Problems

[Inverness Falls]

The other day, I was running software updates and the downloading process froze, while the rest of the computer did not. I quit updates, tried to restart, and haven't seen my desktop since. I am not able to login. In fact, I'm not able to get past that cute Apple logo/spinning time wheel screen. I've tried rebooting with the "OS X install disc-hold C" trick. This leads to a notification that I need to restart my computer. Restarting my computer and going through the same procedures, I come back to the restart message--an infinite cycle. Is there anything at this point that I can do on my own?

[Zammy-Sam]

Hi Inverness_Falls and welcome to the forum.
By "OS X install disk-hold C" trick, do you mean you booted into the install disk and repaired disk permissions? If not, you should do so.
Did you try to startup in the safe mode? Hold the shift key while booting. Another thing would be resetting the PRam. Restart your Mac and hold the COMMAND-OPTION-'P'-'R' key combination. You must be pressing this key combination before you get to the 'Welcome to Macintosh' screen. You will hear the startup chime. Continue holding the keys down until you have heard three chimes.
One last thing: boot into the single user mode (COMMAND-'S') and type 'fsck -f'.
Hopefully your system will boot again.
Good luck!