Closed lid-lit apple/open lid-gray screen w/o spinning

hello,
have read many forums , articles gray screen, none seem reflect particular dilemma. started last july when went out of town , left computer unplugged. when returned, computer no longer enter sleep mode when closed lid. take ~60 seconds if not longer. after going sleep, open lid , gray screen. no apple, nothing spinning, not mouse. have hold power button down , reboot. if opened lid before apple light out, "normal" (as if didn't go sleep). after while go black screen (what assume sleep mode). still have power down , reboot. @ time safari slow.

have applecare, , did asked - deleted safari preferences, reset safari, deleted new apps, powered alt-comm-p-r, rebooted in safe mode, , tried use (which worked fine), along few things don't remember, no avail. finder stopped working, deleted finder preferences (.plist). lo , behold, solved sleep/wake problem. or thought. now, it's doing again, safari , finder fine. have gone through list again, no avail. can please me.

have macbook pro (early 2011), 8 gb memory, intel hd graphics, lion 10.7.5.

also, have tried repairing permissions.

thank you.

 

if still have applecare, i'd take in service. there may wrong hdd. have backup.

 

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