File with flashing question mark on startup?

So my MacBook Air just recently started this, with the white screen and grey box with a flashing question mark in it upon starting it up. Safe Boot did nothing, the question mark file continued to appear.
Holding down the Alt button seems to be the only thing that has yeilded any other response. When I hold the Alt button down on startup, it asks me to connect to a wireless internet (which I have). After connecting, it goes into Internet Recovery, where it shows a rotating globe and loads up, usually taking a couple of minutes.
Then I get the white page with the apple logo, and a loading circle.
After that, I get the grey page with Mac OS X Utilities.
From here, I have no idea what to do. My computer was only recently returned to me after a login error, where all my files has been removed and deleted, so it was at Factory settings. Since then, I haven't had enough things on my compter to use Time Machine Backup or anything like that. so I have no backup sources for it to restore from.
I have been able to get onto the internet, but only in a small box on top of the grey background.
I tried to reinstall Mac OS X Lion from here, but when I agree to the terms and conditions, it gives me no disk to install it too, so therefore I cannot continue ahead with the installation.
As for Disk Utility, when I click on the left hand side Mac OS X Base System, there is nothing under First Aid that is highlighted for me to click (show details is also checked)
Nothing under Erase is highlighted for me to click on either.
In the Restore selection, The source (Mac OS X Base System) has Image highlighted beside it. I can click onto that, but from there I have no clue what to do.
This about the sum of all the options my computer is giving me at the moment.
I have no speakers or cords that hook up to my computer (seeing how its a MacBook Air)
As far as I am aware, I have no disks or CDs or external drives that have any programme to help me restore it. I also am not entirely certain what my current systems were, with how up to date everything was, before this happened, but I assume they were all the latest seeing how it was only just fixed a month ago.
If there are any suggestions, your help would be great.
If my files can be saved, that is awesome. But if they have to be cleared, I am not at all phazed by doing that either.

If Disk Utility left panel shows only "Mac OS X Base System", it would seem that it is not detecting your main drive at all.
I would take the system into an Apple Store for diagnosis.

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Folder with Flashing Question Mark on Startup

I tried pressing the option key and no startup manager appeared. I unplugged everything, which was not successful. I booted using the snow leopard DVD, went to the Startup Disk option and my hard drive is not an option (only the snow leopard DVD and a network startup (which has a question mark over it). Any thoughts? Thanks

Sounds like the hard drive has died. Does Disk Utility show the drive at all in the left-hand column, or is it completely missing from that list? If missing, your drive is completely dead. Hopefully, you have your data backed up, since in this case the only option for recovering data will be to send the drive to an expensive data recovery service, where they will tear it apart and read whatever they can (which may or may not be much or even anything).
You'll need to contact Apple for service if you're not comfortable opening up the machine and replacing the hard drive yourself.

How do I get rid of the flashing file with a question mark in it?

I wanted to start clean on my MacBook Pro osx 10.9.4. So I did the command r and erased what I thought was the right one. I restarted my computer and did the command r again and what came up was internet recovery. It can't find my internet because it's WEP and I don't know to change it to wpa. So I restarted my computer again and I didn't do the command r but just let it load itself to see what would happen and all I get is a flashing file with a question mark. I don't know what to do. Someone please help me.

Do you get this display?
If so, you have to select an Internet connection. Do not expect quick response time in this mode. All activities in this mode will be lengthy.
Ciao.

Hi I installed a new hard drive in my Mac mini osx lion an when I turn it on I get a flashing file with a question mark. I tried holding command and R keys when turning it on but the recovery fails to work. Does any one know how I can get it to recover?

Hi I installed a new hard drive in my Mac mini osx lion an when I turn it on I get a flashing file with a question mark. I tried holding command and R keys when turning it on but the recovery fails to work. I can hold the option key at start up and choose my network, then Internet recovery shows up with an arrow pointing up. When I click on the arrow Internet recovery fails and all I get is a globe with a triangle on it with an exclamation mark on it, and under that it says
apple.com/support
-6002F
Does any one know how I can fix this without a recovery disc? Thanks

I just want to add to this, in case someone else searches for this error on Apple Support (google doesnt cover apple support.. how clever is that?)
I had the same error. And i had a Computer that had worked, with a SSD drive and 16GB upgrade done by the owner himself.
I tried swapping with a Mechinal Harddrive, no luck.
Kept the Mechanical drive in, and tried with some other Ram, it worked..
So for me this error and after reading the other responses can be boiled down to a Harddrive problem or Ram issue.
It was Ram for me..

I've got a 15" white macbook which I bought about 2 years ago. It froze the other day and wouldn't respond so I shut it down. When I turn it on now it comes up with a flashing file with a question mark on it. How can I fix it?

I've got a 15" white macbook which I bought about 2 years ago. It froze the other day and wouldn't respond so I shut it down. When I turn it on now it comes up with a flashing file with a question mark on it. How can I fix it? I've tried a few things i've seen online but the futhest ive got is to put the start up disk in when you makes it go to a grey screen with an apple logo and the spinning wheel which then stops spinning. Can anybody help?

That folder with the question mark icon means that the MacBook can't find the boot directory. That can either mean it can't find the hard drive or the Operating System data on the hard drive is somehow corrupted.
Put your install DVD into the optical drive and reboot. As soon as you hear the boot chime, hold down the "c" key on your keyboard (or the Option key until the Install Disk shows up). That will force your MacBook to boot from the install DVD in the optical drive.
When it does start up, you'll see a panel asking you to choose your language. Just press the Return key on your keyboard once.It will then present you with an Installation window. Completely ignore this window and click on Utilities in the top menu and scroll down to Disk Utility and click it. When it comes up is your Hard Drive in the list on the left?
If it is then click on the Mac OS partition of your hard drive in the left handlist. Then select the First Aid Tab and run Repair Disk. The Repair Disk button won't be available until you've clicked on the Mac OS partition on your hard drive. If that repairs any problems run it again until the green OK appears and then run Repair Permissions.
If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

HT3964 I just opened up my MacBook Pro after a few days of not using it and it was frozen. I turned it off and back on and all I see is a white screen, there was a file with a question mark flashing for a bit but I can't do anything, please help me!!

I just opened up my MacBook Pro after a few days of not using it and it was frozen. I turned it off and back on and all I see is a white screen, there was a file with a question mark flashing for a bit but I can't do anything, please help me!!

Jerricayoung,
you have a 13-inch Mid 2012 MacBook Pro. It’s modern enough that it supports booting into Recovery mode. To do so, hold down a Command key and the R key as you start up. It should eventually show a Mac OS X Utilities menu. Select Disk Utility from that menu; when the Disk Utility window appears, select the bootable volume from the left-hand side of the window. (It’s typically called “Macintosh HD”.) When the volume is selected, some buttons will appear on the right-hand side. If it’s not greyed out, press the Verify Disk button; if it is greyed out, or if it reports on errors that it found, press the Repair Disk button. Once the verification/repair is completed, exit Disk Utility and select Restart from the Apple menu; that will restart your MacBook Pro in its normal mode. With luck, that will be enough to get you to your normal login screen, rather than the white screen.

Starts up with flashing question mark

When I turned on my iMac this morning it has a flashing gray file with a question mark inside it.

That means it can't find the disk to startup from. Restart holding down the Option key. This may bring you to a screen where the startup disk will show. Select that and continue booting. If you are able to boot successfully, then go to sys prefs>startup disk and be sure your usual startup disk is selected.
If this doesn't help, post back.

I have a white intel i mac and when i boot up a file with a question mark shows up

i installed wnow leopard and then attempted to use boot camp to install windows (thats a whole other story though) after i got windows on it and then got it back to the mac side i found i could not get back to the windows side so i attemted to delete the windows partition and recreate my full mac partition (thats not as easy as i thought it would be, anyway i ended up with a partition that said it was the alloted mac partition space and another one, that apperead smaller in disk utility, that said it was 160 gb (my total disk size) while i was trying to fix that i hit the power strip switch with my foot and the whole thing shut down when it booted back up the only thing on the screen was a file with a question mark on it, i think it is just booting from the misconfigured parition but im not sure ive tried inserting my snow leopard and xp system disks but it doesnt seem to be booting from them.

At startup hold down the Option/Alt key t bring up the One time Boot Selection, Startup Manager, screen and then select the OS X install DVD. Give it about 30+ second for the DVD drive to read and display the OS X install DVD.
Then use Disk Utility to Repartition the drive as one partition and then try installing OS X.
Could be you simply killed that drive with all the new installs of OS X and then Windows and then using Disk Utility to erase the Windows partition. If that is the case you'll need to replace the drive before you'll be able to reinstall any OS on it.
In any event Never use Disk Utility to erase a Windows install. Use the Boot Camp Assistant a second tim to Remove Windows and the partition it is installed on.

What do I do about the file with a question mark when it starts up?

I have a MacBook Pro, had it for 2 years now. It has been good, up until just now... It was on, perfect as normal until I plugged in my iPad mini and my iPod touch. It started freezing up, and so I turned it off, but when I turned it back on, the file with the question mark just shows up. What am I supposed to do now? I have never had this problem before, and I don't wanna lose everything inside it as I have 2 years worth of pictures and videos. Any suggestions? Is there any steps I can take?
P.s I'm not sure which operating system it is, so I just chose one that might be close to it, as I updated my Mac just a couples weeks ago.

A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac

Forwarded pictures turn into little squares with flashing question mark

Occasionally someone forwards me some email with supposed picture attachments but the pictures don't forward and are represented by little squares with flashing question marks.
Any idea what causes this?
(I use Mac mail and Safari).
-Louise

There are a few things that cause this, I've found.
Sometimes it's because the email includes images in a format that Mail doesn't like, but it can also be because the attached graphics had their names changed (or were deleted completely) by an outgoing- or incoming-mail virus scanner, or because the graphics weren't really included in the email, but were really just HTML links to images stored on a web site somewhere, and the site has gone down or moved the images.
You can usually tell which has happened by looking at the message's attachments. If there aren't any attachments, then either they've been deleted or stripped from the message, or the message points to dead Internet links.
If there are attached files, you can look at them to see if they have names that look funny (e.g., many virus programs add the word "DEFANGED" to file names), and might have been changed. Also see if they come up with the right icon (Picture icon saying JPEG, GIF, BMP, or PNG, usually). If they're just plain white generic file icons, then they might be something that your computer can't read.
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Gray file with a question mark

I have macbook pro and it starts up fine but after about 30 minutes I hear a clicking sound and it freezes then a gray file with a question mark shows up. How can I fix this?

You probably need a new hard drive. Your computer can't find a boot disk at startup and you're hearing a 'clicking' sound. Not good at all. You should backup immediately, using two schemes and two hard drives, at least, and then run Disk Utility from Disc 1 that came with your MacBook Pro. First Verify the disk and then, if needed, Repair the disk.
But before you do anything - make those backups. See -> Most commonly used backup methods.
Good luck,
Clinton

A flashing question mark on startup

My Mini is displaying a flashing question mark after startup. How do I fix it?

The flashing question mark indicates that your Mini cannot find a valid startup disk. Restart with the Install disk in place and hold down the C key and the Mini will start up from the CD. Repair the Mini's hard disk using Disk Utility on the Install CD (Look under the Apple menu). If this does not work, you may need to obtain a startup CD with a third-party recovery utility such as Disk Warrior to attempt to rebuild the Mini hard disk directory.
Here's a link to an Apple document to help you:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58042
Bob N.
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HT4718 I have nothing on my Mcintosh HD after trying to install Mavericks. I did save a recovery copy of files however this was also lost. All I now have is a file with a question mark with nothing else happening. What should I do?

Apple recently sent a message asking me if I would like to upgrade to Mavericks which was free. I considered installing after saving a copy of my HD to a WD external drive. I proceeded with the instalation however when it was time to reboot the programme the computer displayed a message that it could not process the request due to errors with the hard drive. The computer then requested that i save a copy and the verify disk and repair disk which i followed and the computer would not repair due to an error. At which pioint I did some research and was told by the IMac to push shift when it starts to enter disk utility and repair the Mcintosh HD. I did as asked however the computer would still not install with Mavericks.
So after many attempts of trying to start over, I was prompted to erase the Mcintosh HD and reboot using the saved copy. At this point all data was lost and all that is left on my computer is a file with a question mark with no way of restoring the HD drive. Could anyone help please?

It sounds like your HD may have died.
If you could answer a few questions it may help figure out what you should do next:
What OS did you have on your computer before you tried to upgrade to mavericks?
Did your computer originally come with installer disks?

Hi can anyone help with a mac that had magnet put on it. I turned it on and then off but a white screen appears with a file with a question mark on it?

Hi can anyone help with a mac that had magnet put on it. I turned it on and then off but a white screen appears with a file with a question mark on it?

File icon with ? mark on it means it can't read from the hard drive. The hard drive is now wiped or bad. If just wiped then you will need to reinstall your operating system, OS X. If bad you will need to replace the drive.
Start with booting the computer from the OS X install DVD that came with your system. If the Mac came with Lion Pre-Installed then you use the Lion internet recovery system to reinstall (Hold down Command+r keys or Command+Option+r keys to boot the computer from over the internet to the Lion recovery HD system).
Good Luck.

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Need help, what to do when I cannot restart my mac. I get a file with a question mark?

That indicates that your Mac is unable to find a system to boot from
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Allan

File with flashing question mark on startup?

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