Gray screen with little folder icon in the middle

Hello everybody!
I´m a rookie in terms of mac and last year I dicided to buy a mini g4. It was working great until one day I decided to plug in the network cord while the mini was booting. Well, now all i´ve been getting is a gray screen with a smal blinking Icon of a folder with an interrogation point alternating with the mac os logo (that smiling face). I out the OS cd in and didn´t work. I wouldn´t start from it neither eject my cd. I´ve tried to reset the npvram and also zip. What do I do?
do you have any idea? plaese help me

I've done both, starting from Install Disk holding down C and starting up holding down option while the startup disk is in the machine. All I get is the smiling logo folder that does nothing, or the Firmware Password screen - even though I not anyone else has ever set a Firmware PW. Help!?

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vickyfromosseo wrote:
What do I do when I power up the computer and get a grey screen with a folder icon and a question mark?
Read this: A flashing question mark or globe appears when you start your Mac

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None of the white iBook G3 series would be running OS 8.6 or earlier;
the first one (dual USB, 500MHz 12" LCD, etc) shipped with OS 9.1
in May 2001 and it could also run OS X.
The older iBook G3 in colors other than white, (blueberry, tangerine,
indigo, lime, graphite) were in two series, the earlier one of those
shipped with OS 8.6; in July 1999. The second of the series, had Fire-
Wire ports and a faster CPU. It shipped with OS 9.0.4. With adequate
hardware upgrade to support OS X, the oldest colors iBook G3s can
run, respective of age, oldest model: OS X 10.3.9 or maybe 10.4.
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have, information on what it is would be of great consequence. If
you have a correct bootable installer system CD (or DVD if a later
iBook with combo or superdrive installed) then you may be able to
start the computer from the Mac OS install disc and run Disk Utility
or the equivalent, to try and repair the disk, then choose a startup
volume on the computer's hard disk drive, and restart the iBook.
Since you indicate you had tried to install a freeware Office-like app
into the computer, it would not be running a pre-OS X system.
There may be some minor damages or corruption to the data files
on the computer's hard disk drive, so a disk utility that could try
and fix them may be a solution; so hopefully you have a correct
version Mac OS system install disc and can see if inserting that
into the iBook's optical drive and try restarting while holding the
C key down, this may let you boot from the Installer; in the menu
header of the OS (X is presumed) when you see a Finder-like
menu bar, there are choices and options in drop-down menus;
one of them is to run Disk Utility.
However, not knowing what the computer model really is or
the OS version running; or if you have any correct discs for it
to try & fix this problem, about the best you may be able to do
is use some keyboard commands and try to get the computer
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• Magical Macintosh Key Sequences:
http://davespicks.com/writing/programming/mackeys.html
If the computer does have a bootable OS 8.6/9.2 system
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http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=macos+flashing+question+mark&aq=0&aqi=g2&aql=&oq=Mac+OSflashing&gs_rfai=&fp=bcdf8cbbf06dc4f
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discs and software did you get with the computer? What
model is it? (What does it look like and what part number or
model number appears on the side of the iBook's case?)
• Identify iBook model:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1772
• Locate iBook serial number:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1590
Hopefully you can get it working again by Monday...
Good luck & happy computing!

MacBook Pro can turn on and off, but does not start up. Stays on white screen with flashing folder icon, does not go to desktop.

MacBook Pro is not starting up. It just stays on a white screen with a flashing folder icon. Have tried restarting while holding the Option key, and the cursor becomes visible and movable, but it does not go to the desktop.

Hello Sonya_Rose,
I found this article when researching the issue you describe here named A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac found http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1440.
Check the mouse and keyboard
This issue might occur if a mouse or trackpad button is pressed during startup. Make sure the button isn't pressed.
If the issue persists, shut down your Mac with its power button, disconnect any external mouse and keyboard, then turn on your Mac with its power button. If the flashing question mark issue persists, reconnect the keyboard and mouse.
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.
Regards,
Sterling

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Gray screen with little folder icon in the middle

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