Flashing ? folder on white screen upon start up

i have a 2008 macbook unibody and when started up i get a white screen with a flashing ? folder. I have tried some suggestions i found here, like holding the c button as well as holding the option button. when i hold the option button i get a flashing spinning globe on a hard drive. nothing else happens, i cant choose a drive or only thing, but i get the cursor. someone please help. oh and i dont have the install/reboot discs either.

The flashing ? mark can mean several things.
One the starutp disk is failing or has failed.
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
You mentioned holding down the Option key. Theoretically, that would prompt the Startup Manager window where you can select the startup disk but if that didn't work, then you may be out of luck.
If the startup disk has failed, you wouldn't be able to repair the startup disk using your install disc anyway.

Similar Messages

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    HOW DO I CORRECT A WHITE SCREEN UPON START-UP?

    Festus,
    I'm getting you have a MacBook rather than an iMac, if so you may want to request to have your post moved to the correct forum. However please read Gray screen appears during startup to begin troubleshooting your problem.
    Also when posting please do not type in all caps, it is considered shouting. We can "hear" you fine.

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    My daughter has an older MacBook and we have upgraded software. She tells me that she has a white screen upon start up each time she turns on (boots up) the laptop. I tried to boot the machine up to see what IOS version she has but can't get past the white screen. I trried moving the mouse and pressing arbitrary buttons to no avail.

    Try booting from an installer DVD. If that works OK, then reinstall OS X.

  • White screen upon start up

    Hey sorry if this has been answered but im not in the mood to go scrolling through dozens of pages to find what im looking for.
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    Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
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    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
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    Safe mode is much slower to start and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
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    ===============
    When posting in Apple Communties/Forums/Message Boards.......It would help us to know which Mac model you have, which OS & version you're using, how much RAM, etc. You can have this info displayed on the bottom of every post by completing your system profile and filling in the information asked for.
    CLICKY CLICK---> https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3602
    CLICKY CLICK-----> Help us to help you on these forums

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    Roger

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    Internet Recovery
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