Macbook crashed : Flashing folder with question mark (noise on hard drive)

My macbook (intel core duo) just crashed a few days ago. This is what it's doing:
The screen displays a a flashing folder with a question mark. I did find an article in apple for that : http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58042
But the think is, it (macbook) turns off after a while. I did try to boot up with the installation CD, but it can't find my hard drive. So, I thought it must be a hard drive problem. And I could hear that the hard drive makes a noisy sound. So, before I run to bestbuy or futureshop to get a new hard drive, I wanna make sure that it's really the hard drive that went kaput!
I was trying to install the leopard. It just crashed when I went surfing, and editing on iMovie.

I have a MacBook 13" Core 2 Duo, 160GB HHD, 2GB memory. My hard drive appeared to "crash" a few days ago. Whenever I pressed the power button, I would eventually get a grey screen with a folder with a "?" in front of the folder icon. I decided to re-install OS X thinking this would resolve the issue. During the install process, I would eventually get to the point where I am asked which drive to install OS X. The computer didn't recognize the internal hard drive. I do have an external hard drive for backups and the computer did recognized this one (WD MyBook).
I have since bought a new internal hard drive (Seagate 200GB 7200RPM 2.5" Mobile with Shock guard), installed it and went through the process of re-installing OS X. Again, the computer doesn't recognize the new internal hard drive. And again, the external hard drive is recognized.
For the time being I've installed OS X in the external hard drive. But now I have a new internal hard drive but is useless since the computer will not recognize it.
Anyone installed a new internal hard drive and experience the same thing as I have? Anyone with possible solutions or any advice you can offer?
Thanks.

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Re: Blinking Folder with Question Mark after Erasing Hard Drive to try to restore to Factory Settings
Level 1(0 points)sdc3gJul 5, 2013 6:24 PM Re: Blinking Folder with Question Mark after Erasing Hard Drive to try to restore to Factory Settings
Re: Blinking Folder with Question Mark after Erasing Hard Drive to try to restore to Factory Settings
in response to Niel
Thanks for the reply, held command+R again and it is trying to pick up WiFi, but it's not picking up my network and won't accept the password even when I try to put it in manually. Any thoughts on that?
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On the apple support page it says that Supported network configurations and protocols includs both WPA/WPA2, not matter what they are, but it might not be true.

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Have you tired holding down the Alt/Option-key at startup to get the Boot Selection Screen ?
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Hi corimazz and welcome to Apple Discussions!
It is possible that your hard drive has kicked the bucket, but the folder with the question mark just shows that the computer cannot find a valid system when it starts up. There are a number of possible reasons for this.
Do you have the 10.4 install disk? If so, insert it into the optical disk drive, restart the computer and hold down the C key during startup. Once the computer is booted to the install DVD, select your primary language, then look for the utilities menu and from it select "Disk Utility".
In the Disk Utility, you should see a list of available disks, which we hope will include your hard drive. If the hard drive does not appear in the list, it is dead. If it does show up, select it and click the "Repair Disk" button to see if the problem is being caused by directory damage that can be repaired.
If the drive is truly dead, you are going to have to decide how much the data from the last three months is worth to you. There are companies that have quite good records of recovering data from even very badly damaged hard drives (sunk in rivers, burned in fires, etc) but they are not cheap.
In the USA some data recovery options include:
DriveSavers.com - 800-440-1904
www.ontrack.com - 800-872-2599
www.lazarus.com - 800-341-3282
Once you have the drive out (it's a simple process to remove) it can be replaced with a new one.
I hate to say it, but keeping backups of important files is vital to safe computing. Both the Leopard and Snow Leopard operating systems make this a much easier process using the "Time Machine" application.
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Install Snow Leopard from the original discs that came with the computer. You cannot use a retail Snow Leopard DVD with that model. Update to 10.6.8. You can then redownload Lion or Mountain Lion freely if you have purchased them already.
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To contact product and tech support: Apple - Support - Contact Apple Support.
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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.
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Flashing folder with question mark at Startup

Here is what I know so far.
- The computer was powered off by pushing the power button without shutting down.
- The computer was then restarted and it was coming into the white screen with the Apple logo in the middle, but i noticed that it was skewed slightly (like someone took a 4:3 ratio screen and stretched it to a 16:9) and then it would show a circle slash icon and then the flashing folder with a question mark on it.
- It would not come up in single user mode (Command + S) and it said that there was an error loading kernel 'mach_kernel'
- It would not come up in safe mode (Shift)(The flashing folder came up again)
- I reset the PRAM (Command + Option + p + r) and it seemed to fix the problem with the stretched screen but did not help the boot situation (still got flashing folder)
- I did the start up where you can select the hard drive to boot with, it owed the HD and i selected it, but then i got the flashing folder with question mark.
- It would not come up in Verbose Mode (Command V) Error loading Kernel again.
- I bought a FireWire cable and hooked it to another MacBook Pro, and booted the faulty Mac into Target Disk Mode, the FireWire logo came up on the screen and bounced around like all forums said that it would, but the drive would not show up on my host. I checked the System Profiler on the host and it did acknowledge the Target Disk Mode was there, but the drive of the target would not show up on the host. I restarted the host, nothing. I checked all of the connections, nothing. I replugged all of the connections, nothing. I even reversed the FireWire cable, nothing.
- I have DiskWarrior 4 if i can get the drive to show up in TDM, but nothing so far.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for your help guys. I managed to get the computer started by holding down C at the Start Up with the Install Disc 1 in the computer. The disc was really kindof unnecessary, as the newest version of Mac OS X (10.4.10) became available via the hard drive.
I then found out that the battery was not installed, so I reset the management system by removing the A/C power, the battery and pushing the power button for 5 seconds, and then reconnecting everything. It did not help, the battery is bad i guess, so I am going to call AppleCare and get a new battery.
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I've not seen any other posts about it causing problems, worked fine here. You've tried resetting the PRAM the only other thing you could try is:
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When that stops and you see a root#: prompt enter
fsck -fy
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Flashing folder with question mark on screen

flashing folder with question mark on screen

This is the first time I have joined the support forum for MacBook - I tried the after Power Off - then while you turn it back on again your hold the "Command + R" - This has worked for some people - this was obtained on YouTube - see www.youtube.com/watch?v=flv2ebQMMtE. This however, did not work for me. I remember having a problem with my PC a few years ago - when I experienced something like this on it. I fixed it by taking out the battery. I was going to check the cable between the hard drive and the motherboard to make sure it was secure. I removed the Battery on my MacBook - blew it off, and put it back in again and surprisingly it booted up normally. Thanked the Lord for the quick fix. Back to Normal.

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”.

Flashing folder with question mark comes up at startup?

it was working fine 3 days ago i try start it up and a Flashing folder with question mark.
It has mountain lion i try to boot to recovery Part but when i hold the Option key nonthing show up.
If some can tell me what else i can.

restart holding command R if it can not find a Recovery partition it will do a Internet Recovery.
Run diskUtility "repair disk" from the recovery.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

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

Flashing folder with question mark only on sartup.

Flashing folder with question mark only on sartup. Won't recognise ANY startup key commands (tried different keyboards) and won't recognise OSX startup disk. Any ideas??

The first thing I'd do is look at the silver side of the SL installation disc and check for finger prints or scratches and gently clean the disc with a lint free cloth. Also, instead of formatting the hard drive it would be worth deleting the partition(s) and repartitioning.

Flashing folder with question mark (MacMini)

Hi there,
I diagnose my Mac Mini (1.83Ghz, Intel Mac) and know that the HDD is failing, so I decide to change the HDD before the HDD totally fail.
But after I change the new HDD, and trying to install the OS back to the new HDD, I get a flashing folder icon with question mark in it, when I boot it up and press on the C key to boot from CD. So I decide to take the new HDD back out, put in an external enclosure to make sure that the new HDD is not a bad one, and I can read fine with it inside the enclosure, put it back in the Mac Mini, still the same old flashing icon.
What happen? Could someone help me please?
Thanks!

Hi Everyone,
Just for future reference for anyone who encounter this same problem, the reason that I go the flashing folder with question mark is first of all, the MacMini doesn't recognize the new hard drive. No doubt about that since the hard drive has no OS and not formatted yet. Second of all, it's because I don't have the correct Installer CD put in. I didn't know if there's any difference in the Installer CD between PowerPC MacMini and Intel MacMini, but obviously there is, since the Intel MacMini doesn't recognize the PowerPC Installer CD.
After putting the correct Installer CD in, everything works just the way it should.
Thanks for all your help, everyone!
- NyCCD

Hard drive crash? Folder with question mark

Hi everyone! I had problems with my macbook pro (early 2013). Last week, it slowed down suddenly and the laptop heats up during sleep. Then the hard drive recently crashed, at least I thought it crashed after it showed the folder with question mark during startup and did not show my old hard disk drive. Now I bought a 1TB WD mainstream hard drive disk, unfortunately it does not detect it in the internet recovery (disk utility). Now my question is, Do I have to do something with the hard drive first for my laptop to detect it? Like formatting it? The box said that it is compatible with mac OSx Lion, but my internet recovery lets me install Mountain Lion only. Is that the problem? or is the problem internal like the cable that connects the hard drive to the logic board?

That depends on the type of drive you have. If it is a standard external drive (in an enclosure) you can connect the drive with a USB cable.
If it is a bare drive like this:
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Macbook crashed : Flashing folder with question mark (noise on hard drive)

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