IMac dropped, now flashing question mark, won't boot up

I been searching for days on this forum trying to find a solution. After I dropped my iMac it won't boot up. I get the folder question mark flashing thing. Using the installation disk, I can boot up and run disk utility. There I can see the hard drive, but I can't verify it, unmount it, or anything other than erase it. Did the hardware test at start up and says everything is fine. Tried to boot from external hard drive and view the internal hard drive but it doesn't recognize it.
All I want to do is recover some files. Tried the transfer option by holding down the T button but the firewire icon doesn't show up unless I have the install CD in or the external hard drive attached.
I can see it in System Profiler as disk1 when I boot from the external hard drive.
HELP!!!

Hi Holly
Welcome to Apple Discussions
"Ouch"
The good news is that it still boots from the Install Disk and an External HD and you may get off light if it only needs a new Internal HD.
The bad news is that there is no way for us to tell exactly which component was damaged? It could be any thing from a loose STAT connection, a busted HD or worst case the Drive Controller on the Logic board.
*It really needs to go to an Apple Store or a good Apple Service Provider to be tested and serviced.*
If your in the States see this link > http://www.apple.com/buy/locator/service/
If outside the States use this link > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1434?viewlocale=en_US
Dennis

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Flashing question mark, won't boot from CD

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AnneZ,
Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
The clock losing the time (especially if the year is being set back) is a classic symptom that the PRAM battery needs to be replaced. The 1/2 AA 3.6v lithium battery is a stock item at places like Radio Shack or can be ordered online. Battery replacement instructions are at eMac - Do-It-Yourself.
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Flashing Question Mark & Won't Boot

My Mac Mini (Core Duo 1.67) will not boot, which is annoying considering it is under two weeks old.
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... Both the installer and disk checker tell me
the machine has no hard drive - it just doesn't see a
hard drive as present.
All the indications are that the logic board has failed, and after discovering the drive wasn't recognised, your first action should have been to contact Apple since the system is new. Unless your work IT people are Apple authorised, having them open your system and work on it will certainly have endangered your warranty should Apple have any indication that such work was done on it.
I think your best course of action to have this resolved is to contact Apple and explain the symptoms that you see - the flashing question mark at startup, that you are able to boot to a valid CD, but reinstall of MacOS results in an error indicating no hard drive is present. They will likely lead you through a couple of basic troubleshooting steps to confirm that you have a hardware failure that can't be resolved, then advise you on your options which will to some extent depend on where the mini was bought and whether there is an authorised service provider or Apple store in reasonable reach.

IMac randomly shows flashing question mark

Hi -
Today, my 2007 20" iMac suddenly froze. I wasn't doing anything hardware-intensive. I shut it off, and when I turned it back on, I was greeted by a flashing question mark. I already tried all the steps in this document to no avail. The only one I didn't try was the startup partition, as this is an older iMac. I did try slipping in a Snow Leopard disk and launching Disk Utility. The hard drive didn't appear. Are there any further steps I can take? I'd rather not take it to a repair shop and lose it for a week. Thanks!

The hard disk is damaged. The question mark means that the Mac can't find any bootable partitions, and in most of the cases, it means that your hard disk is damaged. You have confirmed this saying that Disk Utility doesn't recognize the disk.
If you don't want to take the iMac to an Apple Store or reseller, you can replace the hard disk yourself following iFixit steps > http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+20-Inch+EMC+2133+and+2210+Hard+Drive+Repl acement/1008/1 Also, you can buy the hard disk in iFixit or you can look for a hard drive in OWC > http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/3.5-SerialATA/

TS1989 My iMac G5 has flashing question mark folder, no hard drive, no DVD-drive, no target drive - help?

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I'll copy what BD wrote:
Is it a USB KB or flakey Wifi?
< be sure to use a usb keyboard >
Your suggestion of removing the PRAM Battery and all power & peripherals was great.
< I didn't think of disconnecting the peripherals. Do it. >
I think also, removing all RAM, Iif possible), then trying to start it a few times, might do it to.
Firmware password protection in Mac OS X ...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1352
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Force Removing Password Protection
1) Add or remove DIMMs to change the total amount of RAM in the computer.
2) Then, the PRAM must be reset 3 times. (Command + Option + P + R).
http://www.securemac.com/openfirmwarepasswordprotection.php
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Imac g3 os; blinking question mark, folder on boot

Thanks for your help Nick. I did as you said.
selected startup disk, then clicked on macintosh hd
and clicked on restart.
When it restarted, the blinking question mark
inside the folder appeared.
Am I having a possible hard ware problem of
some kind ? Have tried shocking pram already.
Is it bad pram battery, or maybe a
hard drive problem ?
Maybe one bad memory stick ?
I am lost here. New to macs.
Any help would be appreciated.

Please stick to the other topic. This is in a round about way a duplicate. You will confuse yourself if others answer here.

Two iMac G4 with flashing Questions marks at start up

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Hey briguy,
I tried to install leopard on both of them to no avail. I read that in order to install leopard I would have to reformat the hard drives. I did and still no luck
Is that a retail installer you're using?
Both of those machines are below min specs for Leopard but it can be done:
http://www.lowendmac.com/osx/leopard/unsupported.html
and Leopardassist:
http://www.mac.profusehost.net/leopardassist/
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Richard

Computer frooze - now flashing question mark folder on start up

Help...what is my next step. Tried to look through threads for quick answer. All my manuals are in another place! J

DavidOC suggested to start from the original DVD. What might be a thought is for you to repair permissions / disk from there. You need to go past "Use English as install language". The, from the simplified finder bar, choose "utilities/disk utility".
If it comes back with a descriptor for your harddrive disk (HDD) rather than the name you gave it when OSX was running ok, then you may have a corrupted disk in need of repair. If disk utility "cannot mount" the damaged drive, and you haven't got techtool or diskwarrior, then you might have to reinstall your OS from scratch, I am afraid. If, e.g. the +volume header+ is bad, then the HDD in its existing format cannot be read. Hopefully, you can repair it with disk utility / repair disk permissions.

Flashing question mark at boot

so it seems my hard drive won't mount... flashing question mark instead of booting.
I've read the discussions, which seem to lead to either a bad HD or logic board...
I've run both disk warrior and tech tool -- both show that the hard drive is okay -- disk warrior re-built the directory, which showed all the data where it was supposed to be... nevertheless, after running both, still the dreaded Q mark
(incidentally, or perhaps not so, all the tech tool tests were passed except the "surface scan"...?)
But the symptoms for a logic board issue that are outlined in these discussions (i.e., bad video or other display issues) were not problems prior to the failure. The only issue that presaged the crash was a recurring error box (over about two days) which i'd never seen before (and the content of which was somewhat cryptic and the text of which, I regret, I can't really recall)... the box was the full width of the screen, and in alarming all caps offered three buttons, side by side, which were in essence a quit option, a re-try, and a third ... sorry, I know that sounds lame, but it's the best I remember on that matter.
wrt that error box, the other salient (or perhaps not) point was that the box remained through a force quit of all apps, and even a relaunch of the finder...
thanks for any insight... for me, a $600 repair bill is simply not in the cards.

The "flashing question mark" at startup is not all that uncommon a topic;
and it usually has some cures depending on exactly what caused it.
Apple Support documents about it are in the online archive and there also
may be some reference to this in a Mac's Help viewer.
"A Flashing Question Mark appears when..."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58042
"...The possible causes and solutions for this symptom appear in the order
that you should try them. If any step resolves the issue, you don't need to
continue to the next one..."
Since you mentioned another screen with dialog box on it, that
may have been related to a "kernel panic" and that is covered
here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106227
With some more general -and lengthy- information about ways of
"kernel panic" resolution does continues over at a different site, here:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html
Sometimes, if you don't see a different dialog box (like you said
you saw, prompting restart, etc) you could go into the System
Preference panel in the OS and be sure your Startup Disk is
selected in the so named panel. Occasionally that can cause
a minor error in which the computer later can't see the boot
volume on the hard drive. - Routine system maintenance helps
to keep on top of system health (and familiarity) ahead of time.

Flashing Question Mark Folder--after repair of "Office Database damage"

I received a dialogue box message reporting "Office Database Damage--would you like to repair?"
I said "yes" --BIG MISTAKE.
The machine froze and now on boot-up will only give the dreaded Flashing Question Mark Folder".
Booting from the Installation CD is possible, however, when running the Disk Utility, no Mac HD appears in the window of drives you may check. Also, if I proceed to try to do a Clean Installation, there is nothing in the window offering any possible Destinations for Installation ...NOTHING.
When holding the "D" key down and booting from the Install Disk, I am able to run the Hardware Test which shows NO PROBLEM.
Also, if I try to access the computer as a FireWire harddrive from another MacPB connected via firewire, the only thing that shows up is the Install Disk. No HD shows up.
So, it seems I have a software problem, but no way to access the HD to do clean install or run any repair of disk permissions, etc.
ANY IDEAS?????
MacBook Pro 17, 2GB RAM

A friend of mine is having the same problem. This is why I am searching the boards now.
Anyone have an answer?

Flashing question mark & lost install disc

Our IMac has a flashing question mark for over a year and I cannot find the install disk to try and repair it. The computer is no longer under warranty, was purchased in 2006 and was wondering how I would be able to get ahold of a new install disk. Could I just purchase a newer disk like leopard (an upgrade) to repair the computer? (would this even work?) or if I took it to the apple store would i be charged an arm and leg for having no warranty? would it be best to take it to an apple store or would geek squad be able to help? (would have to drive over an hour to an apple store, 10 mins to a best buy)

HI,
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. They will ask for the model and serial number.
A flashing question mark on startup can mean several things. One the startup disk is failing, or failed, or your Mac can't find a system folder to boot from.
Try booting while holding down the Option key. Normally that will prompt the Startup Manager window, you would select your startup disk and click Restart.
If that doesn't work, try booting in Safe Mode
What is Safe Mode
As for Leopard, your Mac would have to meet the Mac OS X Leopard minimum requirements as stated here. http://support.apple.com/kb/SP517
Carolyn

Flashing question mark folder drives have been swapped

Hi there thank you for taking the time to read this. Spookily within days of each other 2 friends MBP's have succumbed to the flashing question mark folder upon booting. The first we swapped the drive out ran internet recovery saved what we could from the old HD and away we went.
Oddly when getting into disc utility Macintosh HD didn't exist only a tiny 1.53Gb partition called Disk0 which I assume is the recovery program????
However I have just took it apart and assumed by popping my healthy HD from my MBP into the faulty one it would boot as my Mac and troubleshoot a faulty HD
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Many thaks
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Sort of a bump of kinds
Had various drives in and the Mac doesn't see it however plug same drives into a SATA USB adaptor and OS sees the drive. Have tried replacing the hard drive to logic board cable with same results?
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IMac dropped, now flashing question mark, won't boot up

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