Blinking mac face and question mark at startup

i've been having problems w/ my powerbook lately, it's been freezing and the mouse has been whirring. I installed more ram and repaired discs through the installation software (disk utilities).
everything was working fine for about a day, except that the laptop kept making this whirring sound.
suddenly, my mouse pointer disappeared and wouldn't turn back on. i forced the computer to quit by holding down on the power button, but once i restarted it, an icon of a small grey folder w/ alternating between a blinking mac face and question mark came on.
i tried restarting the computer, holding down command, alt/options, "P" and "R" but the blinking face won't go away. now, the computer turns on for about half a minute, and then shuts off by itself.
can someone please help me??

Look at:http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302672
You may need to run fsck to try and repair the volume.
Please update your profile so we know which version of Mac OS you're running.
Joe

Similar Messages

  • Alternating mac face and question mark after i tried to install OS X 10.3

    I have a Powerbook G4 and I tried to update my operating sytem from 10.2.8 to 10.3 but it froze. After I restarted it I got an alternating mac face and question mark. It just ejects the CDs I try to put into it except for the installation disk for OS X 10.1.3. When I put that one in a smiling mac computer come up then all this type comes across the screen, something about kernels and panic.
    Please help me, I've got a project due soon.

    Could someone please help me,
    when i open my power book g4, an alternating Mac face and question mark appears, and no matter what I do it is still there.
    it only changes when I insert the installtion CD of MAC OS X 10.3, but after the Apple logo appears, the screen went white and sometimes just blue, and it just won't work. Then after restarting, the alternating Mac face and question mark still appear.
    i also tried the hardware test, after doing both of the tests, the result is consistently "passed". But after restarting, the same problem happens.
    what should i do?
    please help me
    thanx in advanced

  • Blue et white face and question mark flashing  when  i open my mac

      BLUE ET WHITE FACE AND QUESTION MARK FLASHING  WHEN I OPEN MY MAC POWER G5  HELP

    That means that it can't find an OS to boot. You might try booting off the CD that came with the system and running Disk Utility on the Hard Drive.

  • HT2173 i get a flashing face and question mark when switching on, but computer stays on this screen?

    help please I have two other Imacs and when I switch them on I get a flasing face and question mark come up in the middle of the screen, and they continue to flash with nothing else happening apart from a loud fan noice after a while?

    On what Mac running what version of OS X?

  • Blue screen with flashing folder and question mark on startup

    Hello.
    I need help with my Macbook Pro.  I get a blue screen with a flashing folder and a question mark at start up.  To date I have tried the following:
    Apple Hardware (Extensive) Test (Results:  "No Trouble Found")
    Safe Boot
    Reset NVRAM
    Reinstall OS X via the internet (I received no discs when I purchased it).  I select the StartUp Disk to reinstall. When reinstalling via the internet I get to a point of reinstalling Mountain Lion but it asks me to choose a drive - yet there are no drive options to choose from. Then a window comes up asking me to "Select the system you want to use to start up your computer" but no options appear.  When I choose "Restart" a note pops up saying "You can't change the startup disk to the selected disk.  Startup Disk could not gather enough information on the selected disk."
    The only option is "Restart" from the Apple menu.  When I choose that it goes back to the original "Blue screen with flashing folder and question mark on startup."
    I have no Time Machine
    I can't access the disc utility.
    Are there any ideas as to what might be the problem?

    Your hard drive has likely failed and needs replaced. That would explain why the system does not display it when you attempt to reinstall the OS via Internet Recovery.

  • Blinking folder with a question mark at startup.

    Dear all.
    I am a newby with Macs and I just found an iMac G3 266Mhz. (Why anybody would throw a Mac away is beyond me but anyhow)
    When starting up I just get a blinking folder with the question mark.
    I can start up with an CD of Mac OS 9.2 but when wanting to install the software I get an error message about my firmware not being up to date etc etc... when going through the things I have to do for an firmware upgrade I get an error message saying disk locked....By browsing through these pages I found that that was most likely due to starting up from the CD.
    But now I'm not able to start up from any other folder then the CD.
    If I select to start up from the hard disk I just get the folder icon with the question mark again.
    Please please please can anyone help me....or I am doomed to using PC´s forever.
    Irol

    Hi Irol
    You're in a sort of catch 22 situation. You have to run the firmware upgrade while running from the HD.
    Anyway. Try this
    Start up from the CD as you did before then copy the firmware update app onto your hard drive .
    While running from the CD open the HD and look for the "System Folder"
    What does it look like? Is it a plain folder or is it a folder with the picasso face?
    It should have the picasso face.
    If it's a plain folder do this.
    Open it and locate a file called "System" - it will have the picasso face. Drag the file out of the system folder onto your desktop.
    Now close the system folder.
    Now with one swift action - drag the picasso file and drop it onto the closed system folder - do it quickly so that the folder doesn't open. Then wait a moment.
    The picasso face should appear on the systgem folder. Now try starting the mac normally.
    Does it work?
    If so, run the firmware updater. There are two versions, one for a tray loader and one for the slot loader. It you get the wrong one it will tell you, It will also tell you if the firmware is up to date.
    Anyway, if you can't start the mac other than from the CD it is most likely that there is some corruption on the disk. A good tool to use is Diskwarrior - it's a bit expensive but it's a staple of my toolkit - it's far more efficient than both Norton and Techtool.
    Another alternative - but probably more difficult. is to run from an 8.6 or 9.0 CD if you can find one - ebay?
    Just to say - the flashing question mark is the system's way of saying "I cannot find a valid start-up folder"
    Hopefully one of the above will get you going.
    The fact that you can start the mac up from the CD says that the mac itself is OK - I wonder if it was thrown away because the owner couldn't sort it out.

  • Blinking Folder Icon with Question Mark at startup - Is my HD dead?

    I was uploading a .Mov file to my idisk when I got an error message - not sure what it said. But the screen dimmed, and then froze. I held down the power to power down - which it did.
    When I fired it back up, I heard the startup sound - then the screen went white. A gray folder icon appears with a question mark over it - and it blinks.
    I tried powering down again and unplugging, and also powering on with all peripherals unplugged. Again I get the white screen, folder icon and question mark.
    That .Mov was being uploaded as a freelance project for Google due tomorrow morning. Great timing! Am I screwed?
    Thanks!
    Gordon

    I booted from the Mac OS X Install disk and opened the Disk Utility.
    The options for disks to repair are
    1. The Mac OS X Install Disk 1
    2. A drive that's simply labeled "Media."
    Is this "Media" disk my HD? I'm not getting any options to repair the disk.
    Disk Description: Media
    Connection Bus: Serial ATA 2
    Connection Type: Internal
    Total Capacity: 0 Bytes - that doesn't sound good.
    Write Status: Read/Write
    Again, thanks for your help.
    G

  • Blinking file folder w/ question mark at startup

    This morning I opened my 2009 MacBook and it was business as usual. Then safari froze, which happens a lot, so I force quit the app and started it back up. Then the whole computer froze, so I force shut it down and when I restarted it the apple logo appeared on the blue screen as usual but the wheel that indicates that it's loading kept spinning. So I restarted again, and every time I've tried to reboot since, the blinking folder with the question mark appears. And after a while the computer shuts itself down. I know this has to do with the hard drive, but I don't know how to fix it. I have it charging right now and a friend suggested I try shift+R, but are there any other fixes? I'm super concerned because I'm studying abroad in France and I don't know of any apple stores that provide the care that the USA ones do, and I'm also broke (the student thing, again), AND I'm here until the end of June. So I definitely can't just wait till I get home to get it fixed. Thanks for any and all help and suggestions!

    The flashing qustion mark on boot means the system can't find a device to boot from.
    You didn't say what operating system you have, so if 10.5 or 10.6 see http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440?viewlocale=en_US .
    If it's 10.7 follow the steps in the note above.  You may also need to use Lion recovery, see http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/ and http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

  • Folder and question mark at startup

    Using the posts here I was able to get my Powerbook G3 Pismo to start up after three years in the closet! Thanks for that. I had to pull the PRAM battery, wait a few minutes and reinsert it, then reset the PRAM. But now when I try to start the computer, I get the system folder followed by the question mark, then it shuts down about a minute. A can boot from Apple Hardware Test and I ran that and everything checks out fine. I've tried to run Software Restore, but it doesn't recognize the HD.
    So, where is my internal system?? I could try reinstalling the original software, but I'd like to boot up the HD and get my data off first. What could I try to get the HD to appear?
    Thanks,
    TH

    tharring:
    Welcome to Apple Discussions.
    Glad you decided to revive your Pismo. It is a wonderful machine, and, hopefully, you will having going, again, before too very long.
    As Tom noted, the problem is likely your HDD. Being able to boot the computer from the optical drive is an excellent sign, and suggests that the computer itself is sound and the problem may be in the startup volume.
    A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac indicates that your computer is unable to find a bootable volume. This may be due to a corrupted or no OS installed, or failing or failed HDD. Here are a few suggestions in addition to Tom's:
    • When you hit the Power button and computer powers up to the flashing ?/folder, put your ear close to the keyboard on the top right, where the Hard Disk Drive is installed in the Pismo, and listen for any sounds that will indicate the the HDD is turning. If it is turning, we will need to figure whether it is sound or not.
    • If you hear no sound, check to be sure that the HDD is in place. Pull back the tabs to the right of the esc key and between F8 and F9 keys. Lift the keyboard and lay it face down on the palmrest without disconnecting it from the computer. Check to be sure that the HDD is in place and that the ribbon cable is connected to the drive.
    • You said that the AHT reported everything was OK. Sometimes a single run of the test is not sufficient to detect intermittent problems. You will need to boot from the AHT disk and run the tests in a loop by holding down Command + L during the tests. Sometimes it has to run for several hours to detect some intermittent problems.
    • You can try to see if you can boot into Firewire Target Disk Mode, following the directions in the article and connecting it to a firewire Mac. If it is able to mount the disk, you may be able to rescue your data in that way.
    Check out these additional suggestions and post back with what you find.
    cornelius

  • Blinking file icon with question mark at startup

    my computer sort of froze so i forced restarted it (second time i've done that in its one year lifetime) and when it started back up the screen displayed a file icon with a question mark blinking on and off every two seconds. eventually the fan started humming too. i have since forced restarted it twice with the same results. any ideas on why my darling will not start properly?

    My MacBook Pro did the same thing last night, and I don't think this is good news.
    So far I have:
    -Reset PRAM and PMU
    -Startup from install disks and run Disk Utility. DU doesn't even see the drive! Even Target disk mode doesn't reveal the drive.
    -Archive and install; the installer doesn't see the drive
    None of these worked, and from reading on other disussions, it looks like it is a hareware problem. I will be going to the Applestore this afternoon when I get off of work to see if they can fix it.

  • Restarted and received a blinking file folder with question mark image.

    I left my computer sitting while I was working on homework long enough for the screen saver to come on (I'm not sure exactly how long it was). Earlier in the day, I had to force quit safari and then later it unexpectedly quit several times. While my computer was sitting, it looked like it does when it restarts. I waited until it started to come back up, and instead of coming up to the desktop, it came up with a blinking file folder and question mark. I had not done anything unusual with it, and had not tried to restore it. My dad was working on trying to fix it, and inserted the OS X disk. When the options came up, in the repair feature, the disk could not locate my harddrive. I was wondering if anyone else had encountered this problem, and if so how it was resolved. If anyone had any tips or ideas of things I could try that would be great. I can't really get it to an apple store soon, and I'm a student so my computer is very important to me. Thanks.

    Mornin' John,
    I also have an OWC external firewire drive that I tried to install OSX Tiger to but was told that I could not install OSX Tiger on the external drive.
    What Format is that Drive? GUID/MacOS Extended? It should work if the right format.
    Is there any way to run Disk Warrior from the external hard drive ... to try and rectify this issue, or at least get my data off the dead drive (if it is so)?
    From the external only if you can get OSX installed.
    What version is it? Do you mot have the CD?
    or from my PowerBook G4
    Possibly, with the MaBook in FW Target Mode
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
    If DiskWarrior can't fix it, you might try Data Rescue II...
    http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
    http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
    (Has a Free Demo to see if it could or not, but you'll need another drive to recover to).

  • Image ofFFolder withslternating face profile and question mark on screen

    Can't use my Powerbook because of alternating face and question mark on screen.
    What's wrong and how doI fix this?

    That means that your system can't find anything to boot from. Do you have the original OS X discs that came with your system? Find the one that says in small print on the label 'AHT Version x.x'. Insert it and reboot holding the option key down. Choose the Apple hardware test, click the arrow to the right, and follow directions. Choose the extended test. What does it tell you?
    If it gives you an indication your hard drive isn't present, you can insert the first OS X disc, and reboot holding the C key down, which will cause the system to boot from the OS X disc. Choose utilities from the menu bar, and disk utility. If it sees the hard drive, try a repair disk.
    Please post back what you find.

  • HT1379 I have  lost everything on my mac, a gray screen with a folder and question mark is blinking. i hav another mac that is running slowly, how can I boot and reinstall os x Lion, i do not have the start up disc with me.

    I have  lost everything on my mac, a gray screen with a folder and question mark is blinking. i hav another mac that is running slowly, how can I boot and reinstall os x Lion, i do not have the start up disc with me.

    Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
    Lion uses Recovery to reinstall OS X. Press Command and R keys when your Mac starts, open Disk Utility, erase the drive and reinstall Lion. The other Mac has probably got its hard disk damaged, so take the Mac to an Apple Store

  • Get a folder and a question mark on startup

    I get a gray screen with a folder icon and a blinking question mark on startup.  Is this bad?

    It's certainly not good! A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac. Usually, the only workable solutions is reinstalling OS X. What version of OS X do you have installed?

  • Blinking Grey Folder with Question Mark Inside at Startup

    I have an intel iMAC here that will no longer start. All i get are some clicking noises from the hard drive and blinking folder with a question mark inside. I've tried the slew of commands at startup to boot from the system disk, and I've tried to bypass the hard drive (command-option-shift-delete), nothing works. I've also reset the pram.
    My system disk is now stuck inside the machine and it will not boot.
    Any suggestions? The problem started after waking from sleep mode.

    Hi I have the same problem. However trying the solution above doesn't work and restarting using the command, option ,P,R keys also doesn't help. the startup disk is fine and tries to restart but when it comes to reloading does not se my hard drive. Without stating the obvious i assume my hard drive is poked? is there any way to rescue the situation?
    i was uploading photos to picasa using iphoto, the imac froze solid and when i eventualy rebooted i got the clicking noise and eventually the white screen with the question mark in the folder.
    needless to say the mac is just over a year old (June 06) so not covered by warranty

Maybe you are looking for