File with question mark

I turned my laptop off last night and for a very long time when i turned it on I only got a blank white screen, since then the apple appeared but nothing further. I turned it off again and suddenly there was a file box with a question mark on it. I've turned it on and off a few times but I either get a blank screen or the file again...anyone know why? Or how to fix it? Please?!

Read this and perform what is says to do:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
Roger

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I got new hard driver for my MacBook I don't have the cd but I do have flash drive that has the software I need help because when I turn on my laptop it shows me a file with question mark how can I install the software from the flash driver?

I got new hard driver for my MacBook I don't have the cd but I do have flash drive that has the software I need help because when I turn on my laptop it shows me a file with question mark how can I install the software from the flash driver?

Hold down the Option key while you boot your Mac. Then, it should show you a selection of devices. Click your flash drive and it will boot from that.

HT1752 My MacBook on startup shows file with question mark ,, what now?

My Mac shows file with question mark, what now.

Press the power button down to force a emergency use only hardware shutdown.
Press and hold the Option/alt key on the built in keyboard, boot the machine.
If MacintoshHD appears, select it and click the arrow, then in System Preferences > Startup Disk reset that. Done.
Sometimes a NVRAM reset is required then the above done again.
Folder with question mark issue
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
If MacintoshHD doesn't appear, or if it boots to gray screen or other issues, then it's more complicated of a fix, but once inside OS X then reset the Startup Disk.
Gray, Blue or White screen at boot, w/spinner/progress bar
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
You might need this if you don't have a recent backup and your problem is software related, Disk Utiltiy can't fix the drive and recommends you backup, erase and install.
.Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
If Disk Utility + Hardware Test shows no boot drive, then you have a dead drive or cable, or Mac issue.
My computer is not working, is my personal data lost?

My macbook won't strat and show file with question mark on it?

Hi
is there anyone can help me please my macbook can't boot and show file with "?"mark on it.

Restart and hold command + R (both keys) down. The screen will show four options. Select Disk Utility. Next click on the name of your drive, and run Repair Disk.
After that is done, restart in the usual way.

TS3423 17" macbook pro won't start blue file with question mark is all that appears on the screen

My old macbook pro will not start up. Worked fine yesterday, today all I gat is the startup sound and a blank blue screen. After a while the screen shows a file folder icon with a question mark in it. Any ideas

Question (?) Mark, Blinking Folder, or Gray Screen at Startup
These are related but not identical issues. Their causes are outlined in Intel-based Mac- Startup sequence and error codes, symbols. Solutions may be found in:
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Mac OS X- Gray screen appears during startup
In most cases the problems may be caused by:
Problem with the computer's PRAM - See Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM.
Boot drive's directory has been corrupted - Repair with Disk Utility.
Critical system files are damaged or deleted - Reinstall OS X.
The disk drive is physically non-functional - Replace the hard drive.
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.
The main difference if you are using Lion or Mountain Lion is that you must first boot from the Recovery HD:
Boot From 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.
Reinstall Snow Leopard 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.
Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing The 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 the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Error code 1007F after file with question mark?!

I have a 13 inch MacBook pro which is just over a year old. For the past week or so it hasnt been connecting to my university wifi network, eduroam. Then this morning, when it started up, I received a blank screen with a question mark flashing, which I know is an error with startup. I followed advice on here and got to the Internet recovery stage. I got past that and had to wipe my hard drive, and was in the process of reinstalling OS X Mavericks when I lost connection (it was tethered to my phone as eduroam wasn't working). I have since rebooted but when I get to the internet recovery stage I am receiving error code -1007F. None of the advice so far on here has worked. Please help?! (And please note that I am a 19 year old who has very little technical knowledge)

First, you need to get a reliable Internet connection, preferably Ethernet.
Install OS X Using Internet Recovery
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.
Partition and Format the hard drive:
Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
After DU loads select your newly installed hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
This should restore the version of OS X originally pre-installed on the computer.

What can i do when i get a get a file with question mark on it during start up?

i was working on my computer when i froze up i had the spinning wheel would not do anything so i turned it off and back on. when it cam back on it was just a grey screen with a flashing file with a question mark on it. What does this mean? is my computer done?

The advice Carolyn points out is sound, and hopefully it will work, but Apple needs to add some caveats to some of their "pointers" to resolving problems. If the system was working, you shut it off, then turned it on some time later and the problems emerged, the odds of it being a PRAM problem are good. For it to crash on you outright implies either an indexing problem or a problem with the hard drive or cables. In step 11, Apple should have added the phrase to zero the drive with Disk Utility prior to re-installing the operating system in the event a bad sector has developed on the drive because that would re-map the bad sectors to good, spare sectors. If it's yet another SATA cable problem, all bets are off. You'll continue to get what appears to be file corruption and problems, and it won't be consistent. If the problem is due to an actual surface failure on the drive then even though it might be fixable, you might want to consider replacing the drive.
The only product on the market that can test for bad cables and bad sectors is Scannerz, and you might not even be able to use that if you can't even boot your system. When they added Phoenix to the Scannerz package I originally thought it was just to make TechTool Pro look bad, but now it makes perfect sense - you could boot off of a so called Phoenix volume and test the system and boot it independently of the internal hard drive and the internal cables, allowing you to isolate the problem.
I would follow the advice in Carolyn's linked article up to step 11. If you get to that point, prior to re-installing the OS, use the Security Options settings in Disk Utility and zero the drive to correct (re-map) bad sectors. With luck this will be a relatively simple fix. With bad luck it will be the cable, which will cause problems down the line that will get worse and worse.

On boot-Receiving flashing file with question mark

Please help. Last night while on my mac it froze. I turned it off, turned it on and now I get a blank screen with no noise from the hard drive except for a small clicking noise. Then the blank screen shows me a flashing picture of a file with a question mark. No apple logo or anything else. I reset the PRAM and SMC settings, but no joy. And don't advise to try putting in the startup disk, as the ability of my mac to read cd's and DVD's stopped last month. It just spits out discs after failing to even spin them. This with my built in iSight camera dying after 1 month of purchase made me think that I was on downhill slope to it dying. Ive only had it a year and a half, after buying because of my old iBook dying. I really hope I do not have to buy another apple mac laptop, which would make it 3 in 5-6 years. Im hoping there is another method of fixing it myself rather than getting it repaired because I know I will be charged €500+ with all the problems I have and seems logical to just buy another one. Hoping someone will answer my problem!

Thats great. Thanks for the guide on replacing the drive. Looks easy enough. Ive just bought that Torx 8 screw driver for a few dollars online and im looking up 2.5" SATA drives now.
Could you or anyone advise me on drives? I really havnt got a clue as to if im looking at pc only drives or they are all mac compatable. (The links i am using will service me in Ireland) I have a few good sites but i want to make sure that I have the right drive for my mac. I have the 13" Macbook 1st generation. Im looking at a few drives from these sites, with these particular drives:
http://www.jigsaw24.com/default.aspx?ITEM=JIGSX632ANA&AD=Y
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=343402
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=341973
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/719219/art/samsung/hm16hji-hybrid-hard-drive.html.
I am hoping that someone could look these over and advise me if any, or all would work on my macbook. If so, i will buy one asap.
ALSO, as mentioned. I was thinking of getting an optical drive. My now broken one, was a standard cd-rom drive which played dvds(Combo Drive). I want to now buy an optical drive that can burn dvds(As advertised on apple.com: "Superdrive"). Is there technical limitations by fitting one of these into my macbook?
Thanks again for your advice everyone.

My macbook pro when started has a white screen with flashing apple, file with question mark and stop signs...any ideas how to reboot it? command R doesn't work

Any help appreciated please.
After a while of being like this is turns off.

You may have to reset your MBP PRAM:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
The boot drive may need repair in Disk Utility>First Aid (verify and repair)
Critical system files may be damaged which will require that the OS may need to be reinstalled.
The connection to the boot drive is faulty.
The HDD has failed and needs to be replaced.
Ciao.

MacBook Pro flashes file folder with question mark and startup manager will not run

My son's MacBook Pro won't boot (gets the flashing file folder with question mark). When I try to open startup manager (holding "option" key during boot does not do it). Other posts suggest inserting the install disk, but I am pretty sure that for Lion, there was no disk, it was just off the website through the App Store. Any further suggestions?

Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing the 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 the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

I powered up my macbook and there is a file folder with question mark on the screen flashing. What does that mean?

Powered up Mac book and screen showing file folder with question mark flashing?

A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Hope that solves your issue.

Refinement Panel show "file name" values with question mark instead of spaces

Hi,
I customized Refinement Panel to refine by file name. In some cases the value (file name) is shown with question mark instead of space. It looks like gibberish and the refine by that value doesn't bring the result.
Any ideas how to solve?
keren tsur

Hi Keren,
Please try to reset index in Central Administration > Application Management > Manage service applications > click the Search service application > Crawling > Index Reset > check the box Deactivate search
alerts during reset > Reset Now > Ok.
Then restart a full crawl in the Central Administration > Application Management > Manage service applications > click the Search service application > Crawling > Content Sources.
In addition, please capture a screenshot of the issue.
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact
[email protected]
Regards,
Rebecca Tu
TechNet Community Support

White screen with flashing file icon with question mark mean

What does this mean. We are getting a white screen with flashing file icon with question mark inside the file.

It almost certainly means it can't find a bootable volume (one with OS X on it).
Which means most likely you will have to find your original system installation DVD and install it. Then you should figure out what caused the problem.
Read this to diagnose it before resorting to reinstalling the OS:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
Excerpt:
Additional steps
If your Mac still starts to a flashing question mark, follow the steps below. If any step resolves the issue, you don't need to continue to the next one.
Select your Mac OS X startup disk with Startup Manager by restarting and holding the Option key. After your Mac starts up, restart again to verify that the flashing question mark does not appear.
If the issue persists, insert your Mac OS X installation disc. 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.
MacBook Air note: On a MacBook Air, there are two options for starting up from Mac OS X media: Either connect a MacBook Air SuperDrive to the MacBook Air via the USB port and restart the computer, holding down the C key during startup, or use Remote Install Mac OS X to startup from a system software DVD that's located on a partner computer. Once started up from Mac OS X media, skip to step 3.
Restart the computer, then hold the C key during startup.
From the Utilities menu, choose Disk Utility. Don't click Continue.
Select your Mac OS X disk (named "Macintosh HD" by default) in the left side of the Disk Utility window.
Click the First Aid tab.
Click Repair Disk to verify and repair any issues with your Mac OS X startup disk.
After repairing the disk, try to start up normally.
Important: If Disk Utility finds issues it cannot repair, you may need to back up as much of your data as possible (or use Time Machine to back up to a different disk), then erase the disk and reinstall Mac OS X. You should back up important files and data before erasing a drive. Erasing deletes everything on the hard disk (including things on your desktop). Also, you can install Mac OS X onto an external disk, start from the external disk, and use Migration Assistant to transfer items from your usual internal Mac OS X startup disk to the external disk, then erase the internal disk and reinstall Mac OS X.
If the issue persists, and Disk Utility didn't find any irreparable issues, quit Disk Utility, quit the Installer, select your disk when prompted, and restart.
If the issue continues, reset PRAM. Note: After resetting PRAM, if the computer starts up normally, reselect the startup disk in the Startup Disk preferences.
If none of these steps resolve the issue, start up from the Mac OS X Installation disc and reinstall Mac OS X.

When I start MacBook Pro13 shows gray Screen and flashing file Image with question mark

When I start MacBook Pro13 shows gray Screen and flashing file Image with question mark , it's brand new I just receive it from Apple Store .

Startup Manager to select Startup disk.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1310
Repair Disk
Steps 2 through 8
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836

Can't log in white screen with flashing file and Question mark

I've been have trouble with getting on line and screen freezing up. Now I have a solid white screen with a icon of a file and question mark on it flashing. Iv tried unplugging and resetting with no luck.

Have a look at > A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Dennis

File with question mark

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