Help: Got the dreaded grey folder with question mark

Hey folks,
I was working in Chrome on my 13" mid-2010 MacBook Pro running OSX10.6.8, plugged in the mains charger and instantly had an unusual (not the beachball- the daisy from start-up and shut-down) freeze-up of the computer. I couldn't force quit and so shut the computer down using the power button (something I have done perhaps four times in its life-time).
On start up I got the dreaded flashing grey folder with question mark and know that this is serious. Last week I had a half hour with the U, I and O keys not working and that despite being very, very nice to my machines and repairing permissions and not unduly installing rubbish.
So I have inserted the start up disk for the MacBook Pro to see if I could use Disk Utility. And got it started (unusually load "whirring" too but I attribute this to heat) and Disk Utility cannot find the disk to repair permissions.
Now- from what I understand it means the hard drive is gone, right? Anything that can be done to save it (I cannot afford a new one)?
If not- how do I get the bits of data on there which I had yet to back up? CAN I?
Please and thank you.

So I fitted a new 500GB solid state drive from Samsung (easy enough- only a few screws on the lid, four screws holding it down and four more for the "pins" to hold it in place) but now, when I start up (bearing in mind that the install disk is stuck inside)- I get the Apple logo, then the daisy clock and then, woe is me, the "no entry" sign and eventually the install disk kicks in only to reveal that there is no hard drive to install to. Disk Utility and Start Up Disk both do not recognise it.
Any ideas what I can do, given that it is not rocket science to install one of these, given there is just one cable to connect and the rest is just to keep it in place?

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White Screen, Grey Folder with Question Mark and no USB

Hello
I have a iMac, that is in a classroom of similar machines, they are running os v 10.4.6 (ish).
The mac in question had been reported with a fault so i went along to check it and this was a new fault for me.
When the mac boots, it bongs the hdd starts up and then a black white screen appears after a few minutes this changes to a white screen with a flashing grey folder with a question mark.
now reading on the forums, internet etc. i have found that maybe i should boot to disk. tried this but not disk activity.
next i read to boot into verbose mode at which point i find that the USB ports dont seem to be running so i can use a keyboard.
Anyone any ideas how i can troubleshoot this problem or why the problem occurred in the first place?
Thanks for any help offered.

This error indicates either that the internal HD has physical problems, or there is corruption on the drive (a failing directory or corrupt system files). You should boot from the Mac's original installation disk, run Disk Utility from the Utilities menu and do Repair Disk on the internal drive. If this fails to recover the drive, you may have to reinstall the system.
Matt

Grey folder with question mark or circle w line when attempting start up

Whenever I attemp to start up my iMac intel based computer, I either get a blinking grey folder with a question mark in it, or after a while, I get a circle with a line through it. I've tried holding the shift button down as advised when starting up and also holding shift command v and I've tried holding the command option pr buttons down as well and none of these seem to reolve the issue. Is there anything I can do to help resolve this? It was working just fine last night, but now I can't get it to boot up. Unfortunatley, I do not have the install disks for this as I bought it from a friend last year and she lost them. Please help!!
Thanks!

Hello and Welcome to Apple Discussions...
*"blinking grey folder with a question mark in it,"* Possible hard disk failure.
Try here ...
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
*"shift command v "*
I'm not familiar with that startup key combo at all.
Without your install disks you can't repair the hard disk if necessary. You can obtain new disks.
If you no longer have your Leopard Install DVD, you may be able to obtain it from Apple Customer Relations - 1-800-767-2775.
You can get replacement System Install & Restore CD/DVDs from Apple's Customer Support - in the US, (800) 767-2775 - for a nominal S&H fee. You'll need to have the model and/or serial number of your Mac available.
If you're not in the US, you may need to go through the regional Apple Store that serves your location to find the contact number. Here's a list of links to all of those -
http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/intlstoreroutingpage.html
You will need the above in order to run the *Repair Disk* option.
Carolyn

HELP! Gray Screen & File Folder with Question Mark!

Hello!
If anyone can offer suggestions or if you've dealt with this before I would love feedback so that we can fix this problem!
I recently converted my husband from a PC user to a Mac user (it was a happy day). A little over 1 month ago we bought a brand new 20" iMac and since then everything has gone quite smoothly, he's even said how happy he is with the switch!
Then yesterday morning as I lay sleeping in the other room a noise similar to dial up internet woke me. I went into the office to find the internet up on the screen of our iMac, Firefox wouldn't shut down so I tried force quitting, but that too did not work. Finally I pushed the power button, and went back to bed.
A few hours later as I went to check my email I powered on the iMac and got a gray screen. Nervous, I turned if off, and then back on in safe mode. I still got a gray screen but now with a file folder with a question mark inside flashing at me. Thankfully we're within the 1yr. warrenty so we took it back and they're diagnosing the problem....but I'm worried about the outcome.
Has anyone else had this problem? What was the result? What caused it? We save most everything onto external hard drives (thankfully!) so it's not as if the machine was being overloaded. It kept making that weird dial up noise too... kind of a bleeb, fans running, trying to work noise. Obviously my husband isn't so thrilled with Macs now. Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

Welcome to Discussions - you have an intel iMac, and this is the PPC G5 forum, but even so, I would first advise you to buy Apple Care before then first year of ownership is up.
Then, I would remind you that all electronics will fail at some point, but the exact point is unknown and sometimes is much sooner than it should be. It would be interesting to hear from you what the exact failure was, there do not seem to be many reports of intel power supply failures, that seems to have been fixed since the era of the G5s.
The flashing question mark is usually a sign that the hard drive has failed and drives can fail at any point, yours may simply have some bad sectors; it could also be the logic board and again, they fail, but usually not within the first three years. Your machine may have been defective to begin with, it certainly doesn't sound as if you have been abusing it, so do please let us know what the ultimate diagnosis was.

Blinking Grey Folder with Question Mark Inside at Startup

I have an intel iMAC here that will no longer start. All i get are some clicking noises from the hard drive and blinking folder with a question mark inside. I've tried the slew of commands at startup to boot from the system disk, and I've tried to bypass the hard drive (command-option-shift-delete), nothing works. I've also reset the pram.
My system disk is now stuck inside the machine and it will not boot.
Any suggestions? The problem started after waking from sleep mode.

Hi I have the same problem. However trying the solution above doesn't work and restarting using the command, option ,P,R keys also doesn't help. the startup disk is fine and tries to restart but when it comes to reloading does not se my hard drive. Without stating the obvious i assume my hard drive is poked? is there any way to rescue the situation?
i was uploading photos to picasa using iphoto, the imac froze solid and when i eventualy rebooted i got the clicking noise and eventually the white screen with the question mark in the folder.
needless to say the mac is just over a year old (June 06) so not covered by warranty

White screen with grey folder with question mark?

My Mac froze when I opened iTunes and I turned it off and when I turned it on it was grey an I restarted or and now it's white with grey question mark?? What do I do? I don't want to loose my stuff.

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.

Grey Folder with Question Mark?

On Saturday afternoon April 7th I was at the Apple Store and they ran a diagnostic on my Black Mac Book. All things checked out with green check marks. I was a happy person. Well, yesterday, at start-up, a strange gray folder with a question mark appeared. What is that? And, most importantly, what does it mean?
Thanks

It means the OS could not be found or that you need to select a startup disk in Startup Disk preferences. Does the computer complete startup? If not, then you will need to reinstall OS X.
Reinstalling 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: Select Reinstall Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You can also re-download the Lion installer by opening the App Store application. Hold down the OPTION key and click on the Purchases icon in the toolbar. You should now see an active Install button to the right of your Lion purchase entry. There are situations in which this will not work. For example, if you are already booted into the Lion you originally purchased with your Apple ID or if an instance of the Lion installer is located anywhere on your computer.

Grey folder with question mark and Disk Utility can't find HDD.

I have a 2010 MacBook Pro and for some reason the OS X does not boot up. Therefore I see the grey folder flashing. I tried booting into Recovery from holding options button but there are no available startup disks. So I installed Apple recovery on my USB and I boot up with that. I opened disk utility but it does not seem to find the hard disk. I also tried reinstalling Mac OS X and it gives me an error. Is there another bootable software except for Disk Utility that can check the HDD and see if there are any errors or is the HDD just dead?

Try the steps in this support article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Have you tried installing the original Snow Leopard installation disk and access Disk Utility from the Utilities menu?
Ciao.

Grey screen with question mark on boot up.

My son's 2011-12 Macbook Pro displays a grey screen with a question mark and will not boot. I pulled that first drive, put that first drive in a USB cage and connected the USB cage through a USB port and could boot a different machine with the first drive. I put a brand new second drive with a formatted and journaled OSX drive in place of the original first drive in my son's macbook pro machine tand got the same grey screen and question mark. Do I need a new electronics board? If so that is a $500 repair and not worth it on a 3 year old machine. Thoughts?

It could be anything at this point - most likely, it seems, is that you've a faulty SATA cable. If you go to www.ifixit.com you can find the Apple part number for the cable (or buy the cable at ifixit, even) and search eBay for the part number (much less expensive on eBay and I've yet to hear of one from eBay having failed).
I'm betting that's the problem.
Clinton

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.

Macbook pro folder with question mark blinking appear whent I turn on, When I press the Option key Grey lock screen appear asking for a password, can anyone help me please?

Macbook pro folder with question mark blinking appear whent I turn on, When I press the Option key Grey lock screen appear asking for a password, can anyone help me please?

Provide the computer's firmware password. If you don't know what it is, contact the person you got the computer from or Apple.
(91589)

I have macbook mid 2009, with os leopard and I updated it till yosemite now while deleting partition I erased the main hitachi drive , now I have no backups and while switching on it shows folder with question mark,inserting the grey dvd it keep spin

Have macbook mid 2009, with leopard, updated to yosemite, while erasing partition erased hd, dot have backups, powerup shows folder with question mark, inserting grey dvd shows apple and spinning wheel, please help

Clean Install of Snow Leopard
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. 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 the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1. From here you can upgrade to Yosemite by re-downloading it from the Purchases page in the App Store.

Help. flashing gray folder with question mark on startup, then no startup.

on startup, macbook pro showed flashing gray folder with question mark, but no startup. after several retries, now shows circle with diagonal diameter, and still no startup. worked fine yesterday. suggestions?

Hi! I had the same problem as you. (I had a 2004 emac) all i had to do to boot it up was press enter and that seemed to do the trick but a grey folder might signify your missing files (Computer is broken) or its a network startup. Try it out!

Help! White screen with gray folder with question mark

Help, my macbook always shows this white screen with gray folder with question mark after turning it on.

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 Operating System data on the hard drive is somehow corrupted.
With 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6 put your install DVD into the optical drive (CD/DVD drive) and reboot. 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. 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) until the apple shows up. That will force your MacBook to boot from the install DVD in the optical drive.
Or if you are running 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mountain Lion, boot from the recovery partition (Command +R on boot) and use Disk Utility to repair your OS 10.7 or 10.8 partition.
When it does start up, you'll see a panel asking you to choose your language. Choose your language and press the Return key on your keyboard once. It will then present you with an Installation window. Completely ignore this window and click on Utilities in the top menu and scroll down to Disk Utility and click it. When it comes up is your Hard Drive in the list on the left?
If it is, then click on the Mac OS partition of your hard drive in the left hand list. Then select the First Aid Tab and run Repair Disk. The Repair Disk button won't be available until you've clicked on the Mac OS partition on your hard drive. If that repairs any problems run it again until the green OK appears and then run Repair Permissions. After repairing use Startup Disk from the same menu to choose your hard drive for restarting from your hard drive.
If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

Help please! My macbook air (2015) startup showed a folder with question mark so i tried "Command R" for internet recovery but after few minutes it stopped and showed error.. Please hepl me!

Help please! My macbook air (2015) startup showed a folder with question mark so i tried "Command R" for internet recovery but after few minutes it stopped and showed error.. Please hepl me!

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Help: Got the dreaded grey folder with question mark

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