Computer froze and shows a folder with a ? on bootup!

Hey i was just listening to music on itunes and ripping a dvd while reading a book for school when the music stops and i notice that my MB froze completely. I can't even get the force quit screen to show up... completely frozen. So i hold the power button and it turns off. Then i turn it back on thinking it was just a kernel panic, but the screen is completely white
and after about a minute a folder with a question mark in it shows up. I hear the disc spinning so maybe the MB is trying to restart off the dvd. Please help and any suggestions are appreciated.

The folder with the question mark means that OS X can't find the operating system and/or hard drive. So whip out those reinstall disks, cause there's no other way to fix this problem.
Mac Mini 1.5 GHz Intel Core Solo w/ 512 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.7) iPod Mini (G2), iPod Nano (G1), iPod (G4), Macbook 2.0 GHz Core Duo w/ 1 GB RAM

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My macbook pro went black and shows one folder with a ?

my macbook pro went black and shows one folder with a ? what should i do

What that's telling you is that it can't find the operating system.
A flashing question mark or globe appears when you start your Mac - Apple Support
Try that and see if it helps.

MacBook Pro 13 2010 running Mountain Lion: will not boot and shows a folder with a flashing question mark. Will not start in 'safe mode' i.e holding shift on start up - nor can I call up any utilities with the OSX shortcuts. Any thoughts?

Following an automatic update, the machine wouldn't boot. Screen came on (shows white) - then either showed a 'No-Entry' Sign and a spinning cog, or a folder with a qusetion mark. I tried to start the machine in different modes ( eg. holding shift after the tone ) but nothing worked. after leaving the machine alone for 1 hour. It worked perfectly again. I did a 'verify disk' check which found no problems. 2 hours later it then froze ( In - Photoshop). Could not force quit, so shut down, and have not been able to boot again since (white lit screen - flashing folder with question mark) . I have also taken the hard drive out and checked the connections which seem fine. Any suggestions? - Is the Hard Drive dead. : other info : It was also running parallels 8, with Windows 7. at the time of the update....

This article may help: A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac.

MacBook shows only folder with ?. Replaced hard drive with same results.

In the midst of some work the machine simply clicked and showed a folder with a ?. Would not restart. Replaced the drive with a new 7200 Seagate momemtum, 320GB, installed the software, and have the same problem with startup. A folder with a ? Connect another machine via firewire and looked at the MacBook drive and it showed the appropriate system folders. Then started the other computer from the MacBooks hard drive and that worked. So the drive appears healthy but we cannot get it started on its own. In Disk Utility the new drive is indicated as not owner enabled, whatever that means. It appears most Macs that work are, in fact, owner enabled. Anybody have a clue what might be going on here? We're thinking maybe the first drive had not failed and the problem lies elsewhere.

As an FYI, here is the apparent solution. The original drive did fail. Because the disks were in Seattle and we were attempting to fix it in Dallas we connected via Firewire to a PowerPC machine and formatted the drive. That was the crucial error. the G4 did not give the appropriate Intel-based Mac formatting options. So we could look at the drive from the G4 and see everything was there, but the MacBook could not boot itself because it could not read the disk which was improperly formatted. The Genius bar in Seattle figured this out and reformatted the disk at no cost.
All's well that ends well, but have Macs really become that complicated?

Start the computer and only show a folder with question mark

Hi,
I need help please.
A few day ago I startup up my iMac and only a folder with a question mark was shown in the screen.
I boot from the Lion DVD, run disk utility but the only drive I get was the DVD and disk1/Mac OS X Base System.
I turned off the computer and next morning I turned on agian and this time with no problems, I use it for a few days with no problems but yesterday it happens again...
I do run disk utility again onlu turn it off, and this morning I tried to turn it on again, but the same foder appears...I run disk utility (get the DVD and disk1) and turn it off for a few hours.
Now I'm praying that when I'm back from work I could turn it on with no problems.
What I should do ? Is there any 3rd party tools that I can try do use to solve this issue ?
Many thanks!
PS: when the iMac started up with no problems I run disk utility and made a repair disk to the mac HD...

leonel junior wrote:
I boot from the Lion DVD,
There are no Apple supplied Lion boot DVD's , you use command r to boot into Recovery HD partition, if that doesn't work good chance the drive is dead, it likely will have to pulled to test any data recovery efforts made.
I turned off the computer and next morning I turned on agian and this time with no problems, I use it for a few days with no problems but yesterday it happens again...
Hold Shift key upon boot to fix the drive, reboot holding option and select OS X to boot and head to System Prefs, change the startup drive to OS X.
If you can't do this, your looking at data recovery efforts or repalcing the drive, total erase & restore.
PS: when the iMac started up with no problems I run disk utility and made a repair disk to the mac HD...
The option key, set startup disk in system prefs should resove the issue.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

Mack G4 start up with just showing a folder with a ? mark and will not start

HI I have a G4 Mac and have it for 2 weeks and I was updating software and it froze and on restart it just shows a folder with a ? mark what can I do I tried using the Control key + P+S or what ever and it did nothing.
Please help so I don't go back to my PC it crashes every day that is whey I got the used G4 so Please anyone help Me.
Thanks Erick

When you zap PRAM like you did, or have trouble, two things:
You lost the default path to the boot drive volume;
Your boot drive needs to be repaired.
Your better off with the PowerMac forum.
G4s can't run 10.7 or 10.6. And 10.4.11 is the best OS for PowerMac G4.
Mac Pro
startup disk maintenance Disk Utility fsck
Help_ Repairing startup disk
Hard Drives Recovery

Help please! My macbook air (2015) startup showed a folder with question mark so i tried "Command R" for internet recovery but after few minutes it stopped and showed error.. Please hepl me!

Help please! My macbook air (2015) startup showed a folder with question mark so i tried "Command R" for internet recovery but after few minutes it stopped and showed error.. Please hepl me!

Startup – Question Mark
Startup Issues - Resolve
Startup Issues - Resolve (2)
Startup Issues - Resolve (3)

Keyboard and lightning of my macbook doesnt work, neither does the usb keyboard work. I need to reinstall osx as its showing the folder with a questionmark. Any suggestions?

I've got a Macbook Pro 13" early 2011. The keyboard and its lightning doesnt work, neither isnt working anymore. I need to reinstall osx as its showing the folder with a questionmark. An USB keyboard doesnt work either.. Any suggestions?

Restart.
Try this. I know you said "keyboard is not working.
Reset SMC. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Choose the method for:
"Resetting SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own".
If this does not help, contact Apple.
Best.

HT4623 ipad froze and shows itunes with plug while updating with iOS

ipad froze and shows itunes with plug while updating with iOS.

That message means that you have to restore the iPad using iTunes now. Something went wrong. This explains how to do it. Read it thoroughly before you start - and take note of the end of the article under Additional Information where it talks about using recovery mode. You might need to use it.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1414

My new mac mini (3 month) didn't start up,all that appeared was a white screen and a flashing folder with a question mark inside it.

My new Mac mini (3 month) didn't start up, all that appeared was a white screen and a flashing folder with a question mark inside it.
I followed by recommendations from 'Everything Mac': "shut it down by pressing and holding the power button for about 5 seconds.
Then hold down the Option key and press the power button again to start up the Mac mini. Keep holding down the Option key until
the Mac mini starts up."
But I got a Wi-Fi button only to chose and connect the local network. I connected to my network and I can't use this connection
becouse no icons.
Could you please help me?

Your Mini (running 10.6.4) should have come with grey-colored install disks. Now is the time to put them into service. Turn on your computer so that there is power to accept disk #1 into the optical drive. Once the disk is in the drive, shut off the computer by holding the start button down until it powers off. Then turn it on this time holding down the "C" key to make the computer boot from the disk. The question mark that you saw indicates that the computer cannot find a bootable volume. This can happen due to corrupted system files or an improper shutdown etc. Once you are in the "Installer" you can choose Disk Utility from the Utilities Menu in the menu bar. Use it to repair the disk and to see if that can solve your trouble.

HT201210 I was updating my itunes on my ipad from my pc and my ipad has now shut down and shows a lock with arrow leading to itunes on screen. How do i unlock my ipad and get it working again?

I was updating itunes on to my ipad from my pc and now my ipad has shut down and shows a lock with an arrow pointing to itunes. How do I unlock my ipad and get it back to working again?

Make sure you have the Current Version of iTunes Installed on your computer
iTunes free download from www.itunes.com/download
Then... see Here > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1808
You may need to try this More than Once... Be sure to Follow ALL the Steps...
Take your time... Pay particular attention to Steps 3 and 4.
After you have Recovered your Device...
Re-Sync your Content or Restore from the most recent Backup...
Restore from Backup > http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1766
Note. Once the Device is asking to be Restored with iTunes... it is too late to save anything... and you must continue with the Recovery...

Computer froze and fan started going faster by the second. What could've happened?

I was using my computer (MacBook Pro Retina 13") and suddenly it froze and the fan speed was going higher by the second. I had to switch off the compute before something serious happens.
I did the EtreCheck after reading some of the responses. Hope this helps in figuring out what is going wrong. Also how to minimise the CPU usage and reduce the RAM as well?
Problem description:
My computer froze and the fan (I guess it was the fan) starting blowing harder and harder and harder by the second. I got worried that It might blow up or burn up so I switched it off immediately. Most of my memory is used up by Kernel_task and I am not sure what that is!
EtreCheck version: 2.1.1 (104)
Report generated December 9, 2014 at 11:55:35 AM EST
Hardware Information: ℹ️
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) (Verified)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro11,1
1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core
4 GB RAM Not upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Video Information: ℹ️
Intel Iris -
Color LCD spdisplays_2560x1600Retina
System Software: ℹ️
OS X 10.10.1 (14B25) - Uptime: 0:10:51
Disk Information: ℹ️
APPLE SSD SD0128F disk0 : (121.33 GB)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 120.11 GB (19.59 GB free)
Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked
Core Storage: disk0s2 120.47 GB Online
USB Information: ℹ️
Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
/Applications/ExpressVPN.app
[not loaded] expressvpn.tap (1.0) [Support]
[not loaded] expressvpn.tun (1.0) [Support]
/Applications/Parallels Desktop.app
[not loaded] com.parallels.kext.hidhook (9.0 23136.932290) [Support]
[not loaded] com.parallels.kext.hypervisor (9.0 23136.932290) [Support]
[not loaded] com.parallels.kext.netbridge (9.0 23136.932290) [Support]
[not loaded] com.parallels.kext.usbconnect (9.0 23136.932290) [Support]
[not loaded] com.parallels.kext.vnic (9.0 23136.932290) [Support]
/Applications/VMware View Client.app
[not loaded] com.vmware.kext.vmioplug.10.3.20 (10.3.20) [Support]
/System/Library/Extensions
[not loaded] com.nike.sportwatch (1.0.0) [Support]
Launch Agents: ℹ️
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Support]
[invalid?] com.nike.nikeplusconnect.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist [Support]
[loaded] jp.co.canon.MasterInstaller.plist [Support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Support]
[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist [Support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
Garmin Express Service UNKNOWN (missing value)
iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)
Google Drive Application (/Applications/Google Drive.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.239 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.239 - SDK 10.6 Mismatch! Adobe recommends 16.0.0.235
o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.38.6.0 - SDK 10.8 [Support]
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.6 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.38.6.0 - SDK 10.8 [Support]
Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 71 Check version
User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.1 [Support]
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
OpenIE
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
Flash Player [Support]
Java [Support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
Skip System Files: NO
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 120.11 GB Disk used: 100.52 GB
Destinations:
FreeAgent Drive [Local]
Total size: 249.72 GB
Total number of backups: 3
Oldest backup: 2014-10-09 16:35:45 +0000
Last backup: 2014-11-13 01:12:02 +0000
Size of backup disk: Too small
Backup size 249.72 GB < (Disk used 100.52 GB X 3)
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
      10% Dropbox
      9% WindowServer
      2% Safari
      1% coreaudiod
      1% Activity Monitor
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
271 MB Safari
120 MB Dropbox
120 MB WindowServer
99 MB Dock
86 MB Google Drive
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
87 MB Free RAM
1.66 GB Active RAM
1.45 GB Inactive RAM
835 MB Wired RAM
8.46 GB Page-ins
17 MB Page-outs
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
Dec 9, 2014, 11:48:14 AM Dropbox_2014-12-09-114814_Abdulrahmans-MacBook-Pro.cpu_resource.diag [Details]
Dec 9, 2014, 11:48:06 AM Skype_2014-12-09-114806_Abdulrahmans-MacBook-Pro.hang
Dec 9, 2014, 11:45:18 AM Self test - passed
Dec 9, 2014, 10:33:03 AM cloudd_2014-12-09-103303_Abdulrahmans-MacBook-Pro.crash
Dec 7, 2014, 04:35:23 PM cloudd_2014-12-07-163523_Abdulrahmans-MacBook-Pro.crash
Dec 7, 2014, 03:29:54 PM StataSE_2014-12-07-152954_Abdulrahmans-MacBook-Pro.hang

Hello Abed88,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
After you restarted your computer did the issue where your fans were spinning at a high RPM and the Mac became unresonsive come back? If so I recommend that you start with doing an SMC reset.
Resetting the SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own
Note: Portable computers that have a battery you should not remove on your own include MacBook Pro (Early 2009) and later, all models of MacBook Air, and MacBook (Late 2009).
Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) - Apple Support
Take care,
Alex H.

TS2094 After resetting the pram, the screen only shows a folder with a question mark inside. What does this mean?

I followed the initial steps in this post and reset pram. After restarting, the screen just shows a folder with a question mark. What does this mean?

Thanks Niel, I tried using Option and nothing happened so I next tried inserting the Leopard disc and rebooting while holding C. Nothing happened until the disc was ejected and then the folder with question mark reappeared. I inserted the disc again and at this point and it booted OSX. I tried to acess disc utility to repair but my harddrive wasn't listed, only the CD drive and the OS disc. Does this mean I'm lost everything?

Urgent to group and show the folder metadata base on profile in UCM

Hi All,
My requirement is I have to group and show the folder metadata for folder creation, updating and information based on profile.
Suppose If I want to create, update and information a HR folder that time I have to show only HR metadata
If I want to create, update and information a FINANCE folder that time I have to show only FINANCE metadata
If I want to create, update and information a standard folder that time I have to show only standard metadata
Example
Someone accessing a ‘standard’ folder would not see the HR group of metadata fields; instead they should just see the ‘standard’ profile metadata fields for said folder. Conversely, when someone is accessing a ‘HR’ folder, they should see the ‘HR document’ metadata profile for that folder.
Please help me is there any way which can I approach this by through configuration.
Thanks in advace
Kishore.
Edited by: kishore on Jul 25, 2011 1:44 AM
Edited by: kishore on Jul 25, 2011 10:22 PM

I checked the standard behaviour. When I create few profiles I am able to choose the profile I want while creating a new folder (there is an option Switch Profile).
Therefore, the only thing that remains is auto-select the profile you want to use. Note that profiles by default are selected by the Trigger Field (configured in Configuration Manager). This means you need to combine requirements you have for your folders and for your content items. This can be quite challenging. However, you can also 'Use rule activation condition', which is assigned to rules contained in the profile. There, you can work with any metadata and other system variables (like checkin vs. search defined in dpAction - see this link for further details: Value of dpAction
In your case, you could use folder name, or create a surrogate metadata field containing list of values and use it.

I turn my Mac on the screen is white and has a folder with a '?' In middle?.

I turn my Mac on the screen is white and has a folder with a '?' In middle?

•A Flashing Question Mark appears when you Start your Mac:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
Read through & follow the instructions; if the problem goes away after completing
any of them, you need not continue through all of them to resolve this issue.
This also helps troubleshoot some of the main possibilities.
Short of some hardware failure requiring major parts.
Good luck & happy computing!

Computer froze and shows a folder with a ? on bootup!

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