White screen with a folder and a question mark in the Folder

Hi,
My daughter's Desktop Mac Pro won't reboot. On reboot, it shows a white screen with a folder and a question mark within, It just stays there and nothing happens. Is this a problem with a dead hard drive, dead processor, faulty USB connection, problem with airport.? We need advise and help, please!
effie imperio

Hi, Anonymoustache, thanks for responding.
Yes, I think it is "a flashing question mark". If it is flashing, you think it is a hardware problem like a dead hard drive? I had a flashing question mark with my Power book G4 and Apple replaced a dead hard drive.
Thanks Hatter, I will convey your response to my daughter and see if it will help.
effie imperio

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My apple computer has a white screen with a file and a question mark

I have a white screen with a ? in a file. I have tried holding the option,command, P R buttons while turning it on. No help Does anyone have anymore ideas?

The flashing question mark says, " I cannot find the Startup Disk you said to use."
Hold down the Option key while starting up. This should cause your Mac to draw an Icon for each bootable device.
If none are drawn, you Startup Disk has been damaged.
If Recovery_HD is shown, choose that, launch Disk Utility, select your Macintosh_HD, and ( Repair Disk ).

White screen with a folder and a question mark on the folder and its blink?

I was on my computer and it was basically frozen so I turned it offf manually. Then I tried to turn it back on and it it made the noise like it was turning on, but then there was a white screen. Then I turned it off again and it did the same thing exept that now it has a little blinking folder with a question mark in it. Then I turned it off again and it did the same thing as it didi the 1st time......HELP ME !!!
(oh now it just turned itself off)

You can try starting up while holding the 'Option' key down. This will hopefully present you with your drive to select from. If not, insert your Install DVD and restart with the 'C' key down. This is called booting to the DVD. When the topmenu appears, launch Disk Utility and then verify/repair both permissions and the drive itself.
If the drive does not appear in Disk Utility ...you may have one of the faulty Seagate drives. If you are still within you standard 1 year warranty (or have Applecare) then that drive will be replaced.
Do you have things backed up?

What does it mean when you computer crashes and when you turn it back on it shows you a blank blue screen with a little folder and a question mark in the middle?

What does it mean when you computer crashes and when you turn it back on it shows you a blank blue screen with a little folder and a question mark in the middle? It's a old imac from 1997.

I don't have original discs that it came with.
Then you still can use the second option with the keyboard combo I posted, called "resetting the PRAM."
Also when you way hold the c key down do you mean turn computer off and turn back on holding the c key?
Yes, or you can simply restart. As you don't have the CDs, this isn't on the plate any more.
The internal backup battery is not expensive and, in most iMacs is user-replacable. If yours has a tray-loading optical drive like this one:
it takes a major teardown to replace the internal battery. If this is the case, you'd be better off to leave the computer plugged in all the time; that eliminates the main reason for having a working battery.
If it has a slot-loading optical drive like this one:
things are much easier. The battery is visible through the RAM access door on the bottom of the computer case. The manual:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iMacG3_2000UserManual.PDF
has sketches of how to access the RAM and therefore the backup battery. Unfortunately, the pdf on the manual goes up sideways on-screen and the RAM instructions are pretty deep into the manual. It's probably easier to scroll (for a while) to the section on adding RAM and print the applicable pages.
When you work on the battery, some sort of non-conductive pliers or large tweezer or forceps help unless you have tiny fingers. Make sure to note the polarity of the old battery and install the new one in the same orientation.
The battery itself is readily available. If price is no oblect, you can get it for a small rasom from Radio Shack Store ("Tandy" outside the US) as part number 23-026.
Online, they are dirt-cheap even after adding shipping. I buy backup batteries form this outfit:
3.6v Newer Technology Lithium 1/2 AA PRAM Computer Clock Battery

My MacBook has a grey screen with a folder and a question mark in the middle what does this mean?

My MacBook has a grey screen with a folder and a question mark in the middle what does this mean?

It means a valid system cannot be found. You need to reinstall OS X.
If you have Snow Leopard:
Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. 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 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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
If you have Lion or later:
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 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 is three times faster than wireless.

My MacBook will only turn on to a grey screen with a file and a question mark flashing on the screen

When I turn my MacBook on a grey screen with a file and question mark in the center of the screen flashing. What can I try to
get out of this screen?

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 (CD/DVD drive) and reboot. Be sure to either use the disc that came with your Mac, or, if you installed a later Mac OS X version from disc, use the newer disc. 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) until the apple shows up. That will force your MacBook to boot from the install DVD in the optical drive.
Or if you are running 10.7 Lion, boot from the recovery partition (Command +R on boot) and use Disk Utility to repair your OS 10.7 partition.
When it does start up, you'll see a panel asking you to choose your language. Choose your language and 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 hand list. 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. After repairing use Startup Disk from the same menu to choose your hard drive for restarting from your hard drive.
If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

I messed up badly by trying to restore my brand new macbook pro by doing restart then command R and choose disc utility repair now when I start ,all I get is the white screen with a folder and a question mark,What can I do???help please

I messed up badly by trying to restore my brand new macbook pro by doing restart then command R and choose disc utility repair now when I start ,all I get is the white screen with a folder and a question mark,What can I do???help please

Can you still boot to the Recovery partition using Command and R whilst booting? Or did you wipe the Recovery partition as well?
If your Recovery partition is still intact, you can simply boot to it and reinstall the OS via the Internet. If you wiped the Recovery partition, you can hold down Command, option and R keys whilst booting and boot into true Internet Recovery mode. You'll be able to reformat the hard drive, erasing all partitions (format it as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" with a dingle GUID partition) and then reinstall the OS that shipped with your machine.
Note that you should use a physical Ethernet connection when restoring over the Internet - it's three times slower if you use wifi.
Try your Recovery partition first and if that doesn't work, use Internet Recovery.
Clinton

Macbook Air - White/Grey Screen with a folder and a question mark

Out of the blue , my macbook air stopped starting up and strted to show me a white/grey screen with nothing but a folder and a question mark . After searching on the internet for solutions and trying to reset my PRAM setting , it still wouldn't boot up . I opened up disk utility and going through internet recovery , I ran the first aid verification on my MAC OS X Base System and it said that it found no problems . I can't restore or erase by the way and i really wouldn't erase my files as I have very important files on my mac . Moving on , I tried to reinstall OS X , but apperently it needs a disk to install OS x on and since none appear , I tried using an USB . After creating a partition and erasing everything on my USB , not happy about that , it wasn't big enough for the OS . So now I am basically stuck in the mac white screen Limbo .
Any sort of help would be fantastic and please do keep in mind that this is a macbook air and I do not have a place to put DVDs into . All I have read on different forum pages didn't help so i decided that it would be a good idea to create my very own thread . I am not very sure about the Mountain Lion version ,but I am not very sure that it matters .

Out of the blue , my macbook air stopped starting up and strted to show me a white/grey screen with nothing but a folder and a question mark . After searching on the internet for solutions and trying to reset my PRAM setting , it still wouldn't boot up . I opened up disk utility and going through internet recovery , I ran the first aid verification on my MAC OS X Base System and it said that it found no problems . I can't restore or erase by the way and i really wouldn't erase my files as I have very important files on my mac . Moving on , I tried to reinstall OS X , but apperently it needs a disk to install OS x on and since none appear , I tried using an USB . After creating a partition and erasing everything on my USB , not happy about that , it wasn't big enough for the OS . So now I am basically stuck in the mac white screen Limbo .
Any sort of help would be fantastic and please do keep in mind that this is a macbook air and I do not have a place to put DVDs into . All I have read on different forum pages didn't help so i decided that it would be a good idea to create my very own thread . I am not very sure about the Mountain Lion version ,but I am not very sure that it matters .

My screen turns gray with a blinking folder and a question mark

My computer started going really slow so I tried to restart it. When it started to turn back on the screen just went gray for a minute or two then a darker gray folder with a question mark on it started blinking in the middle of the computer. little help?

Hi,
Before you buy a new hard drive, you may be able to get it fixed free of charge.
MacBooks equipped with Seagate hard drives model ST96812AS (and possibly other Seagate models)
with firmware 7.01 have experienced a higher than normal failure rates. The failure mode is that the heads detach from the positioning mechanism.
You can use System Profiler to see what type of hard drive is installed. If you have gotten the screen with the folder and blinking question mark, and you do have a Seagate ST96812AS installed, I recommend calling AppleCare or taking your Macbook to a retail service center. There is a good chance you may be able to get the drive replaced, even if your MacBook is no longer covered by a warranty.
The hard drive is considered to be a user serviceable part, so you might not have to send the entire computer in, but rather swap only the hard drive via mail.
Best wishes for a problem resolution,
Bill

Apple Macbook 13.3" Laptop-Black 2008 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo will not boot up and instead I get a grey screen with a folder and a question mark over it.

My Apple Macbook 13.3" Laptop-Black 2008 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo will not boot up and instead I get a grey screen with a folder and a question mark over it. I've tried Option key, and Control S keys and it still will not boop up. Can anyone help?

If you are running Snow Leopard:
Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. 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 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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
If you are running Lion or later:
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 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.

HT201412 My I phone five isn't responding and when I turn it on, I get a white screen with black lines and I can't get into my phone. What is happening?

My iPhone five decided to go crazy and give me a white screen with black stripes and I can't get into my phone. I can only use Siri! What's happening?

You posted in the iPad forum instead of the iPhone forum. To get answers to your question, next time post in the proper forum. See https://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa I'll request that Apple relocate your post.
 Cheers, Tom

I bought iphone 5s 2 days ago and suddenly it turn off and start again till the white screen with apple logo and start again

i bought iphone 5s 2 days ago and suddenly it turn off and start again till the white screen with apple logo and start again
please answer me as soon as possible

Hello Ahmedabokamar,
Thanks for the question! I'd recommend taking a look at the following article for troubleshooting steps that can help get your iPhone working again.
iOS: Not responding or does not turn on
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3281
Cheers,
Allen

My computer shows a blank screen and a question mark in a folder when I turn it on

my computer shows a blank screen with a folder and a question mark in it I wonder what is wrong with it?

this means that the computer can not find the operating system on the hard drive. try booting the computer from the disc it came with.

Won't turn on white screen with apple logo and spinning disc

Mac book air won't boot up just has a white screen with apple logo and spinning disc have tried all the startup multiple key pushes , I think

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
If the startup process stops at a blank gray screen with no Apple logo or spinning "daisy wheel," then the startup volume may be full. If you had previously seen warnings of low disk space, this is almost certainly the case. The easiest way to deal with the problem is to boot from an external drive, or else to use either of the techniques in Steps 1b and 1c to mount the internal drive and delete some files. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation.
Step 3
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 4
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 5
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 6
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
Step 7
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 6.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 8
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 9
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 10
Repeat Step 9, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 11
This step applies only to models that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery: all Mac Pro's and some others (not current models.) Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a boot failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 12
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

I get a white screen with apple logo and progress bar on my imac mavericks

I get a white screen with apple logo and progress bar ,then computer shuts down
when I turn my imac back on same thing happens,every time same thing
pprogress bar only goes half way then computer shut down
is there a solution ?
if not is there a way to at least salvage some files and docs?
i Have the latest imac 27

Thanks I tried it but after I repaired my disk via disk utility at start up, it told me that
my disk can't be repaired and to try to back up my files so I can format it
but is there to back up my files?
also what I get is white screen with the progress bar not grey

White screen with a folder and a question mark in the Folder

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