Flashing folder with question mark on startup mac mavericks

Hi buddies, I've an old macbook (those with pretty die hard silver case).
last night when i just turned it on, after days a flashing folder with a ? mark on it appeared... and nothing..!
I read this A flashing question mark or globe appears when you start your Mac
but i wanna know if my datas on my hard disk would be safe or not... and what should I do keep them safe.
If I loose my files and data, you can name me dead!!!

Your data are safe if you have them separately backed up. Otherwise, there is no assurance they are safe. Given the nature of the problem it's too late to backup your data, so you will need to try reinstalling OS X and take your chances all will work out well. Hopefully, it will.
If you have Snow Leopard installed:
Clean Install of Snow Leopard
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer.  Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the  "C" key.  Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
         button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
         After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.)  Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.  Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer.  Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X.  You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
If you have Lion or later installed:
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks without erasing drive
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
     Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
                 if possible because it isthree times faster than wireless.

Similar Messages

  • Flashing folder with question mark at Startup

    Here is what I know so far.
    - The computer was powered off by pushing the power button without shutting down.
    - The computer was then restarted and it was coming into the white screen with the Apple logo in the middle, but i noticed that it was skewed slightly (like someone took a 4:3 ratio screen and stretched it to a 16:9) and then it would show a circle slash icon and then the flashing folder with a question mark on it.
    - It would not come up in single user mode (Command + S) and it said that there was an error loading kernel 'mach_kernel'
    - It would not come up in safe mode (Shift)(The flashing folder came up again)
    - I reset the PRAM (Command + Option + p + r) and it seemed to fix the problem with the stretched screen but did not help the boot situation (still got flashing folder)
    - I did the start up where you can select the hard drive to boot with, it owed the HD and i selected it, but then i got the flashing folder with question mark.
    - It would not come up in Verbose Mode (Command V) Error loading Kernel again.
    - I bought a FireWire cable and hooked it to another MacBook Pro, and booted the faulty Mac into Target Disk Mode, the FireWire logo came up on the screen and bounced around like all forums said that it would, but the drive would not show up on my host. I checked the System Profiler on the host and it did acknowledge the Target Disk Mode was there, but the drive of the target would not show up on the host. I restarted the host, nothing. I checked all of the connections, nothing. I replugged all of the connections, nothing. I even reversed the FireWire cable, nothing.
    - I have DiskWarrior 4 if i can get the drive to show up in TDM, but nothing so far.
    Does anyone have any suggestions?

    Thanks for your help guys. I managed to get the computer started by holding down C at the Start Up with the Install Disc 1 in the computer. The disc was really kindof unnecessary, as the newest version of Mac OS X (10.4.10) became available via the hard drive.
    I then found out that the battery was not installed, so I reset the management system by removing the A/C power, the battery and pushing the power button for 5 seconds, and then reconnecting everything. It did not help, the battery is bad i guess, so I am going to call AppleCare and get a new battery.
    Thanks for your help.

  • Blank screen with flashing folder with question mark on startup of 13" macbook

    Hello world, my daughter's 13" macbook upon startup opens to a blank screen with a flashing folder with a question mark in it... If anyone could help us resolve this issue we would greatly appreciate it... Thanks!..

    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 select the First Aid Tab and run Repair Disk. If that repairs any problems run it again until the green OK appears and then run Repair Permissions.
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  • Flashing folder with question mark on start up + many other issues

    About 6 months ago I first encountered the flashing folder with question mark on startup. I fixed the issue myself by unplugging the mouse and keyboard and rebooting. I also did the cmd S fsck -fy before that and all was well.
    The other day I had the flashing folder again...I got it going a couple of times but it happened again. Right now I seem to be in deep trouble. Please read the following:
    1. I booted up from the leopard dvd and no hard drive was there to run a disk utility on
    2. Booted up again from the dvd and hard drive was there. Ran the disk utility and everything was fine...for about 5 minutes. Then the computer froze and I had to hard power down. Rebooted to the flashing folder.
    3. Did command s and fsck but at the end I get the message failed to issue comm reset after 3 attempts.....failing....
    4. I powered down, vacuumed out the vents, sprayed compressed air to make sure it wasn't over heating from dust buildup as I read somewhere.
    5. Booted up...worked for about 5 minutes again.
    6. Now I can't get to the hard drive from the install dvd at all...I tried 100 times. Cmd s won't work at all!! So it looks like I am out of options. Does anyone have ny radical solutions that i can try to fix this. There are some very important things on my hard drive that I would be very upset about loosing.
    Please reply

    Sorry to bear bad news, but most likely the drive is already dead or dying. I hope you backed up everything when the first symptoms appeared.
    There are data recovery services, but might be very expensive.
    EDIT: Some (a few) people have had success putting the drive (sealed very well in a plastic baggy) in the freezer overnight and then quickly putting it in an external enclosure and getting the data off it that way.
    Message was edited by: WZZZ

  • HT1366 How to fix Flashing Folder with Question Mark on Mac

    How to fix Flashing Folder with Question Mark on Mac

    RichardEL is probably correct.  I’ll go through your questions.
    > there is no Mac OS partition, I assume it would be directly underneath the HD on the left?
    I have not seen this particular condition where the hardware disk icon appears but the system volume that is supposed to be below it does not.  The System Disk partition would be below the HD icon indented to the right.  It is usually called “Macintosh HD” unless you renamed it.
    > when I go into disk utility my HD appears on the left, but I can repair or verify it
    Odd.  It appears but you cannot manipulate it with Disk Utility.
    > The S.M.A.R.T status reads verified
    If it did not say Verified then it would indicate a problem.  Saying Verified does not rule out problems but I think it indicates it is still breathing.
    > Is the HD deceased?
    If you booted the Recovery Partition (Boot, Command-R), which it sounds like you did, then at least part of the disk is still breathing.  If it took a long time to boot then that may have been a Network Recovery boot which would indicate the disk is very sick or dead.
    >  [If I] restore from time machine [will] everything will be back as it was before?
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    $5 Toolkit: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TOOLKITMHD/
    $22 USB 3.0 enclosure: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ES2.5BU3W/
    If you attempt a clean install, use the Partition tab to repartition the disk, selecting one partition and with “Options…” electing a GUID partition.  Then use the Erase tab, select “Security Options…” and set it to write a single pass of zeros.  This will write to every sector to map out bad blocks.  (If you have an SSD do not write a pass of zeros.)
    If you do need to replace it I recommend an new inexpensive (~$100) and super-fast hybrid SSHD drive that has an 8 GB SSD cache that makes the data fly.  Google “Seagate 1 TB hybrid SSHD”.

  • Blue screen with flashing folder and question mark on startup

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  • Mac Shows Folder With Question Mark On Startup?

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