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

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Blinking folder with question mark! Recovery mode not recognising hard drive!

So today on my MacBook Pro 13" mid 2010, for some reason a CD that I inserted inside the DVD/CD drive didn't come out, and was stuck inside. So I looked up on how to force eject it out, and I saw someone wrote that you can force eject the CD by putting a paper clip inside the hole next to the CD/DVD drive. I did this, and it did not work. After I turned on my MacBook Pro and on the startup I found the blinking folder with question mark! I went through Internet recovery mode, and I found out that it did not recognise my hard drive!
-Do I have to replace my hard drive?
Please help! I'm fairly new with computers :(

Kazmunai wrote:
I saw someone wrote that you can force eject the CD by putting a paper clip inside the hole next to the CD/DVD drive. I did this, and it did not work.
That was for very old Mac's and PC's, it's been a long time since any modern Mac had that ability.
CD that I inserted inside the DVD/CD drive didn't come out, and was stuck inside.
Press and hold the power button down to force a hardware shutdown.
Hold the trackbutton down and the option/alt key at the same time, now boot the machine.
The disk should spit out and you should eventually see a row of icons appear on the screen, this is Startup Manager and you can pres the eject key here also to get the cd to spit out.
If you see MacintoshHD (or your OS X boot volume) click it and the arrow underneath and when you get into OS X, head to System Preferences > Startup Disk and set it again. Your problem should be resolved at this point.
If you don't see your OS X boot volume and it shows RecoveryHD only, or holding the option/alt goes to Internet Recovery, then your boot drive is dead or there is some sort of other issue/power /Mac related.
Try a #1 SMC Reset and a #2 PRAM reset and see if that fixes things.
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
If not, I then suspect because you couldn't eject the cd that something electrical bad happened to the Superdrive and as a result it also effected the power or something going to the boot hard drive.
The hard drive might still work just fine if it's removed from the machine and a SATA to USB adpater to another Mac.
My advice is to take the machine to Apple for a free hardware evaluation, then decide what you want to do from there.
My computer is not working, is my personal data lost?

Not solved with Blinking Folder with Question Mark after Erasing Hard Drive

Before asking, I found someone had asked exact the same question, but that was actually an unsolved thread.
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?
Me too had tried the command+R and failed to manually connect to my network. Can anyone help?

Well, it was solved. I shifted to other place and tried other WIFis. One of the WiFi had the 2002f problem and another was fine, so the reinstall worked smoothly eventually.
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.

Blinking folder with question mark, and disk utility doesnt recognise hard drive, please help!!!

So today i was using my macbook pro and for some reason my CD/DVD drive was causing noise when i put a DVD inside it, and for some reason it did not recognise my DVD. I force ejected it using the restart and clicking, but after that my computer showed a blinking folder and question mark during start up. I restarted my computer to Recovery HD, but instead it took me to internet Recovery HD (i have mountain lion), and so i went to disk utility to repair my disk, but in the left it did not recognise my hard drive. Please help! Im not that experienced in computing!

Sounds like some sort of power issue and now your drive is not working.
You'll have to take this to Apple for repair.
You should read this if you don't have recent backups of your data off the machine.
My computer is not working, is my personal data lost?

Blinking folder with question mark

Ok so I had this macbook air for couple of months now long story short I was outside US when my issue started. While using the computer either completely freezes or becomes almost inoperable and the only course of action is to force restart it by holding the power button. Once you start it back on you get a follder with a question mark. this happens once every few days. I first took it to apple store in France they said something is wrong but since it was purchased in US they cannot do anything about it. when I came back to US took it to apple store that is about 10+ restores after. The store people test it and determine everything works as it should. Couple of days later happened again took it in the same store as is with the folder with question mark. They did a fresh install and told me should work fine. but it didn't I took it to another store they order a hard drive for it came in few days later and was quickly replace that evening computer was running very slow and eventually the same thing happen got the same wiped hard drive just the next day. I called apple few times now they keep on talking about test and what not and it is software related but i have tried it without any of my files and no timemachine restore with the same result. So what should I do I paid almost $2000 for the macbook air and another 200+ for apple care. Who should I talk to to get my issue result? This is the first time I have issue with a mac but so far I have waisted 40+ hours dealing with this macbook. My mac is mid 2013 13" i7 8GB 512gb and its under apple care until october 2016

I have been in apple store 4 times already but I will not get a replacement. Today I got a call from Bob who is part of the executive corporate relations team. He told me, he is sure my issue is fixable and they can not replace my mint condition mac eventhough I have had that issue almost since day 1. He didn't even for a moment stopped and truly appologize that even after paying $2300+ out the door I have to go through all this BS I guess I am just another pain in the behind customer, who should man up and learn to deal with his files disappearing every other day and I should make the time to restore my macbook air every other day. Mr Bob also said they didn't have time to diagnose the computer and I demanded hard drive replacement. How does a customer demand technician to replace a specific part is beyond my comprehension. The only reason I asked apple to replace my macbook air is because I have a long trip coming up and at this point I have to walk in the store and buy a new notebook and leave this one at home. He also said there is no reason to complain to BBB because those complains are handled by their department and they will offer me nothing different.

Blinking folder with questions mark

A teacher just brought me a MacBook, and upon start-up there is a blinking folder with a questions mark. What does that mean, and how can I fix it?
I appreciate anyone's knowledge and help.

There are four general causes of this issue:
1. The computer's PRAM no longer contains a valid startup disk setting when there aren't any problems with the disk itself. This can be checked for by pressing the Option key and seeing if the drive appears.
2. The internal drive's directory structure has become damaged. This requires usage of an alternate bootable system to perform the repair.
3. Critical system files have been deleted. This requires usage of an alternate bootable system to reinstall them.
4. The internal drive has died or become unplugged. This is the most likely case if the computer took a sharp impact or there are unusual sounds coming from the hard drive's location.
(70455)

Blinking Folder with Question Mark after replacing Hard Drive

I have a 2010 Macbook Pro. It recently stopped starting up. I took it to the Genius Bar and the guy working there told me I needed to replace the hard drive. I did that. Now when I start the computer up I get a blinking folder with a question mark on it.
I've tried holding Option to get to the Start Up Manager and I've tried holding Command+R to get to Recovery and both give me no results.
I cannot find my original Installation Disc.
Can anyone give me advice on what I should do next? Do I need to get another copy of the Install DVD to continue?

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.
The first thing you must do is partition and format the drive before you can install OS X. To do that you will need an installer disc. You can purchase replacements from Apple:
Apple Store Customer Service at 1-800-676-2775 or visit online Help for more information.
To contact product and tech support: Apple - Support - Contact Apple Support.
You cannot use Internet Recovery unless you had Lion or Mountain Lion already installed. In that case see:
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.

Blinking folder with question mark and a new hard drive: also installing Mountain Lion and 0 with a line through it appears please help?

Okay so my harddrive failed in my 13" Macbook I used to have a WD scorpio black 250 gb for a while. I upgraded to a WD scorpio black 500 gb 7500 rpm hard drive. Okay so I installed the harddrive and ran my friends startup disc to learn that grey face discs are specific to that computer. The start up disc ran fine (minus the error stating it could not install OSX because its specific to another computer) and I looked in disc utility after installing the new harddrive and it said verified. I lost my startup disc and did not have another one. Using a friends mac I created a bootable USB drive with mountain lion on it, I plug it in and it comes up and when I choose to start up on the harddrive a 0 with a line going throguh it appears. If I do not start up with the USB or my friends startup disc then a blinking folder with a question mark appears. So my question is what could the problem be if a startup disc runs on a new WD harddrive and says under disc utility that its verified but the 0 with a line through it appears after I try to boot it with a flash drive containing mountain lion? WHats the issue here im completely lost now

Sounds like some sort of power issue and now your drive is not working.
You'll have to take this to Apple for repair.
You should read this if you don't have recent backups of your data off the machine.
My computer is not working, is my personal data lost?

Blinking folder with question mark what does it mean?

Okay so my harddrive failed in my 13" Macbook I used to have a WD scorpio black 250 gb for a while. I upgraded to a WD scorpio black 500 gb 7500 rpm hard drive. Okay so I installed the harddrive and ran my friends startup disc to learn that grey face discs are specific to that computer. The start up disc ran fine (minus the error stating it could not install OSX because its specific to another computer) and I looked in disc utility after installing the new harddrive and it said verified. I lost my startup disc and did not have another one. Using a friends mac I created a bootable USB drive with mountain lion on it, I plug it in and it comes up and when I choose to start up on the harddrive a 0 with a line going throguh it appears. If I do not start up with the USB or my friends startup disc then a blinking folder with a question mark appears. So my question is what could the problem be if a startup disc runs on a new WD harddrive and says under disc utility that its verified but the 0 with a line through it appears after I try to boot it with a flash drive containing mountain lion? WHats the issue here im completely lost now
MacBook

Use the instructions in this Apple article to help troubleshoot your issue.
Best of luck.

Mac doesn't boot from start volume - blinking folder with question mark

Hi,
my iMac with Snow Leopard 10.6.6 issn't booting anymore from the Hard Drive. It shows a blinking folder with a question mark. After starting, before the folder appears, I hear a two or three times "clack" sound with a following silent speed down of a fan.
So I started from the installation DVD. On the "Choose Startup Disk" Menu there appears only the DVD and network. In Terminal by using "df" i only see my external Hard Disk, the DVD, and some /private/var folders. By listing the "/Volumes" directory only the external disk and the DVD appear.
I tried to restore a Time Machine backup from the external disk. After choosing the backup in the dialog "Select for Destination" it says "Searching for disks" but it doesn't find any after waiting some minutes. It also shows "This disk does not have enough space to restore your system" but there issn't any disk selected.
For me it looks like the Hard Drive with my system is dead. Does anybody has another idea what I can try?

unfortunately I can't start the single user mode. It is always booting from the installation DVD. I tried mouse clicked at boot to eject it, but it doesn't work. Also I can't come to the Startup Volume menu by holding the option key. I always come to the installation menu. There I can't eject the disk from Disk Utility, because it is working on it. I also can't eject it using the eject key on the keyboard in the Startup Disk menu. From the Terminal I can't access my Hard Disk from /Volumes and therefore also can't access my user's home directory.

Macbook acting up on start-up: blinking folder with question mark?

Last night, I inserted a DVD into my macbook, and as I was adjusting the volume, it seemed to have frozen. I tried to quit the DVD player, and then tried to shut down with no success, so I held the power button to power off. Upon start-up, my computer made clicking sounds, then proceeded to a screen with a blinking folder with a question mark on it. Nothing happened, and the computer wouldn't start up. I shut down and started up multiple times with the same result. Eventually, I was tired and just shut it off to go to bed. In the morning, my computer started up as usual. Later in the day, the startup with the blinking folder with a question mark and and the clicking sounds returned. I turned my computer off and let it sit for a little bit, then started up again. The computer started up as normal. So while I'm thankful that my computer is still starting up, I would like to know what the folder means, and what I should do about it? I have been planning on getting a new computer at the end of this school year, in June, so I want to make this macbook last until then. Please help! Thank you!

Unfortunately, the clicking sound may be the "click of death." That is, the hard drive may be failing. Open up Disk Utility, which is located in Applications -> Utilities. Click on the hard drive on the left side. On the bottom of the screen you should see S.M.A.R.T. Status. Does that say verified or failing? Back up your data ASAP regardless.
Is the DVD still in the drive? If so, eject it and see if it persists.
As for what the blinking question mark, it means that no device with a system to startup from was detected.

Mac stuck at white screen later shows blinking folder with question mark

Today for some reason my mac froze and I had to manually start it back up. After I started it back up it was stuck at a white screen and later on a blinking folder with a question mark came up. I've tried using shortcut keys on startup but none of them are working. it just keeps on showing the white screen and later on the blinking folder with the question mark. Is it just a problem with the HDD that's supposed to read the HD? Or is my HD the problem and I lost all my data?
MacBook Pro
Late 2012 model
15 Inch

Reinstalling OS X 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.
Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive
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 and press the Continue button. After Disk Utility loads select the Macintosh HD entry from the the left side list. Click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If Disk Utility 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 Disk Utility and return to the main menu.
Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X 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.
Alternatively, see:
Reinstall OS X Without Erasing the Drive
Choose the version you have installed now:
OS X Yosemite- Reinstall OS X
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 is three times faster than wireless.

Blinking folder with question mark on reboot

Hi,
Recently my Macbook Air has started to display the blinking folder with a question mark whenever I reboot. If I turn it off and turn it on (cold boot) it boots fine. But if I ever choose to reboot, it hangs with the flashing folder and question mark. Again, turning it off and on again fixes this.
It is a Rev A with SSD. I reselected the startup disk in system preferences but the problem persists. It only happens during a reboot and not a power on. There are no USB/firewire devices attached.
Any ideas?

I should also add that it happens during every reboot, not just occasionally - most recently during the upgrade to OS X 10.6.8.

Blinking folder with question mark after doing update

I just upgraded a Mac from Leopard to Snow Leopard. Next, I downloaded and installed the most recent Snow Leopard updates to bring it to 10.6.8
After installing the update there was a period of time where nothing was onscreen and than a blinking folder with a question mark appeared.
I cut the power and rebooted and it seems to be working ok.
1. Is there some damage done to the installation? Should I reformat and start over? I just do not want it to cause a problem later on when I start doing work on it.
Thanks.

There is no System Folder in OS X. Here's what I would recommend doing now. Make sure that the normal startup volume is selected in Sys Prefs>Startup Disk. If it wasn't selected, this may be why you saw the blinking folder/question mark.
Download the 10.6.8 Combo update, boot to Safe Boot by holding the shift key down at the startup chime. Give it much longer to boot than a regular startup. A Safe Boot will, effectively, check and repair the Disk, if it is found necessary to repair it. Then install the 10.6.8 Combo, which may fill in any missing or corrupted files. Installing from Safe Boot, where most third party programs are disabled, reduces the chance of any incompatibiites with the update.
You may want to have a look at my recommendations for updating.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3139323?tstart=0

Blinking Folder with Question Mark+ No recovery disk

I've been using an original Mac Mini loaded with 10.5 for a long time, just keeping my music collection for the most part, Not too long ago, I restarted it after is froze up only to find that it now wasn't going to let me in, just give me the blinking folder with a question mark. I've done a lot of looking around and found that the obvious next step is to pop the recovery disk in and find a work around and get back in to sort things out. Unfortunately I seem to have left my disks back home in another state, so I have no access to said disk. What do I do? I don't know anyone who could have disks for OS 10.5 or anything that far back. What should I do? Can Apple help me, or do I have to hunt one down on ebay or something?
Please and Thanks for the help.

Make an appointment at the Genius Bar of an Apple store. They may be able to help. The appointment is free. The hard disk may have died.
Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar

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

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