Electrical Grinding when starting car, now car won't start at all

[dqureshi06]

So two times now when I started up my mustang, there would be a grinding noise, which I have assumed is because of some fault in the starter. It happened last night, then I turned the car off and tried to start, but it just will not start now the dash lights and the radio and everything turns on, but the engine does not crank. I have an old battery that is 5 years old I believe (according to previous owner) so I wanted to know if a poor battery voltage can affect the performance of the starter without the starter actually being broken. I also wanted some advice on how to narrow down and diagnose the issue, if I should try and jump start the car or get my battery checked out before proceeding. Replacing worn out parts is not an issue for me at all, the real headache is in figuring out where the issue is.

 

[2000xp8]

Start with the basics, did you try and jump start it?
Battery voltage?
Did you check to see if all connections from the solenoid, battery and starter are good?

 

[dqureshi06]

Start with the basics, did you try and jump start it?
Battery voltage?
Did you check to see if all connections from the solenoid, battery and starter are good?

gonna try those first, just wanted to narrow it down hence I made the post