MacBook fails to start, shows folder with question mark or crossed-circle

My MacBook is only a few months old. It has recently refused to start. The battery is charged, and the power cord is attached. When turned on, it displays the gray screen as well as the apple logo, but not the loading circle. After a minute or two, it switches to either a crossed-circle (such as a no-smoking sign) or a folder with a question mark over it. It seems to cycle through those screens randomly. Has anyone come across this problem before? Any ideas?

It's not recognizing the hard drive. Boot from your system install DVD, run Disk First Aid from your Disk Utility and repair your permissions.
-Bmer
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MacBook won't start, shows folder with question mark. Hard drive fried?

Last night, my MacBook was loading the contents of a message board in Firefox. Someone had apparently uploaded 20 mb photos, or something, because my Mac practically froze trying to render the webpage. I left my Mac running for perhaps 45 minutes. When I came back, I noticed the fans were whirring very loudly, and that the bottom of the MacBook (I'm guessing where the hard drive is located) was very hot. When Force Quit didn't work, I decided to manually shut down the computer by pushing the power button. When I turned it back on the computer made high pitch screching sounds (perhaps from the hard drive) and the computer wouldn't start up, only showing a folder with a question mark?
Is my MacBook fried? I have five years' worth of very important pictures, not to mention all of my other files, stored there and nowhere else. Do you think I can get the files back?

If you see a flashing question mark when you start your Mac, it's probably because it can't find the system software it needs to start up. Usually, all you have to do to get your Mac back up and running is remind it where its software is.
See if this helps: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1440
Also, please backup your data regardless so if you can't retrieve it from the internal hard drive, you don't lose years of info

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
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     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
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         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
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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.

My MacBook pro stop working and it shows folder with question mark after this update, it's not my fault, Apple should solve the problem with out ask me to make payment

After updating my MacBook pro it shows only a folder with question mark on it
It is not my fault, Apple updates problem
They should solve it fir me without make any payment
Thanks

Try starting your computer holding down the option key as soon as you hear the startup sound, and continue holding it. Hopefully, you will see the icon for your startup disk come up on your screen within a minute. Click on that icon and press return. If your machine starts up normally from there, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk and reselect your startup volume

Mac Shows Folder With Question Mark On Startup?

Hey Guys!
I currently own a Macbook Air First Genereation (2008) running on Lion 10.7.5 (upgraded from Snow Leopard)
Recently, when I was just using the Macbook Air, the Hard disk started spinning and was creating a lot of noise well I just ignored it and gave it a hard reboot
So the next day wehn I booted my mac it was showing a folder with question mark on startup. I tried going to recovery (holding option on startup) but neither Macintosh HD or Recovery HD was being shown. I tried a internet recovery but it was not even entering Internet Recovery. I tried Single User mode, that didn't work.
I really don't know what to do now, I am panicking cause I don't have a backup and all my schoolwork is inside there.
Please reply soon and thanks in advance if you can help me
A youtube tutorial or online step by step tutorial would be great!

My tutorial is simple: pack up the MBA and charger and head for the nearest Apple store or Apple reseller. The error you see can mean three things: (1) your drive's system files are damaged, (2) your drive's directory or partition are damaged, or (3) your drive is dead. The fact that you can't boot into the recovery mode pretty much eliminates #1. It is possible that your drive's partition table was damaged but were that the case I'd expect that Internet recovery would work. So I strongly suspect #3.

Boot up shows folder with question mark...

So my imac from 2006 (i think...20 inch plastic intel) booted up today to the blinking folder with a question mark on it. I rebooted into the osx disc to set the hdd as the startup disk, but it didn't show up in the list. Then I tried to see if I needed to repair the hdd using disk utility but the hdd wasn't showing up. So, do I have to replace the hdd? Not looking forward to it if I do.
Message was edited by: gescamil

Hi,
I have had similar issues, you will have to restart it and press and hold the eject disk on the keyboard right away and it will force it out.
Also to answer you question on way you are not seeing the Hard Drive and way you have the folder with question mark on the start up: is because your Hard Drive is dead.
You will need to buy another Hard Drive install it and then fresh install the OS X.
I have seen this issue too many times and every time is resulting with bad Hard Disk Drive...
Look at the bright side, Hard Drives are cheep now and you have iFix it to assist you on step by step installation. (this is unless you have Apple Care).

MacBook pro shows folder with question Mark

MacBook pro (pre-unibody) is just showing a White screen with folder and question Mark in it. Is it a hard drive failure? What should I do?

Hi Bobby,
It does sound like the HD. Try booting from the install disc, then see if your HD even shows up in Disk Utility. If it does, check S.M.A.R.T. status and try running Repair Disk.
First check the S.M.A.R.T. status on your HD: Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility>in the panel at left, select the first item in the list/your HD mechanism>look at the bottom of the main window next to S.M.A.R.T. status and see if it says “Verified” or something more ominous like “Failing.”
If S.M.A.R.T. status is "Verified," run Repair Disk: Boot from install disc (insert disc>restart>immediately hold down c key and keep holding it until you see “Preparing Installation”)>at first screen select the language and click Continue> click on the Utilities Menu in the menu bar>open Disk Utility>select your HD in the panel on the left side>click Repair Disk at bottom of main window. Run this at least twice, and keep running it until it says “appears ok” twice in a row. If that doesn’t happen, you may need a stronger utility such as DiskWarrior or if the directory is damaged beyond repair, you may need to reinstall the OS, or you may have a damaged HD (repair utilities can only repair the directory structure, not the HD itself). When this is finished, quit Disk Utility, quit the installer, and restart. Once booted normally, go to Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility and run Repair Permissions.
Message was edited by: tjk

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.

MacBook Pro won't startup - Folder with question mark appears

I have tried multiple times to startup my macbook pro (I am not sure if I have lion or not) and it will only come to a white screen. Sometimes an icon appears that is a folder with a question mark in the middle. I have an external hard drive, but everything is not backed up.
What is going on and what are some steps I can take to remedy this problem.
I have tried Command + R as well as Shift while starting up.

A flashing question mark or globe appears when you start your Mac

Macbook freezes at boot up ~ just shows folder with question mark :(

Hi all ~
We purchased a second hand Macbook. Unfortunately, that means no install disks. I'm hoping someone can help me with the following issue.
The laptop freezes during boot up and won't turn on. A white screen comes up. It has a grey folder with a question mark. Tried rebooting several times with no luck. I found the reset instructions (Press the control key, the command key, and the power button simultaneously and hold for three seconds to try to restart the computer). When we tried that, the computer makes a loud beep, then freezes again on the white screen.
Any ideas? I don't know what to do at this point! Would buying upgrade disks help at all?
Thanks!
XO ~
Kandye

Hi Kandye,
the seller should have provided the OSX installation disc together with the MacBook.
Since these are machine-specific discs there isn't much he can do with them without the MacBook.
Can you ask him if yhe simply forgot to send them ?
Anyway, the question mark indicates that the MacBook can not find an OSX on the internal harddisk to boot from.
Whether the harddisk is just completely empty or this is a hardware problem is difficult to diagnose without the OSX discs.
It is possible to go out and buy yourself some OSX installation discs for either Leopard or Snow Leopard, but if not upgraded the standard size of RAM memory (512KB) is too small for either off them.
OSX Tiger discs for an Intel-based MAc are nowhere to be found except Apple themselves (if they still have some...).
regards
Stefan

Ipod showed folder with question mark inside

Hello,
my ipod has lately shown a folder with a question mark inside of it when it was started (immediately after the apple symbol).
Now it shows me, after the apple symbol disappears, a line (from one end of the screen to the other).
I have an ipod which was introduced in 2003. It has 4 buttons below the screen and below that a wheel. It´s a 20GB.
I would really appreciate it, if some could help me out and give me some advice.

Hi Mariondsummer,
Have you checked the suggestions in these Knowledge Base articles?:
iPod displays a folder icon with an exclamation point
iPod displays a sad iPod icon
Also, this post by Mitch, another user here on Apple Discussions, might be worth checking out. It contains a lot of things to try if you get an exclamation point and folder (or a sad iPod icon) on your iPod's screen:
Mitch 751: Exclamation point and folder and nothing else
Any success?
-Kylene

Starting Up: Folder with Question Mark Icon

I do not know when this problem began whereas I do not restart my Mac that often. But the problem is that whenever I boot up my MacPro now I get this icon that is a folder with a question mark inside of it, and it keeps blinking.
The weird thing is, when I insert the OS X disc and book from the HD where OS X is located, it works just fine and dandy, however, using it without the disc just stays at that folder icon screen.
I have not done anything differently in the past few days to my computer to warrant this so I'm unsure of the problem.

Did you go back to system preferences startup disk control panel and reset it?
Might want to run Disk Warrior once a week as well as before and after doing a backup or restore.

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!

Startup – Question Mark
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Startup Issues - Resolve (3)

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.

I powered up my macbook and there is a file folder with question mark on the screen flashing. What does that mean?

Powered up Mac book and screen showing file folder with question mark flashing?

A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Hope that solves your issue.

MacBook fails to start, shows folder with question mark or crossed-circle

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