Flashing ? at start up

[Giulia851]

Hi,
I was using my macbook when it stopped responding, so naturally i reset it, now when i try to start it up all i get is a grey screen with the flashing ?.
I've tried following the instructions on the apple site by inserting the install CD, but its not very successful.
I'm running OS X 10.4.
Hopefully i don't lose any work that was on it as i'm a final year uni student & i really need the stuff on there
Any help?
Thanks

 

[Egidio]

The flashing question mark means your Mac can't find the start-up volume. What happens when you use the install disk? If you can reboot from the disk, then you should run Disk Utilities to see if there's anything wrong with your MacBook startup volume. After that, if nothing wrong is found, then go to System Preferences > Startup Disk and select the one for your MacBook. Do a restart and see if the Mac starts up from its own hard disk.

 

[Giulia851]

When i put in the install cd and go to disk utilities & it asks to select the file/disk, and i select my hd it won't let me click on the repair button (i think thats what it is).
I might just take it in to an apple store for a service, im not really confident in fixing the problem myself.
Thanks