Mac book air won't start up it has a flashing folder with questions mark. How do I fix it?

Please help!!!

Hold the option key down while booting the machine (wired keyboard) and a list of bootable options appears.
Select OS X and click the arrow, then set the Startup Disk again in System Preferences. Hopefully this will fix the issue and no further problems.
If no bootable options appears, then your internal boot drive could be dead.
If you have 10.7 or later and doing the above shows only RecoveryHD, then your Macintosh HD partition is corrupted.
..Step by Step to fix your Mac

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Flashing folder with question mark on start up + many other issues

About 6 months ago I first encountered the flashing folder with question mark on startup. I fixed the issue myself by unplugging the mouse and keyboard and rebooting. I also did the cmd S fsck -fy before that and all was well.
The other day I had the flashing folder again...I got it going a couple of times but it happened again. Right now I seem to be in deep trouble. Please read the following:
1. I booted up from the leopard dvd and no hard drive was there to run a disk utility on
2. Booted up again from the dvd and hard drive was there. Ran the disk utility and everything was fine...for about 5 minutes. Then the computer froze and I had to hard power down. Rebooted to the flashing folder.
3. Did command s and fsck but at the end I get the message failed to issue comm reset after 3 attempts.....failing....
4. I powered down, vacuumed out the vents, sprayed compressed air to make sure it wasn't over heating from dust buildup as I read somewhere.
5. Booted up...worked for about 5 minutes again.
6. Now I can't get to the hard drive from the install dvd at all...I tried 100 times. Cmd s won't work at all!! So it looks like I am out of options. Does anyone have ny radical solutions that i can try to fix this. There are some very important things on my hard drive that I would be very upset about loosing.
Please reply

Sorry to bear bad news, but most likely the drive is already dead or dying. I hope you backed up everything when the first symptoms appeared.
There are data recovery services, but might be very expensive.
EDIT: Some (a few) people have had success putting the drive (sealed very well in a plastic baggy) in the freezer overnight and then quickly putting it in an external enclosure and getting the data off it that way.
Message was edited by: WZZZ

My computer has a blinking folder with question mark on it at start... What is going on?

My computer has a blinking folder with question mark on it at start... What is going on?

The hatter wrote:
also that the default is no longer set asin when someone had windows as default and removed it w/o changing Startup Disk panel.
Oh yes, I forgot that people still do that

HT1366 How to fix Flashing Folder with Question Mark on Mac

How to fix Flashing Folder with Question Mark on Mac

RichardEL is probably correct. I’ll go through your questions.
> there is no Mac OS partition, I assume it would be directly underneath the HD on the left?
I have not seen this particular condition where the hardware disk icon appears but the system volume that is supposed to be below it does not. The System Disk partition would be below the HD icon indented to the right. It is usually called “Macintosh HD” unless you renamed it.
> when I go into disk utility my HD appears on the left, but I can repair or verify it
Odd. It appears but you cannot manipulate it with Disk Utility.
> The S.M.A.R.T status reads verified
If it did not say Verified then it would indicate a problem. Saying Verified does not rule out problems but I think it indicates it is still breathing.
> Is the HD deceased?
If you booted the Recovery Partition (Boot, Command-R), which it sounds like you did, then at least part of the disk is still breathing. If it took a long time to boot then that may have been a Network Recovery boot which would indicate the disk is very sick or dead.
> [If I] restore from time machine [will] everything will be back as it was before?
Yes. That is the beauty of Time Machine. All your data, applications, and system preferences will be as they were as of the last backup.
> I was thinking of erasing the HD, would this be of any help or do I just need a new one?
Given what you reported from the Disk Utility steps you took it is unclear to me if there will be a way to repair the current volume, if you can erase and install from scratch or if you need a new disk. Before proceeding it may be useful to have an expert at an Apple store look at it for you. They may be able to revive it without a clean install or new disk.
As was the case above, it could be a good disk with a bad cable in which case a new disk is not going to help. To test this you can purchase an inexpensive external enclosure, remove the internal disk, place it in the enclosure, plug it in and then use Boot-Option to attempt to boot from the now external disk. Here are links to the screwdrivers and enclosure you would need.
$5 Toolkit: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TOOLKITMHD/
$22 USB 3.0 enclosure: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ES2.5BU3W/
If you attempt a clean install, use the Partition tab to repartition the disk, selecting one partition and with “Options…” electing a GUID partition. Then use the Erase tab, select “Security Options…” and set it to write a single pass of zeros. This will write to every sector to map out bad blocks. (If you have an SSD do not write a pass of zeros.)
If you do need to replace it I recommend an new inexpensive (~$100) and super-fast hybrid SSHD drive that has an 8 GB SSD cache that makes the data fly. Google “Seagate 1 TB hybrid SSHD”.

Trying to start macbook air, getting a flashing folder with question mark. Cannot restart from USB recovery stick. HELP!

Had to perform disc repair a couple of weeks ago and reinstall to defaults. At that time had spinning wheel when trying to start. Now have flashing folder icon with question mark, and cannot enter utilities or start from recovery USB. Totally stumped at this point.

You have not mentioned whether or not you are following procedure to switch to a different boot disk. Try holding down the option key while booting, and then all possible bootable disks will display, and allow you to choose the USB drive.

Flashing folder with question mark on startup mac mavericks

Hi buddies, I've an old macbook (those with pretty die hard silver case).
last night when i just turned it on, after days a flashing folder with a ? mark on it appeared... and nothing..!
I read this A flashing question mark or globe appears when you start your Mac
but i wanna know if my datas on my hard disk would be safe or not... and what should I do keep them safe.
If I loose my files and data, you can name me dead!!!

Your data are safe if you have them separately backed up. Otherwise, there is no assurance they are safe. Given the nature of the problem it's too late to backup your data, so you will need to try reinstalling OS X and take your chances all will work out well. Hopefully, it will.
If you have Snow Leopard installed:
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.
If you have Lion or later installed:
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks without erasing 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
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 then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
     Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
                 if possible because it isthree times faster than wireless.

Macbook wont start up FlASHING FOLDER with question mark.

the other night my macbook froze.
then i tried to restart it all it did was give me a grey screen
with a flashing folder with a question mark inside it..
it also made a clicking noise.. for what ive read its a
hard drive problem????? does this mean ive lost all my
information? cause thats pretty messed up that my computer
just lost all its info.. randomly... i tried to put the mac osx cd..
but nothing happens except it tries to reinstall itself..
what should i do?

Booting up from the cd allows you to use disk utility in the top menu to check your mac though. Pretty handy.
Sometimes giving it a good check does the trick.
Or booting up from the hardware test cd (think Tiger has it on the same cd as install cd and hold down d) Then you can really determine whats broken.

Macbook won't start up, white/grey screen appears folder and question mark.

My macbook was freezing up, so i pressed the power button to shut it down and it won't restart. It just goes to the blank white/grey screen and a picture of a folder with a question mark on it shows up. What should I do?

I am going to try and explain this.
When you purchase a Mac, that machine comes with a license to run the current Mac OS at the time of purchase. The license resides with the computer, not with the installation media. Therefore, if I purchased 3 iMacs, at the exact same time, and they were the same model, I could use the install media from one on any of the other machines (and don't tell me it won't work, because I have done it before). This does not violate the EULA. Do you really think that a company that purchases hundreds or even thousands of computers would keep the install media for each one? The media is not tied to the computer; it's the license for OS X that is bound to the computer. Consider when you purchase a family pack of Mac OS X, you don't get 5 discs, you get 5 licenses, and one disc.
What the EULA is stating, is that you cannot have one license running or installed on two computers. It does not say that you cannot use the same install media on different computers (assuming you have the proper number of licenses). You are also wrong in saying that you can uninstall Mac OS X from one Mac, and then use its restore discs on another computer legally. That is only legal for "Retail" copies of OS X. I believe the restore discs are the equivalent to an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer in the PC world of computing) version of OS X. I am almost positive they are non transferable.

IMac won't boot and has flashing folder with question mark on gray screen

I just bought a new iMac. I have been trying all week (with no success) to transfer files and apps from my previous iMac. The last time I tried to transfer, I used target mode on the old computer. It looked as if it was finally working, so I left with 2+ hours remaining on the transfer. When I returned, the computer was frozen and nothing would work. So I held the power button to turn it off. When I tried to turn it back on, there was only a gray screen with a flashing folder with a question mark. I feel like I have tried everything listed in other discussions. The only thing I am not able to try is to reinstall Lion because the new computer did NOT come with an OSX disc of any type. Any suggestions?

Go to > OS X Lion: About Lion Recovery

Flashing folder with question mark on the inside at start up

My macbook only has a flashing folder with a question mark in it and it clicks.

Flashing questions mark indicates Nac can find a valid system to boot from.
Clicking usually indicates a dead or dying hard drive.
Do you have backup?
Probably is time to take it to Apple Store to have them repair it for you.
Allan

My mac book air can't start installation, because i use windows installation in DOS to make partion, now no mac os on it. How to get back the mac os? i have a window based iso image from a friend, because in my country there is no Apple service.

my mac book air can't start installation, because i use windows installation in DOS to make partion, now no mac os on it. How to get back the mac os? i have a window based iso image from a friend, because in my country there is no Apple service.

It sounds like you destroyed your boot partition and the recovery partition. Depending on it's age, your MacBook Air might be able to do a net boot. Plug and ethernet connection into it and attempt to boot. If it has the right firmware, it will find a net boot configuration on the net and boot that. Then it will give you a Recovery Partition like display and allow you to reinstall the OS X version that came with it.... assuming that it was Lion or ML. If your computer came with Snow Leopard, then even the net boot won't work.
At that point you need a bootable USB Key, or an external DVD drive AND a Snow Leopard installation DVD.
An Apple Store, if there is one nearby, MAY be able to get you going again. However, whatever is on the SSD now will be toast too.

Hello, my mac book air won't update. Every time i try it goes onto the purple starry screen and stays that way for hours, so i just have to shut it down. I have deleted a lot on my laptop so there is enough space, please help?

Hello, my mac book air won't update. Every time i try it goes onto the purple starry screen and stays that way for hours, so i just have to shut it down. I have deleted a lot on my laptop so there is enough space, please help?

I believe that system has a hall sensor on it to detect when the lid is closed so it can put the system to sleep and/or disable the monitor so it can be used with an external monitor only. If the sensor is marginal or has a bad cable, it may intermittently cut the monitor on and off, and may likewise put the system to sleep. One way to check would be to plug in an external monitor and if the laptop's screen cuts off or doesn't show up, start using the trackpad and press on a non-typing key like the shift key. If the external display suddenly pops and becomes active while the laptop display remains black, it's probably a problem with the sensor or the cable/connection. You might be able to fool the sensor into kicking on and off by moving a magnet over it. It's located on the left had side of the base with the unit opened up, and right over the audio output plug.
I know of some people that put a small magnet right over the hall sensor's location so the laptop display turns off and they use the system with an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. If fooling with magnets, make sure they're small and don't get them close to the hard drive because a strong magnet can wipe them out.
I don't know if this will help you much, but it might.

Mac book air trys to start up then shuts off

mac book air trys to start up then shuts off

Hello iphonesouth
Start with the articles below for issues with not being able to log into your user. It will have you look at starting up in Safe Mode, resetting your NVRAM and other troubleshooting options.
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
OS X: Gray progress bar appears under Apple logo during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3148
Regards,
-Norm G.

My Mac book pro won't start! It boots as far as the sign in screen and then everything goes black. Please help.

My Mac book pro won't start! It boots as far as the sign in screen and then everything goes black. Please help.

Which model MacBook Pro do you have (e.g., “15-inch Late 2011”) and which version of OS X are you running?
Clinton

HT204350 Hey, migration from an old mac late 2008 aluminium to a brand new mac book air. Only the new one has firewire. Transmissiom via wifi estimates ~50h. Is there a faster Way to sync? Tanks in advance

Hey, migration from an old mac late 2008 aluminium to a brand new mac book air. Only the new one has firewire. Transmissiom via wifi estimates ~50h. Is there a faster Way to sync? Tanks in advance

I'll venture that your problem here is that you're using two very different versions of Mac OS X. The USB adapter has been useful to me when making big downloads or while using other networks, but it might not be your case.
Here's what I would advise, though it may be less than stellar: Copy the files you need into folders and move them through a USB flash drive or using that external hard drive of yours. (Could the format be the reason your MBA can't see it?). Some stuff like calendars and contacts can be exported too. At least in Lion, I haven't used Tiger in a while.
Good luck.

Mac book air won't start up it has a flashing folder with questions mark. How do I fix it?

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