Blinking question mark....need advice

Today I got the dreaded blinking question mark. I called Apple and we got it fixed by resetting the P-Ram. How serious is this; is it likely to happen again? I have also had the logic board problem and that has been replaced twice.
My question is is the blinking question mark a bad omen...is this likely to happen again? Is it connected to the logic board problem? My question is should I be thinking about replacing this computer? Is it defective? Do all these problems mean there is a short future for this emac.
If all of these things are indicators of a major future breakdown, I'm wondering if it is wise to replace the computer before I lose everything once and for all.

The blinking question mark could have been a corrupted file containing the System Preference for the Startup Disk (see What's stored in PRAM?). Dale's and Allan's advice cover the main things you'd want to check after a preference turns up corrupted. It could have been something as minor as a momentary power glitch while writing to the hard drive that corrupted the preference file' since preferences as a group can be written to fairly frequently, a corrupted pref or two over several years of use isn't uncommon. You can check your preferences in general:
To check your user preferences (.plist) files in Applications > Utilities > Terminal, copy and paste the following into Terminal and press return:
find ~/Library -name '*.plist' -exec /usr/bin/plutil -lint {} \;
You can also download Preferential Treatment, which provides a GUI front end to the plutil command (and which doesn't require you to copy and paste or type in exactly the correct characters for the desired Unix command).

Similar Messages

  • Blinking question mark on startup - tried lots of things - advice?

    Hi,
    A friend called me yesterday about a two year old iMac. Got the blinking question mark on startup. So I went over, tried disc utility, but disc utility (off the iMac's install disc) could not even see the hard drive. So I tried TechTool Pro. Same result. TechTool from AppleCare disc, same result, DriveGenius, same result, start up in single user mode, same result, targeted disc mode connected to my MBP, same result, Data Recovery II, same result, connected a Mac via FireWire and started up from that and ran those same diagnostics, same result. None of those could even find - much less repair - the hard drive. It still shows a blinking question mark. It seems like all the hardware is working fine (motherboard, display, etc), except the hard drive. Any advice?
    Thanks!
    Russ Conte

    The machine must be a G5, or it would be older than 2 years. And no AppleCare or it would be in the shop before this. The most likely cause is hard drive failure, as already stated. A fact of life is that all hard drives will fail or have failed.
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    Cost of replacement drives depends upon capacity. One source is macsales.com.
    A new drive will have to be formatted. Easy to do prior to installation by connecting to any Mac with a Universal Drive Adapter via a USB connection. That adapter is also available at macsales and other places.
    Final step after installation is to install the OS hopefully from the original disks.
    Good luck to you.

  • Gray screen (sometimes blinking question mark) at start up

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    In addition to above advice, here is an Apple article with some troubleshooting suggestions:
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  • Blinking Question Mark / Hard drive failure

    Hi all,
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    where Im at:
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    I have a backup from December 2009 (when a power surge killed my backup drive temporarily), but I really want to use it only as a last resort. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I might be able to get DiskWarrior or Data Rescue to find the hardware so it can run tests?
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    Thanks for the response, much appreciated. I came to my wits end and realized that I couldnt even erase the data using Disk Utility, so alas, looks like it's going to have to be a new hard drive for me. I purchased one a couple days ago and it arrived today. Im going to install it today (hopefully) and back up using the time machine backup i have from 6 months ago.
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  • My iMac has a blinking question mark folder on it and won't let me boot.

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  • HT1553 I did the back up as instructed... Installed a larger hard drive and followed the restore instructions... Now I get a white screen with a folder icon and blinking question mark. When trying to set startup with new drive I get a bless tool error...

    I did the back up as instructed... Installed a larger hard drive and followed the restore instructions... Now I get a white screen with a folder icon and blinking question mark. When trying to set startup with new drive I get a bless tool error... Help!!

    If you have installed a new hard drive , you will need to have formatted it in Disk Utility correctly. This may explain your problem.
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  • The Dreaded Blinking Question Mark

    About a month ago I started having a recurring problem of the computer freezing upon waking from sleep.
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    I replaced the PRAM battery and it didn't fix the problem.
    I bought the latest version of Disc Warrior, ran it and it said that everything was fine. Still the problem persisted.
    Finally, I popped in the Apple utility disc and it said that there were problems with the disc, but didn't fix them.
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    Welcome to Apple Discussions!
    Wake from sleep problems are on the MDD are common when USB PCI cards are installed. If you've installed such a card, try disconnecting everything from it and see if things get better.
    If your PRAM battery is more than three years old, or your computer has been unplugged from the wall for extended periods, you should replace the battery.

  • Mac Pro not detecting internal HD. Blinking Question Mark!!

    Hi there,
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    After that, using the good Mac PRo, I installed both HDs and both were detected. This confirmed that definitely, the HDs are Ok. Whats wrong?? I dont know, hope you people can help me.
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    The blinking question mark says you could not find:
    The preferred System
    of the preferred version
    on the preferred drive.
    All these parameters are stored in Parameter RAM, and sometimes they get damaged "just because".
    If you use
    System Preferences > Startup Disk ...
    ... to set the correct startup disk again. your problems may be over.
    If not, you may need to reset the PRAM.
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  • Intermittent Blinking Question Mark at Start-Up

    I've read a number of postings about the blinking question mark problem during start-up, but this one is different -- its intermittent. By that I mean that sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. Here is the chronology:
    - Student comes home for Spring Break and requests me to connect her to our wireless network.
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    - Took iBook to the Genius Bar at local Apple Store
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    - Genius does some kind of test on the Hard Drive and pronounces it OK. Says problem must be software-related.
    - I mention that Student didn't bring home her 10.3.X Disk Utilities/Restore disk.
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    - Student goes back to college. Today she reports that the blinking question mark is back, but now she can't run Disk Utilities because I still have the 10.4 disk at home, and her 10.3 disk won't work anymore.
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    Assuming that you get the flashing question mark for extended periods of time (i.e. not just one or two flashes and then it boots), and repeatedly (i.e. it takes several power cycles to boot the system), I'd recommend a couple of steps:
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    2) Reset the parameter RAM (PRAM) to reset the system settings (Command-Option-P-R as you power on)
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  • I switched to the classic 'landscape' and when i reboot, it just stays at the greay screen, with the macintosh logo, and a blinking question mark. ive tried several methods of key combinations with rebooting etc.. i just bought this. please help.

    i switched to the classic 'landscape' and when i reboot, it just stays at the greay screen, with the macintosh logo, and a blinking question mark. ive tried several methods of key combinations with rebooting etc.. i just bought this. please help.
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  • Blue and white G3 blinking Question mark

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  • Blinking question mark only, boot CD fails

    My 2006 17" iMc performance steadily deterioated until the Snow Leopard 10.6 CD finally would not  boot, leaving only that blinking question mark no matter what I tried to do.  I've been looking for software that could Clean/Erase the hard disk so I could  try to  reinstall the software but so far there isn't any such program available.  Need help!

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  • Blinking question mark folder with only OS X base system left

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  • Blinking Question Mark on a New Hard Drive instal!

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    1. It could be that the HD was formatted only for use with Windows, as with a FAT32 install. Make certain that the drive is formatted for the Mac. A blinking question mark can be a sign that your machine isn't properly formatted.
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  • Blinking question mark and folder on startup

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