the other day i went to start my car, i put the key in the ignition and turned the lights on and they ones on the instrument panel came on, but when i went to crank it i could here the starter clicking but it would not crank. then we tried to jump start it and the battery meter read over 12, but when i turned the key it dropped and would not crank so we had to pull it off. so my ? is , is it the starter or a dead battery.

 

since you got the car running, drive it down to the local autoparts place & they can test your battery, the likely culprit is the battery cables themselves, they tend to corrode inside over time.

 

seconded

 

well, we took off the starter and tested it with the battery out of the 7 and it worked fine. ends up it was the thingy on the end of the battery cables that hooks to the battery, it was all mangled and stuff. stupid me