I get a question mark folder upon start up

My Mac has been freezing up lately, now at start up I just get a grey screen with a question mark folder. Anyone have any suggestion?

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 one or more of these:
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.
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.

Similar Messages

Blinking question mark folder upon startup on a 2 month old Pro?

Hi I had the grey screen on my macbook pro. I tried reinstalling maverick os x, but my wifi connection got interrupted and so did the download. I now have the blinking question mark folder upon start up. What can I do since I know it's probably not a hard-drive problem?

Startup Issues - Resolve
Startup Issues - Resolve (2)

Hard disk in mums macbook failed, bought a new one, formatted it first. Have tried starting it with every possible key and I either get flashing question mark folder or a cursor.

Hard disk in mums macbook failed, bought a new one, used sata adapter cable to format it for mac first. Connected it and have tried starting it with every possible key combination and I either get flashing question mark folder or a cursor. A disk is stuck in it so I can't boot from OSX, and yes I have tried every option of starting to try and eject disk but none work. HELP ME!

Five ways to eject a stuck CD or DVD from the optical drive
Ejecting the stuck disc can usually be done in one of the following ways:
1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the
      left mouse button until the disc ejects.
2. Press the Eject button on your keyboard.
3. Click on the Eject button in the menubar.
4. Press COMMAND-E.
5. If none of the above work try this: Open the Terminal application in
      your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter or paste the following:
        /usr/bin/drutil eject
If this fails then try this:
Boot the computer into Single-user Mode. At the prompt enter the same command as used above. To restart the computer enter "reboot" at the prompt without quotes.
If you have a 2010 MBP or later, then you can use Internet Recovery. Start by rebooting the computer. At the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION-R keys until a Globe appears in the upper part of the screen. This process can take upwards of 15 minutes to get connected to the Apple network servers. You should eventually see the utility screen of the Recovery HD. You may now go about the process to install Mountain Lion:
Install Lion/Mountain Lion on a New HDD/SDD
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.
Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.
Partition and Format the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your external hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Question Mark Folder at Start up. Tried Everything!

Hello I have a mid 2009 15" MacBook Pro. I am getting the question mark folder at startup.
I have read many message boards and tried all of the following things.
1. Tried to go to boot into safe mode via the shift key at startup. Continues on to question mark folder.
2. Tried to go to startup manager via the option key at startup. Goes to blank white screen with usable mouse pointer.
3. Tried to clear PRAM via the Command / Option / P / R at startup. Restarts but still continues to question mark folder.
4. Used OSX install usb drive to get to install screen. Could not find hard drive to install to.
5. Put hard drive in external inclosure and successfully booted from it.
6. Put in a new hard drive in computer just to check and attempted number 4 again. Same results.
7. Purchased and installed new hard drive cable.
8. Installed original hard drive. Still went to question mark folder.
9. Put in new hard drive and install still could not find it.
10. Returned and got another cable just to make sure that one was not bad. Same results.
Please somebody help me. What am I missing? What else can I try?

You'd better take your MacBook Pro to Genius Bar and tell them about your problem.

Mbpro won't start up- get blinking question mark folder

help!!! think my macbook pro (1st gen, 17") has died- i get a blinking question mark folder when i boot up.
it's been having problems for a long while, so use it generally to record movies- which a bunch are still on there to export.
is there a resolve for this? would a new harddrive get it up and working again?
hoping i can recover the harddrive to get data, but ok without it. just want it working again if possible.
thanks for the help!

The symptom you describe is usually a HDD problem or it could be an internal cable/connection problem. If you have an external bootable HDD, employ it and see if you can access the internal HDD via Disk Utility and run First Aid.
Ciao.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
The above article may be useful.
Message was edited by: OGELTHORPE

Flashing question mark folder at start, broken CD drive, warranty Q's.

Hello! Thanks for reading.
Okay, so here's the background: I was just chilling around the house yesterday with my macbook, and it freezes, with no response from the touchpad or keyboard. I figure no problem, and just turn it off and on again. And then thats when I got the flashing question mark folder.
So I hopped on my family's PC to do some research, hoping to be able to fix it myself. Turns out the best way to fix it is to pop in the disk that came with the computer during start up... which I can't do because my disk drive is broken. I also tried other things, like pressing various keys (ctrl + option + p + r, or something like that)... and that didn't work.
The disk drive broke when I was at school, and as it was finals week, I had no time to get my computer to a genius bar. Then I moved quite a distance (see below), a process which has taken up most of my summer and made me quite busy to the point it has taken my macbook pretty much dying on me to get it to a genius bar. Gah.
So I guess I have a lot of questions now.
My computer is JUST a year old, by give or take a week or two.
I bought my computer from an authorized U.S. reseller in Japan while I was living there (I live in the US now, which I definitely wasn't expecting a year ago)... and no contact from apple came to buy apple care. Is it possible that because of the circumstance under which I bought my computer, that apple may still cover any repair or replacement fees under the warranty?
Also, I made an appointment at the local genius bar. Will that be free?
Also, does anybody have any other suggestions about how to get my computer up and running away from the **** that is the question mark folder?
Much thanks! I appreciate your time.

You made 2 big mistakes. 1) Apple may or may not contact you about AppleCare (sometimes I've gotten a postcard or email and other times I've not) but it is up to you to buy it before the 1 year mark. 2) whether it was convenient to get the computer repaired at the time or not, you should have contacted Apple to get the issue in the computer. If you didn't, Apple has no reason to believe it happened after the warranty ended.
You are going to foot the bill for the repairs

MBP has gray screen with question mark folder on start up

Hi Mac Experts,
I have a MBP that won't start up. I get a gray screen with the question mark folder. Nothing else. I tried starting without the battery and also while holding the shift key but still get the same result. Any idea what happened and what I should try next? Thanks!

Need a Vacation:
Use the Leopard disk.
Repair Disk
Insert Installer disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu (Panther and earlier) or Utilities menu (Tiger and later) and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel, and report if it says anything but Verified)
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
If DU reports errors it cannot repair you will need to use a utility like Tech Tool Pro or Disk Warrior

Flashing Question Mark Folder on Start-up

I recently starting having administration issues with my Mac Mini.
I went to update to OS 10.5.7 and when the administrator box came up asking for my password, my name was missing. After putting in the correct information, was unable to update, but received the message what my clue to password was.
Anyway, I performed a safe startup, changed the password and tried again. Same issue as before. So I started up from the Start Up Disk, and ran Disk Utilities and verified the disk and repaired any permission issues. When I started up my Mac Mini from the hard drive, I still did not have my administrator password working.
At this point, the start-up ping is gone.
I reset the Pram and had the same issue. So, I saved all important files to an external hard drive and tried to do a clean install. I was unable to do the clean install.
I removed the hard drive from my Mac Mini and installed it into a friends Mac Mini. I had complete control of my computer with no administrator password issues, the ping was there, and I could reload all saved items and still not have any issue no matter how I started up the computer. I then performed a complete erase and reinstall and still had no problems.
I reinstalled the hard drive into my Mac Mini, and I now have the Flashing Question Mark Folder with gray screen on start-up and no ping. Can't fire wire to start up, can't clone, can't start-up from disk, safe mode, etc..
Any ideas would be helpful. Most likely I will be going to the Apple Store and seeing what they can do.

generally, the flashing folder mark means it can not find the startup drive.
if you hear those kind of noises your hard drive is most likely dead. while this is almost certainly true you can try booting from the install DVD and see if the drive is visible in disk utility. if you can't insert the DVD try this. reboot and hold option at the chime. this should boot you into startup drive manager. there you should be able to insert the DVd and choose it as the startup drive. boot from the DVd and once past the language screen start disk utility from the Utilities menu at the top. see if it detects the internal drive. if it does, try repairing it. if it doesn't the drive is dead.

Question mark folder on start up and broken cd drive

My macbook won't load up any more but instead comes up with the flashing question mark folder. I've tried resetting the PRAM and SMC, I've tried holding down both the option button and C whilst starting up, so far nothing. I do have operating disks, BUT the cd drive is broken so I only have a USB plug in one, and whilst it does make noises that suggest it's reading the cd, nothing happens.
Is there ANYTHING else I can try??
I've guessed which OS I have as I can't find out right now, but I'm pretty sure it's 10.4.something....

Hey Beck
I thought I broke my work MacBook Pro when the question mark came up and none of the answers helped me however by fluke what I done was -
Turn off your MacBook
Turn it upside down (with the black spine towards you)
Push down your open compartment button
Take off your sheet metal cover section
(silver battery on the left/black brain box on the right)
NOW
make sure the connector on the right is inserted properly (mine wasn't)
Follow the instructions to take out the black box and the metal teeth must be securely fixed into the brains box
My cable came undone and the laptop wouldn't read the start-up and couldnt connect (the question mark - "I don't know where my iOS is, I can't find it")
That's why my MacBook Pro wouldn't start.
Hope this helps
Draco Xx

My macbook is getting the question mark folder and also my start up disks are gone

A few weeks back I turned on my macbook and discovered that it cannot boot up anymore. There was absolutely no precedent to this. I didn't drop it (I've dropped it many times in the past if that matters, and may have placed it down on my desk a little to aggressively the night before), and I had no problem using my computer right before going to bed. I just closed it went to sleep and the next morning my computer was malfunctioning. Whenever I turn it on the computer is stuck at a grey screen with a blinking picture of a folder with a question mark on it. I thought my computer was a lost cause and I bought a new one, but now I am in desperate need of recovering my lost files on my old computer which I still have.
So I go to the internet for help, with my goal being to just fix my old macbook or at least salvage the data, and read that the thing to do is press command+R when the computer boots up and fire up internet recovery, then go to disk utility and fix the drive/disc/whatever from there. So I press command+R at start up, and I get past the loading screen with the globe and go to a menu giving me the options of disk utility, time machine, reinstallation, and looking on mac forums for help. I click on disk utility and my mac os x disc does not appear to be on the left hand side. There is one disk under a disk that says Disk1 that says MAC OS X BASE SYSTEM or something to that effect on it, but if you click on its info it says that that particular disc has a total capacity of only 1.39 GB, so that can't be it, right? Also when I click on it it doesn't give me the option to verify or repair it. There's another disk at the very top of the left hand side that says 4.14 GB ST_M13FQ8L M... but it also has a low total capacity.
After I find no help in disk utility I decide to take a different route and see if I have any time machine back ups and it asks me to select the disk that contains the backup I want to restore, but the list that is shown is empty. I don't remember ever setting up a time machine back up so this doesn't surprise me.
So I move on to another solution- to try and reinstall MAC OS X Lion and it takes me to a window where it asks me to select the disc where I want to install MAC OS X Lion, but the the little white box under the message that is supposed to show a list or something of the available selections/discs is completely empty. So I have no start up discs?
Then I click shut down on the upper left hand corner of the screen to turn of my computer and another window appears asking me to select the system i want to use to start up my computer but that box is also completely empty.
I don't know what to do this at this point, and I don't know how to interpret the situation either, even after researching the issue on the internet. Does this mean that my harddrive/disc or whatever is completely gone/broken? And more importantly does this mean that all of my data is gone forever? Or is the system or computer itself broken or something like that, but my hard drive is intact? Now that I have a new computer all I really need is to somehow transfer the data from my broken computer to my new one, and don't really need to "fix" my computer- but if fixing it is the only means to see my data again that's what I want to do. And also can I fix this manually by myself, or does this require professionals. And if i do need to hire someone, how much will this typically cost? Thanks!
Some other facts: The macbook in question (the broken one) is an aluminum 13 inch macbook pro from I think 2012, maybe 2011, and used to run on Mavericks. I also used to have windows bootcamp on it but i rarely used it. The macbook has been having some problems for a while and recently started to slowly break down. The USB ports stopped working completely, all of its apps were slow and glitched a lot, the battery in it was nearly dead (it said REPLACE SOON where the battery symbol used to be on the upper right hand corner of the screen), but it still worked at a base level and I used it for work and stuff, up until this point of course.

This document should give you some leads as to what to do.
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac

I changed my hard drive and when i turn on my laptop i just get a question marked folder.

how do i fix this? how do i get my new harddrive to work with my computer so i can install the operating system? ive changed my harddrive from a 2009 macbook, and had no problems. it would load up and take me to a menu in which i would have to format the harddrive to work with the operating system and such. this time when i start up the computer with the new harddrive i just get the blue/grey screen and an opaque folder icon with a question mark on it. i assume that means it cant find the drive, but how do i fix this? ive checked to make sure that the sata connection is in poperly and that the harddrive is properly secured in its place.
i have a 2nd gen macbook pro 15"
thanks for the help

heres what i did:
i replaced the harddrive
turned my mac on - got the image
turned it off
turned it back on and inserted the snow leopard disk - got the same image
turned it off and back on but kept getting the same image.
when i did it for my 2009 white macbook i did it with the snow leopard disk.
i also tried to eject the disk but it wouldnt eject it. im currently on vacation and am nowhere near a macstore, so i cannot go to a genius bar. im also not the most computer savvy guy, but i know how to get my way around. anything else i can tell you to provide you with information on what ive done so far?

Flashing question mark folder when start iMac after Time Capsule performed a new back up

I switched my iMac on after a few days away and I was asked to start a new back up for Time Capsule to enhance the performance of the device (or something along those lines). Clicked the back up now and carried on, having read the process could take a few hours (not surprising because of the amount of data on my computer).
Left it running overnight and when I came back this morning the computer was off. Switched it on, saw the apple logo and the progress bar but it didn't move past 25% before I had a message in several languages to turn the computer off (and some script in the top left corner. From memory I think I saw <panic> in that script but not 100% sure).
When I switched it back on I had the dreadful flashing question mark so performed steps described in support.apple.com/kb/ts1440 several times and performed a safe Boot. No results.
I haven't reinstalled Mac OS X (step 11 in ts1440) as I don't want to erase the hard drive.
I have plugged the Time Capsule in a MacBook and it seems empty bar 2 very small files so I'm now very worried. I have some questions:
1- I'm not a technical person so is this now a case of bringing the iMac and Time Capsule to an Apple shop or call Apple support when they reopen tomorrow Monday?
2 - Is my data wiped out in the iMac and Time Capsule? If yes is it recoverable - obviously not by me but by an expert?
3 - what created the problem? My Lightroom 3 catalog was corrupted 3-4 times over the last few weeks and was surprised that Time Capsule wanted to perform a new back up but everything otherwise was working fine.
I'm very much looking forward to your help and suggestions.

You have a couple of options and I also have a suggestion for the future. First is you can try Data Rescue software. You can find it at:
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
The other is sending the HD out to a professional data recovery service.
My suggestion though is using a redundant backup system. Many on this forum do just that because a backup (as you have found out) can fail too. What I use is TM and on a separate EHD I created a bootable clone using SuperDuper. You can use SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner for this. I'd recommend reading the following MacWorld articles for backup strategies. I think you'll see a recurring them in them and that is redundancy is wise.
Backup Plan
Backup Plan II
Backup Plan III
Also it wasn't a virus, you are correct there are none for OS X.
Good luck on the recovery.

Question-mark folder upon startup? what's going on!?

hello users,
when i turn on my IMAC, instead of booting up, it gives me a screen with a blinking folder with a question mark. i don't need to save any data, i just need to boot up and do an erase and install with leopard. how can i do this? any help is appreciated, thanks.

Power on the Mac. Immediately after turning on the power, hold down the option key.
Continue holding the key. Eventually, the screen will turn blue, and a number of disk icons will appear. (equal to the number of disks in your system, including any indserted CDs) There will be an additional image of an arrow (pointing to the right.)
If any disks have what the system considers to be valid bootable OS's installed, the OS logo (either the OSX logo, the windows logo, or the OS9 logo) will be superimposed on the disk icon.
Click on the OS of choice, then click the arrow.
The system should boot to the chosen drive and OS.

Blinking folder with question mark icon upon start up? Disk or SATA?

Long story short, disk utility is unable to repair the "Macintosh HD" disk. Re-installing mountain lion is not an option due to the computer's inability to detect the HDD disk. How do I differentiate between a corrupted (dead) hard drive or a broken SATA cable (in which acts as a medium)?
Note: my intentions are to fix the issue instead of resorting to apple care.
Thanks in advance

If you have a known functioning boot drive, you can substitute that for the internal HDD.
You can try to use your current drive externally. Use Startup Manager and if the external HDD appears, select it. If it boots the MBP, then that is an indication that the SATA cable is faulty.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1310
Ciao.

Question Mark Folder on start up on an iMac; USB "doesn't work" unless...

I am having a very difficult time with an old Indigo iMac (slot-loading). The symptoms are as follows:
Blinks between Smiley Face and ? on start up
Keyboard doesn't work unless in the Developer mode(? mode with the white screen and some command options. I think it's developer mode...)
I do not know what to do really. Even using alternative methods to try and get the computer to boot such as hooking up another drive from a different computer to it via an IDE to USB and trying to get it to boot, but to no avail. Is there anything I can do in the Developer mode that would help?
Power Mac G3 800 mhz Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Hi, Lezard -
If it is a 333MHz model, it is not a Slot-Loading model; it is one of the last of the tray loader models (designated as the Five Flavors models), as indicated in the right-hand column for that model (fourth one down) in the KBase article you linked to, Article #58669.
In that case it is not USB bootable.
Is there a way I can possible change the start up disk through Open Firmware?
Not that I'm aware of - Open firmware is not that flexible.
Have you tried booting it to an OS Install CD, one valid for that model? Such would be the original Software Install CD that came with it (OS 8.5.1), or any retail OS 8.6 or OS 9 Install CD. If you can get it to boot to a CD, you can change or reset the boot volume using Startup Disk control panel.
Also, if you can get it to boot to an OS Install CD, run Disk First Aid from the Utilities folder on the CD - let it have a look at the drive, and repair whatever it can.
While booted to the CD, take a look at the System Folder on the hard drive - does it show the Mac OS glyph superimposed on the folder's icon, or is the folder icon plain? If it is plain, that System Folder is no longer blessed, which is relatively easy to fix.
Note - when using keyboard startup commands, for most of them be sure you press the key(s) early enough, usually about the time the startup chime sounds; and keep them held down until you are sure the command has been accepted or been invoked.

I get a question mark folder upon start up

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