Flashing folder icon with a (?) in the middle. Can I save my mac?

     This happend a few months ago and I have just recently purchased a new 2012 Intel iMac but still have my old one laying around and it would be nice to have the two of them working together.
     It's a 2006 Intel iMac, I had to force a restart by holding down the power button. When it booted up is when I saw the flashing folder icon witth the (?) in the middle.
     I started up the computer with the install disk for OSX Leopard and held down whatever button it was to bring up the menu to install the OS. I got to the point where you're asked to select the HDD location but there's nothing there to indicate there's a HDD to select. If it can't see the HDD does that mean the HDD is dead?
     If the computer doesn't see the HDD and or if the HDD is not dead, is there anyway to recover the data from it? I suspect I already know the answer to this and no, I do not have a back up. Now, if there is no way to recover the data and the HDD is dead, can I get the HDD replaced?

... I got to the point where you're asked to select the HDD location but there's nothing there to indicate there's a HDD to select. If it can't see the HDD does that mean the HDD is dead?
Most likely, yes.
You may be able to extract its data by removing the HDD and installing it in an external enclosure, but if the Mac does not even detect a hard disk it is likely to be completely inoperative, as in mechanically damaged.
Hard disks can be replaced by Apple for $400 or so, much less if you do it yourself.

Similar Messages

  • Installed hard drive in bay 2 now get flashing folder icon with ? mark

    Mac Pro 1.1, OS x 10.7 - installed storage hard drive in bay 2 now get flashing folder icon with ? mark

    found the answer - hold down opt/alt key, reboot, choose drive with os installed. it worked.

  • I restarted my computer, but the screen only shows a flashing folder icon with a question mark. What to do?

    I restarted my computer, but the screen only shows a flashing folder icon with a question mark. What to do?

    It means that the system boot directory can't be found.
    See this support article for suggested actions
    Also see this discussion.

  • Hi . i have Intel based iMac. i erased whole hard disk. now it flashes folder icon with question mark... i have no internet or orginal dvd.... i want to clean install any mac osx..friend got mac book pro and osx in dmg format . what are my options?

    hi . i have Intel based iMac. i erased whole hard disk. now it flashes folder icon with question mark... i have no internet or orginal dvd.... i want to clean install any mac osx..friend got mac book pro and osx in dmg format . what are my options?

    On your friend's computer with an internet connection, log into the Mac App Store with your ID and download Yosemite from the Purchases section of the Mac App Store. The make a bootable USB install media using
    http://liondiskmaker.com/
    Then boot from that on your computer and install
    You need an internet connection to install via Recovery mode

  • Help ! Flashing folder icon with question mark when starting up

    Hi, I have tried to restore my macbook pro 15 (2012 model with Yosemite OS  X) to factory settings and wipe out the hard drive but on restarting it I now just get a blank screen with a flashing folder icon with a question mark on it. Any help/advice anyone I would be very grateful for ! Thanks,  Mark

    Something didn't install properly.
    Try these in order testing your system after each to see if it's back to normal:
    1. a. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
        b. Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
    2. Restart the computer in Safe Mode, then restart again, normally. If this doesn't help, then:
         Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the
         COMMAND and R keys until the Utilities 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.
    3. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the Utilities 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. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
    4. Reinstall Yosemite: Reboot from the Recovery HD. Select Reinstall OS X from the Utilities menu, 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.
    5. Reinstall Yosemite from Scratch:
    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.
    How to Clean Install OS X Yosemite
    Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
                because it is three times faster than wireless.

  • MacBook won't start - shows flashing folder icon with question mark

    When I attempted a Spotlight search, my MacBook froze. I shut it down, and when I start again I get the sound, the blue screen, and then a flashing folder icon with a question mark. I tried starting with Option pressed down; didn't work, and now I don't even get the flashing folder icon, just the blue screen. Any suggestions?

    The flashing folder with question mark means the computer can't find a working OS on the computer. This may mean your hard drive has failed.
    Try holding the Shift key while starting up the machine. This puts the machine into Safe Mode.
    If you have your install discs, insert Install Disc 1 and start up the computer while holding down the C key. When the Installer has loaded, choose a language. From the Utilities menu, choose *Disk Utility*. Does your hard drive show up here? If so, click on its icon (the one with manufacturer name & capacity, NOT "Macintosh HD"), and then click on the *Repair Disk* button.
    If booting in Safe mode doesn't help or you don't have your install discs, you need to bring the computer to an Apple store and have the folks there look. If Disk Utility doesn't list your hard drive, it has very likely failed and will need to be replaced. If your machine is out of warranty, you're better off replacing it yourself, as it's very easy to do.
    ~Lyssa

  • What does a white screen with a flashing folder icon with a question mark in it mean?, what does a white screen with a flashing folder icon with a question mark in it mean?

    My computer seemed locked up, nothing would open.  I had to force quiy everthing.  I tried to normally shut it down and it wouldnt shut down.  I held the on off power switch.  When I tried to turn it back on It stays tuck on the white screen with a flashing folder icon with a question mark in it .  Has my hard drive gone bad? 

    Reboot the computer holding the option key down, you will get a selection of your OS X internal boot drive or the perhaps the disk you stuck in.
    You can choose what you can boot into.
    If it's the hard drive and it's there, then select that and head to System Preferences and change the startup disk to the hard drive, you shoudl be fine.
    If only to disk, then select that and run Disk Utility > Repair, If your drive doesn't appear on the left, it's likely dead.
    Repair the drive and reboot holding the Shift key down, see if that fixes things some more and reboot again normally.
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

  • What does a flashing folder icon with a "?" inside mean?

    What does a flashing folder icon with a "?" inside mean?

    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 or globe appears when you start your Mac
    Mac OS X- Gray screen appears during startup
    In most cases the problems may be caused by one or more of these:
    a. Problem with the computer's PRAM - See Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM.
    b. Boot drive's directory has been corrupted - Repair with Disk Utility.
    c. Critical system files are damaged or deleted - Reinstall OS X.
    d. The disk drive is physically non-functional - Replace the hard drive.
    Note that the information I have provided is what Apple recommends, If other users suggest different solutions than found here, then be sure what they recommend does not impact on your warranty, if any, or ability to get continuing Apple service.
    Please don't start removing drives or changing cables unless you know what you are doing and have exhausted other non-invasive alternatives outlined here. If you perform any work yourself that is unapproved by Apple, then you will void any warranty you may have and lose all further Apple Support.
    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. Simply boot from the Recovery HD to perform the above.
    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.

  • Flashing folder icons with question mark

    After reading through the forums I've found a few discussions and users that have similar problems as me but haven't seen anything that deals directly with my issues.
    After upgrading to Leopard last night, it ran sluggishly for about 15 minutes. I got impatient and decided to restart. While trying to restart it froze, so I just shut my powerbook down. When I tried to boot back up I got the "flashing folder icons with question mark", I've since found out that it isn't finding any type of drive to boot off of. I reset the pram, tried to reboot with the same result. Tried to boot up using cmd-s but still got nothing but flashing folders. Booted up from the Leopard install disc to try and do an archive and install and it said it couldn't upgrade because it couldn't find tiger on my machine. So I booted from the Tiger install discs to try and re-install tiger again. Tiger cant find my HD to install on; I'm thinking this may be due to Leopards install. I ran disk utility and it couldn't complete the verifying process. I got this "Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit."
    After work I'm going to try to boot up in target mode to pull any data i can and try erase my HD and install from there.
    To me it seems like a HD issue. Anyone have any thoughts?
    Thanks in advanced.
    -Chance

    Chank wrote:
    After reading through the forums I've found a few discussions and users that have similar problems as me but haven't seen anything that deals directly with my issues.
    After upgrading to Leopard last night, it ran sluggishly for about 15 minutes. I got impatient and decided to restart.
    The "sluggishness" is perfectly normal. It's well-known and it is not an issue.
    You should have waited for spotlight to finish indexing.
    You may have broken some links by forcing a shutdown while things were still being setup.
    Which install method did you use, upgrade, archive or erase?

  • Startup problem flashing folder icon with a question mark

    Hello All,
    My macbook (Intel Core Duo) suddenly stopped working. Ater I push the powerbutton, I hear a clicking noise(about 1/second) coming it seems, from the cd-rom drive. Then after about 20 seconds, the clicking noise goes away and I get a flashing folder icon with a question mark (?) in it. And it just sits there for ever. I tried all the troubleshooting tricks mentioned in the user's guide, like taking out the battery and pressing the power key for 5 seconds, pressing command and control keys while pushing the power button e.t.c. I also ran the Apple Hardware Test program and it mentioned there was no problem with hardware. When I try to install the operating system with Mac OS X CD1, I go through the steps and there is no destination volume (my Macintosh HD is not seen) to install on. I appreciate any help on this matter. Thanks a bunch.

    Chances are if you do not see your MacBook's HD then your HD has crashed and you will need to contact Apple (or take to an Apple Store or reseller) to have it replaced.
    I hope it's still under warranty and I hope you have been backing up to another device.
    This happened to me about a month ago and Apple replaced my HD and I had back ups (although I wasn't backing up religiously) so I didn't loose everything. When I picked up my MacBook with it's new HD, I also bought a new firewire external drive and back up nightly.
    Good Luck - Call Apple.

  • Flashing folder icon with question mark in the middle of the folder

    LLashing folder icon with a question mark in middle of folder on startup

    Click here and follow the instructions.
    (121672)

  • Flashing Folder icon with Question Mark

    While trying Garage Band, I saved a project 'the long way' so as to open it via the Media Browser. Big mistake. Enter rainbow ball of ****.
    I tried to force quit because all I was hearing was a grinding away like 'crickets' says my daughter. Could be the Hard Drive.
    Now I shut it down and when I reboot, it gives me nothing but a gray screen with ? in a flashing folder icon.
    Help!
    Using 10.6.5, possibly 10.6.6. (Whichever one came before the Apple App Store application.)
    There is 70 Gig left available in a Drive that I believe is 384G. 300 something, I recall.
    This is a late 2006 Macbook, with the RAM maxed out..

    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 hard drive data 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.
    Once it has finished booting and you are at the Install screen launch Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. Is your Hard Drive in the list on the left?
    If it is then select the First Aid Tab run Repair Disk and if that repairs any problems run it again until the green OK appears and then run Repair Permissions.
    If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

  • On. Startup I get a flashing folder icon with a question mark

    My computer won,t start. After about 30 seconds I get a blinking folder icon with a question mark. I have never seen this before.

    There are four general causes of this issue:
    1. The computer's PRAM no longer contains a valid startup disk setting when there aren't any problems with the disk itself. This can be checked for by pressing the Option key and seeing if the drive appears.
    2. The internal drive's directory structure has become damaged. This requires usage of an alternate bootable system to perform the repair.
    3. Critical system files have been deleted. This requires usage of an alternate bootable system to reinstall them.
    4. The internal drive has died or become unplugged. This is the most likely case if the computer took a sharp impact or there are unusual sounds coming from its location.
    (101798)

  • I get a white screen with a grey flashing folder icon with a question mark in it when i try to start up my i mac, what's happening?

    A few days ago my i mac when into grey screen; there were a few options for starting up, restoring etc i tried all of them to the extent possible but didn't work. Then i decided to unplug my external backup drive in case it may be erased or info lost in this process and now all i get when i turn it on is a white screen with a flashing folder and question mark. Any ideas?

    That indicates the computer is having difficulty finding the startup volume. Your internal HD may have failed or the system may have "forgotten" where it is. If you are using Lion or later (10.7.x or later) then restart in the Recovery Partition and choose the startup disk.  Before doing anything carefully read and follow Apple's instructions in:
    A flashing question mark or globe appears when you start your Mac

  • Tried restoring to factory settings and folder blinking with ? In the middle

    how do I get rid of  a blinking folder with a question mark in the middle?  Daughter tried restoring to factory setting and got to this and didn't know what to do. HELP!!

    lgeorge45,
    which model MacBook Pro do you have, and which version of OS X is installed on it?

Maybe you are looking for