Grey screen on startup with folder and question mark

My computer was already running slow but after I downloaded, edited and burned a home movie to disk, my screen froze with the screen locked black. So I force shutdown my Mac holding the power button but when I booted back up the screen turned white and instead if the usual apple, a blinking folder with a question mark comes on. I read other discussions on it and tried the solutions and I've given up and want to reinstall with my install disks so i put install disk one in and try to erase and reinstall, it asks for a destination to install the software, but my "Macintosh HD" is not shown as an option to write to, only my partitoned portable hard drive. I have all my files on the hard drive backed up on time machine so I don't mind erasing and restarting.
Please help

Have you tried running repair disk from the install dvd. Follow the article below and see if that helps
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1440

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I have a grey screen with folder and question mark-why?

When I turn my computer on I see a grey screen with a folder and question mark over it. The folder and question mark are blinking then a couple minutes later the screen turns black. Help please!

Kfrost5792,
if your MacBook Pro didn’t originally come with grey installation discs in the box, then you can substitute “booting from Recovery mode” for “booting from your grey Mac OS X Install disc”, and from the OS X Utilities menu that appears on the desktop in Recovery mode, you can select Disk Utility there to erase your internal disk, which will allow you to perform an OS X Internet Recovery the next time that your MacBook Pro is powered up.

TS1440 iMac freezes, no choice but to hard shutdown, turn back on, white screen with folder and question mark appears

Hi,
so my iMac (it's not the most recent iMac if it makes any difference, and I'm running mountain lion 10.8.3) often freezes and I do a hard shutdown as I cannot force quit the applications or click on the apple in the top left to shut it down. When I come to turn it back on, I'm greeted with a white screen, in the middle of which is the dreaded folder with the flashing question mark in it. I've noticed that just before a freeze occurs, it starts running slowly and if I try going onto Facebook for example, it says that it cannot connect to facebook.com despite the internet connection being fine as I can browse things on Google. I have also noticed that before a freeze, in Finder, in All My Files, no files show. I went through this http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440 and the problem still persists. Sometimes it does load fine if I shut it down again but when I eventually open up safari, if I had been on youtube for example, it will reload the page from a few videos before and not the one I was on when it actually froze.
Any help would be hugely appreciated,
Thanks
Side note: When it says I must choose a community in order to post this, it only gives me a choice of 3 which are Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger, v10.5 Leopard, v10.6 Snow leopard, so apologies if this is posted in the wrong place - is there any way to get it moved to the correct place?

Yes,easy fix but difficult to buy,think you can get them from the states (off the top of my head about £15).When you go to the apple store,tell yhem what you suspect and they will test if it is the cable or if its the hard drive,dosn't take that long and it's free.If you know what to do you can take the back off and with strong magnifying glass you might be able to see the fray look at the bend of the cable.

Imac boots with folder and question mark

I have been getting messages about a corrupt index on Mail. Although I followed the instructions to rebuild nothing seems to have changed.
I now have a situation whereby on reboot I get a folder with a flashing question mark or just a white screen.
I have tried to reboot from a snow lion disc I have; it spins up but I just get a white screen.
Is the HD faulty?
Is there any way I can boot to check status. I read about holding down the option key or CMD+R but this does not appear to have any impact.

I have been getting messages about a corrupt index on Mail. Although I followed the instructions to rebuild nothing seems to have changed.
I now have a situation whereby on reboot I get a folder with a flashing question mark or just a white screen.
I have tried to reboot from a snow lion disc I have; it spins up but I just get a white screen.
Is the HD faulty?
Is there any way I can boot to check status. I read about holding down the option key or CMD+R but this does not appear to have any impact.

HT1199 my MAC has white screen with folder and question mark anyone have the same issue?

My mac has a white screen and a file folder with a question mark...anyone else have this issue 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 the hard drive's location.
(79884)

Gray screen on Macbook Air with folder and question mark flashing

when I am trying to boot up the brey screen and a flashing forlder with question mark appears
I did a bootable flash drive usd but I cant get to the flash drive! I tried with option key with C key but nothing works.
When i press Option key its getting the wifi connection , which i establish but that is all nothing else happens.
With C key you see that reads the flash drive but that is all what it does, after a minute will go to that traffic sign on interdiction.
Anybody could help.

My macbook OSX10.5 has done this twice. First time I tried all the "fixes" suggested by the gurus. Waste of time but I did not reformat the HD and instead put it aside for a few weeks. I tried it agan and hooray, it booted normally and continued for some months until two days ago with the return of the gray folder of death. The clicking noise sounded like the HD hunting or maybe stuck. In desperation I gave it a thump on my knee and my old macbook booted normally and continues to work normally. I know that eventually I'll have to invest in a new computer but in the mean time I will try to keep "old faithful" going as long as possible. Sometimes Ockhams Razor is the best solution.

Dreaded Gray screen with Folder and Question Mark (EFI Boot poofs away)

Hey--
I've had trouble with my Imac that I purchasd in 2005 for a year and a half or so. I had a gray screen about a year and a half ago, went on vacation for a week, came back and it booted just fine. Another time it went down, I did a safe boot and it came back. I've tried Command-Option P+R before with some success. I had a boot camp partitioned windows xp drive on there also (I don't know if this matters, but wanted to mention that). I've also tried putting the installation disk in there with no luck (thinking it would find the software on it)
I put it away because I moved and dragged it out of storage to see if a miracle might have occured since the last time I tried 5 months ago. Well, same thing--gray screen with a flashing folder with question mark. I read in the discussions to hold the option key down to select a book device. I tried this and got an EFI Boot icon with a mouse pointer, but when I go to select it it "poofs" away (literally, the icon POOFS away) before I can select it with the mouse pointer icon.
Has anyone seen anything like this or have any suggestions? I guess I'm at my wits end and am ready to haul it down to the Apple store to get the prognosis (I'm sure it will not be good--probably shot hard drive or something). I'm hoping this can be salvaged without much cost.
Thanks so much for any advice or input you might have.
Chris

How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X 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 Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) 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. Now restart normally.
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. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.
If yours is an Intel model, then I recommend getting Snow Leopard to upgrade OS X, but I would recommend first erasing the drive before installing Snow Leopard.
Upgrade Paths to Snow Leopard, Lion, and/or Mountain Lion
You can upgrade to Mountain Lion from Lion or directly from Snow Leopard. Mountain Lion can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $19.99. To access the App Store you must have Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or later installed.
Upgrading to Snow Leopard
You can purchase Snow Leopard through the Apple Store: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.). The price is $19.99 plus tax. You will be sent physical media by mail after placing your order.
After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and give you access to the App Store. Access to the App Store enables you to download Mountain Lion if your computer meets the requirements.
     Snow Leopard General Requirements
       1. Mac computer with an Intel processor
       2. 1GB of memory
       3. 5GB of available disk space
       4. DVD drive for installation
       5. Some features require a compatible Internet service provider;
           fees may apply.
       6. Some features require Apple’s iCloud services; fees and
           terms apply.
Upgrading to Lion
If your computer does not meet the requirements to install Mountain Lion, it may still meet the requirements to install Lion.
You can purchase Lion by contacting Customer Service: Contacting Apple for support and service - this includes international calling numbers. The cost is $19.99 (as it was before) plus tax. It's a download. You will get an email containing a redemption code that you then use at the Mac App Store to download Lion. Save a copy of that installer to your Downloads folder because the installer deletes itself at the end of the installation.
     Lion System Requirements
       1. Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7,
           or Xeon processor
       2. 2GB of memory
       3. OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)
       4. 7GB of available space
       5. Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.
Upgrading to Mountain Lion
To upgrade to Mountain Lion you must have Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or Lion installed. Purchase and download Mountain Lion from the App Store. Sign in using your Apple ID. Mountain Lion is $19.99 plus tax. The file is quite large, over 4 GBs, so allow some time to download. It would be preferable to use Ethernet because it is nearly four times faster than wireless.
     OS X Mountain Lion - System Requirements
       Macs that can be upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion
         1. iMac (Mid 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 7,1 or later
         2. MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 5,1 or later
         3. MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         4. MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 2,1 or later
         5. Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         6. Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         7. Xserve (Early 2009) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
To find the model identifier open System Profiler in the Utilities folder. It's displayed in the panel on the right.
     Are my applications compatible?
         See App Compatibility Table - RoaringApps.
     For a complete How-To introduction from Apple see Upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion.

Macbook stuck on white screen with folder and question mark

My macbook is stuck at the screen with the folder with a question mark on it. I have tried a few things like the ones I found on google and so far no go. I tried pressing the command + p +r keys and it didn't work. I also tried to eject a cd and nothing. finally i tried pressing the command + option + p + r and nothing. Guys please help me. I really need this laptop.
I even tried just the command + r. I would like to reinstall OS. What are the steps please?

What version of OS X are you running? When you hold down the Command and R keys whilst booting, do you get to the Recovery partition?
Clinton

TS3742 Imac running snow leopard starts up with folder and question mark

My Imac on start up shows an icon with a questionmark inside a folder. What can I try to fix it myself?

Thank you for your assistance. Very much appreciated. I was able to install the snow leopard Install dvd holding down C but the repair facility was not available. I have time capsule and a WD my passport external drive and was able to copy to the external hard drive.
It took around five hours to download but my imac is now firing up okay, but I don't actually know if it is now only working from the external HD. Sound gobblygook, but I am not expereienced in this field of repairs.
Can I now disconnect the extra external HD or not ? Thank you

HT1941 grey screen with a folder and question mark

On start up i get a grey screen with a folder and question mark- how do i get out of this?

10.8 Mountain Lion
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11046
Use Startup Manager to select Startup disk.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1310
Repair Disk
Steps 2 through 8
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
Reset PRAM.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405

Blue screen with flashing folder and question mark on startup

Hello.
I need help with my Macbook Pro. I get a blue screen with a flashing folder and a question mark at start up. To date I have tried the following:
Apple Hardware (Extensive) Test (Results: "No Trouble Found")
Safe Boot
Reset NVRAM
Reinstall OS X via the internet (I received no discs when I purchased it). I select the StartUp Disk to reinstall. When reinstalling via the internet I get to a point of reinstalling Mountain Lion but it asks me to choose a drive - yet there are no drive options to choose from. Then a window comes up asking me to "Select the system you want to use to start up your computer" but no options appear. When I choose "Restart" a note pops up saying "You can't change the startup disk to the selected disk. Startup Disk could not gather enough information on the selected disk."
The only option is "Restart" from the Apple menu. When I choose that it goes back to the original "Blue screen with flashing folder and question mark on startup."
I have no Time Machine
I can't access the disc utility.
Are there any ideas as to what might be the problem?

Your hard drive has likely failed and needs replaced. That would explain why the system does not display it when you attempt to reinstall the OS via Internet Recovery.

What does a white screen with a file folder and question mark indicate?

what does a white screen with a file folder and question mark indicate upon start up?

That the computer can't find a useable boot volume.
Boot from your grey installer DVD disc 1 (hold down the C key on startup or hold down Alt/option on start and choose the installer disc).
OK the language page (if present). From the installer screen, go to the menu bar and choose Disk Utility; depending on the OS version it may be in the Utilities menu or Tools menu.
In DU, select your internal drive in the sidebar (the top item with the makers name and serial no.). Run Repair Disk (not Disk permissions). If problems are reported as repaired, run it again until you get a message in green "the volume seems to be OK".
If it says it can't repair the disc, you may need heavier guns such as DiskWarrior or TechTool to attempt a rescue.
Hope you have backups; retrieving data from adead drive can be expensive and tricky.

I need to reinstall my operating system for 10.5 after seeing a file folder and question mark flashing on my start up screen. Can anyone help me with this?

I need to reinstall my operating system for 10.5 after seeing a file folder and question mark flashing on my start up screen. Can anyone help me with this?

Hello,
That means it can find the Hard Drive, or can't find the things needed for booting.
See if DU even sees it.
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)

HT1379 I have lost everything on my mac, a gray screen with a folder and question mark is blinking. i hav another mac that is running slowly, how can I boot and reinstall os x Lion, i do not have the start up disc with me.

I have lost everything on my mac, a gray screen with a folder and question mark is blinking. i hav another mac that is running slowly, how can I boot and reinstall os x Lion, i do not have the start up disc with me.

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
Lion uses Recovery to reinstall OS X. Press Command and R keys when your Mac starts, open Disk Utility, erase the drive and reinstall Lion. The other Mac has probably got its hard disk damaged, so take the Mac to an Apple Store

Folder and Question Mark

I asked this question earlier but the problem keeps reoccuring. Every morning my iMac is flashing a folder and question mark. I just push the button in the back to turn it off, turn it right back up and it runs perfect all day. But the next morning it will be on (rather then sleeping) and flashing this question mark and folder. I understand it may have something to do with the startup disk? But I keep selecting the correct startup drive and it works fine all day and into the night but for some reason come morning it is always flashing. I do not understand. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to lug my iMac into the apple store, its out of apple care warranty by now anyways.

Hi Cookie
I occasionally get this if one of my External HD's is left on or if I have left a device +(iPod, iPhone, FlashDrive, Camera etc.)+ connected during restart and startup.
1. Repair your Startup Disk with your Install DVD > http://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=3810
2. Go to: System Preferences > Startup Disk > select the Mac OS X on Macintosh HD > Lock the Lock.
Then if your still having the problem:
1. Eject and turn off any External Hard Drives
2. Eject and disconnect flash memory devices prior to shutting down and reconnect them after startup.
Another consideration if you must keep devices connected for whatever reason, is to sleep the iMac instead of starting up every morning.
Dennis

Grey screen on startup with folder and question mark

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