My iBook Shows blinking question mark

I know that this has been posted before, but this is a little different. I tried going to the Startup Manager by holding Option, but my hard disk vanished. I cannot see it in the startup manager. This has happened before, and I don't know what i did to fix it. Both times I left the lid up overnight because I was installing software. Please help me. Thank you in advance.

If the S.M.A.R.T. status says the hard drive is failing, then it is. You need to save as much of your data as possible to another location and have the hard drive replaced.
The iBook is considered end-of-life as far as Apple is concerned, but a few Apple Authorized Service Providers will still repair them. However, the repair is likely to cost more than buying a used MacBook, and the speed increase of a MacBook over an iBook is really astounding.

Similar Messages

My Macintosh Classic shows blinking question mark :(

My Mac stopped to boot It shows question mark during the start. I can boot only from MacOS 6.x sitting in ROM, by holding CMD+Option+O+X and then hard disk is normally visible. I checked that HDD - it spins correctly and I tried to boot from it on another Mac and it worked. Also, I tried to reset PRAM. Nothing helps. Any ideas?

The tests that you have done do seem to cover all possibilities. The machine will boot from ROM, with the hard disk visible, which ought to rule out at least the most obvious hardware faults. Also, the hard drive itself and the operating system appear to be OK. A PRAM reset does not change anything.
Do you have access to a bootable disk tools floppy with Disk First Aid and Apple HD SC Setup? If so, you could begin by checking whether the hard disk shows up in Disk First Aid (if yes, verify, and repair if needed). You may then want to run Apple HD SC Setup and update the hard disk drive driver.
It is of course thinkable that some kind of borderline situation exists, where an electronic component is about to fail. A close examination (with a magnifying glass) of the board(s) should reveal leaking/bulging/discoloured electrolytic capacitors et cetera. At the same time, it may be a good idea to check the voltage of the (3.6 V) battery. A warning: All work inside a compact Macintosh computer can be very dangerous because of high voltages in certain areas (even when the computer has been switched off and disconnected from the mains), and must be carried out by someone with the necessary expertise.
Jan

Use a G5 startup DVD on iBook G4? (Blinking question mark)

I recently tried installing Leopard on my iBook G4 (which currently runs Tiger 10.4.11); it was my brother's software disk and he already had it installed on his computer, so it wouldn't let me - I learned the hard way.
I attempted multiple times to boot and install from the install DVD, but it would usually freeze or crash, so I gave up the effort.
Now whenever I turn on my iBook, i briefly get the screen of a folder with a blinking question mark in it. Then after a few seconds, the Apple logo shows up and the computer boots normally. Everything seems fine, but that blinking question mark screen bothers me. I'd like to restore the system software, but I don't have the install discs.
I DO have the software restore discs for my iMac G5, which also runs Tiger (10.4.11). Can I use this to restore the software? Is it a "universal" version of OSX 10.4 suitable to run on a G4, or is specially tailored for the G5?
I bought the iBook used, so there were no install discs, which worries me. But if I can use the discs that came with my G5 to at least perform restore duties, that'd be good.

Check the setting in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
(53439)

Intermittent Blinking Question Mark at Start-Up

I've read a number of postings about the blinking question mark problem during start-up, but this one is different -- its intermittent. By that I mean that sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. Here is the chronology:
- Student comes home for Spring Break and requests me to connect her to our wireless network.
- I enter network name and PW. It gets connected, but the spinning rainbow wheel won't stop spinning. So eventually I re-start --> first time I've ever seen the blinking question mark. System won't start on multiple tries. Student says 'yeah, that's been happening for a while. Just wait a while and it will be OK.' I've never seen an intermittent problem like this.
- Took iBook to the Genius Bar at local Apple Store
- Genius gets it to start up on first try, amazing me. He didn't do any trick, just pushed the power button. But he did plug the AC adapter in as he was trying to boot it. (more on this later) How can this be??
- Genius does some kind of test on the Hard Drive and pronounces it OK. Says problem must be software-related.
- I mention that Student didn't bring home her 10.3.X Disk Utilities/Restore disk.
- I mention I've got 10.4 Family Pack, but haven't had time to load it on any of our Macs. Genius recommends doing Archive Install, then use 10.4 disk to run Disk Utilities to check Permissions etc.
- I load 10.4 and then run Disk Utilities. The start-up disk is already properly identified, no need to re-select the internal HD Sys X. But sure enough, some of the Permissions needed repair and were fixed. Problem seems solved, system runs fine for 3 days.
- Student goes back to college. Today she reports that the blinking question mark is back, but now she can't run Disk Utilities because I still have the 10.4 disk at home, and her 10.3 disk won't work anymore.
I should also mention: Student has been having short battery re-charge life. Checked the Apple Website and realized that her battery S/N is covered under the free replacement program. Today she received the new battery and installed it, and then when she re-started, that's when the blinking question mark showed up again. Could there be a connection between the power supply and the blinking question mark?
What to do? Any ideas welcomed. Student wants new computer, I say not so fast.....
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Assuming that you get the flashing question mark for extended periods of time (i.e. not just one or two flashes and then it boots), and repeatedly (i.e. it takes several power cycles to boot the system), I'd recommend a couple of steps:
1) Run the Disk Utility -> Repair Disk option while booted off CD. This will check and repair common disk problems that can cause this kind of issue
2) Reset the parameter RAM (PRAM) to reset the system settings (Command-Option-P-R as you power on)
3) When this happens, hold down the option key as you power up the system. this will offer a list of available boot drives. Check that your boot drive is available.
4) If all else fails, backup - soon, and be prepared to replace the hard drive. This might sound drastic but I'd had a number of laptops die through failed drives. This option is especially true if you're experiencing other unexplained problems such as hangs and crashes while running the machine.

Can not get past blinking question mark after restarting in os 9

I have a ibook g3 clamshell 576mb ram 366mhz 30gb hd. I added the hard drive and upgraded the memory and then forgot to update the firmware before I installed os x tiger. So I keep getting kernal panics because the firmware is not upgraded. Like a fool when I upgraded to tiger I erased os 9 to free up more space thinking I would never use os 9 ever again anyway. Well the only way you can upgrade the firmware is to have os 9 installed so I copied os 9 system folder and applications from another ibook and transformed them to my ibook hd. I then clicked on the os 9 on the start up disk and tried to boot into os 9 so I could do the firmware update. Well now it will not boot past the blinking question mark. I guess there must of been some missing files? How do i get past the blinking question mark? Do I have to go and buy a copy of os 9 to reinstall it back on the ibook? Please help I am stuck here.

Don't think anyone will like the answer but this is how I did it. You have to put a os x cd in restart holding c and then follow through with the install. I used os x 10.0.3 then you have to do the same with a os 9 install disc and initialize disk image and then do the os 9 install download your firmware update and then reinstall the mac os x you are going to use. And for anybody out there a ibook g3 with an old airport card can connect to wep all you have to do is add a $ before your password works everytime. Hope this helps somebody. My only problem is after a downloaded the firmware update thats a .smi file evrytime I try to open it it says no application could open it. I thought .smi were self mounting image files. I never have used os 9 much and have no idea how to open this file. Can anybody give me a walk through on how to select a application to open this file so I can mount and install this firmware update.

Blinking question mark folder, new hard drive

Okay so I've been having this problem for a couple weeks now. My computer was running a bit slowly when I was watching videos online, and it froze so I forced a shut down. It turned back on and it worked for a couple minutes, but then it froze again and when I attempted to reset it I got the scary blinking question mark. I went through all the options to fix it, but the computer could not find my hard drive. When I tried to repair disk no hard drive came up, and when I tried to re-install ios x it also could not find a hard drive. I confirmed that the hard drive had died so I purchased a new one, but now that a new one is installed I cannot re-install ios x because the computer won't read the disc. Under the utilities menu it shows that the disc is there, but it just won't re-install.
I checked on another computer and confirmed that the disc still works. I put it in my computer upon start up and got no response from the machine. Instead of getting the blinking question mark, the screen just stays gray.
My computer is a 2012 macbook pro. The disc I had to buy online because it did not come with my computer, and has OS version 10.5.2 on it.
Thanks

Hello,
A mid 2012 MBP should still be covered under AppleCare!?
Anyway, that MBP won't boot/use/run 10.5.anything, it came with...
Pre-Installed MacOS: X 10.7.3 (11D2515)
If you have an Apple Store nearby they can reinstall 10.7 or newer on it, 10.7 & up is only availble from a Download, not on Disc.

IMac wont boot Past Grey Screen, finder folder with blinking question mark

iMac G5 won't boot Past Grey Screen. The G5 froze and i restarted, It will not go past the grey screen and it has the finder folder with blinking question mark, also the fans kick on wide open. As it atempts to boot a sound plays "beepda beepda beepda beep" that starts quiet and gets louder and repeats a couple of times. I ran a hardware check on the startup disk and all hardware passed. I thought it might be the RAM any suggestions?
I have restarted using the troubleshooting methods in the guide.

Sorry for the late reply. The drive shows up when booting to disk, but it will not allow you to verify disk or repair. Also it will not allow you to select the hard drive to reinstall the software. Under disk utility Maxtor sabre shows up with total capacity:0 bytes.
I've taking the Mac to the Apple store to get looked at, and its probly the hard drive. Now Im trying to see if theres a way to recover the data myself. I've used software like "Data Rescue" the hard drive shows up "Maxtor Sabre" totally capacity: 0 bytes, and it will not recover anything.
Did this test just to see if it was power problem.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2173
Thats when noticed the beeps are coming from the hard drive. So its getting power.
Now just wondering how to recover data.
Any suggestions?

PowerBook G4 Folder With Blinking Question Mark & Finder Icon At Startup

Hi I'm a MacBook Pro user but I just dropped my friend's PowerBook G4. It froze afterwards so I held down the power button to restart it but then everytime it starts up, a folder with a blinking question mark and finder icon shows up.
I tried restarting with the ctrl + command + power button but it shows up with the folder everytime.
She didn't have her installation disc 1 but right now disk 2 is in the laptop and we can't get it out.
How can I resolve this? Thank you!

The folder with the blinkiung ? indicates that the Mac can't find a bootable OS. Try restarting holding down the track button to get the disk out of the drive.

Blinking question mark on startup - tried lots of things - advice?

Hi,
A friend called me yesterday about a two year old iMac. Got the blinking question mark on startup. So I went over, tried disc utility, but disc utility (off the iMac's install disc) could not even see the hard drive. So I tried TechTool Pro. Same result. TechTool from AppleCare disc, same result, DriveGenius, same result, start up in single user mode, same result, targeted disc mode connected to my MBP, same result, Data Recovery II, same result, connected a Mac via FireWire and started up from that and ran those same diagnostics, same result. None of those could even find - much less repair - the hard drive. It still shows a blinking question mark. It seems like all the hardware is working fine (motherboard, display, etc), except the hard drive. Any advice?
Thanks!
Russ Conte

The machine must be a G5, or it would be older than 2 years. And no AppleCare or it would be in the shop before this. The most likely cause is hard drive failure, as already stated. A fact of life is that all hard drives will fail or have failed.
You can deal with this, providing you can handle a screwdriver. Go to the support area of the Apple Website and click "Manuals" instead of discussions where you are reading this. In the block "search manuals" type "Imac Hard Drive". The next step is to select the instructions for correct machine, and download.
Cost of replacement drives depends upon capacity. One source is macsales.com.
A new drive will have to be formatted. Easy to do prior to installation by connecting to any Mac with a Universal Drive Adapter via a USB connection. That adapter is also available at macsales and other places.
Final step after installation is to install the OS hopefully from the original disks.
Good luck to you.

Blinking question mark folder - Please help to restore from USB

Hello,
I haven't been able to my Mac about 5 days now and I hope someone can help me.
I initially had Yosemite then using disk utility I erased the hard drive, after that I was going to install Yosemite again as a fresh copy and mac froze so I had to restart now its showing a blinking question mark folder. I was able to do an internet recovery but it was trying to install Lion.
I currently have a copy of Maverick and would like to install that. I am at this screen as show in the picture: I have selected the source as the Maverick file on
the USB and the destination as the HD; should I click restore and would that install the Maverick OS or is there another way?
Thanks
the

nazfaz wrote:
Is there a way to install Yosemite since I had downloaded it via my ID?
You have to reinstall OS X Lion, setup your account, log into the App Store with the Apple ID you used to download Yosemite and you should see it in your Purchases tab. Then you can download it and install it. What I would do is download it, quit the install and save the Install OS X Yosemite.app file out of your /Applications folder to another location so you can create a USB thumb drive installer. Then go back into /Applications and run the install app to upgrade from Lion.
Unless you have an OS X Yosemite USB thumb drive installer, you can't install Yosemite again until you do the above paragraph and upgrade.
If you have the Install OS X Yosemite.app on another Mac to create a USB thumb drive, create it and boot from it to install Yosemite.

Blinking question mark and folder on startup

Hi everyone,
I'm in need of some help. I turned on my mac today and got a gray screen with a little folder icon and a blinking question mark in the center. I'm on a G4 running OS X Tiger. I'm trying to boot using the startup disk but here's the problem, I have an external dvd drive connected by firewire, so the only way I can startup the Tiger dvd is from that external dvd drive. I put the dvd in (only my monitor, mouse, keyboard and the dvd drive are plugged in), restarted, pressed 'c' got the installer menu, went to disk utility but the only hardrive it shows is for my dvd drive (2.6GB LaCieGroup SA) and the icon of the dvd underneath, it does not show the macs hardrive.
I don't know what to do can someone please help are there any other options?
Thanks
Chris

Hi Chris99,
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
Regrets you're experiencing difficulty.
In the absence of any additional details about your scenario, here are my two cents.
The folder icon with blinking question mark implies that your Mac fails to recognize its internal hard drive as a bootable device.
Further, Disk Utility fails to recognize your Mac's internal hard drive.
One possiblity is that your internal hard drive's ribbon cable has come loose. You can test this by opening the G4's case and playing with the cable.
Another possibility is that the hard drive's ribbon cable is defective. You can test this by using another ribbon cable.
A third possibility is that the hard drive has stopped functioning properly. If you have another Mac, you can test this by connecting the G4 to the other Mac using a Firewire cable, then cold boot the other Mac, then cold boot the G4 while pressing the T key. If the G4's hard drive fails to display on the other Mac's desktop, this would support the third possibility. You also can test this by using a third-party hard drive repair utility (Tech Tool Pro; DiskWarrior; Drive Genius).
If you live near to an Apple Store or authorized Apple service shop, you could bring your G4 to a technician there and request a diagnosis.
Hope this helps.

My iMac has a blinking question mark folder on it and won't let me boot.

I have a late 2009 27 inch iMac whos hardrive failed a while back. A couple days ago i decided to pop in a new hard drive in it, the same brand, just different capacity. I wanted to put windows on it, and tried to boot it with pressing c on the keyboard at startup but encountered a few problems.
When i power on my imac the screen is just a blank white screen for about 20-30 seconds. During this time, any devices plugged into the USB ports do not work. My mouse is not lit up, and my keyboard will not react to pressing caps lock, num lock etc. After that 20-30 second period the folder with the blinking question mark on it pops up. I tried holding C, as well as windows key and C but nothing seems to make the mac recognize i want it to boot from other devices.
The hard drive i installed is empty (obviously) So i'm not sure if its an issue with the way I installed the hard drive (pretty sure i did it right) or another issue that may involve trying to put windows on it. Also worth noting is im using a normal USB mouse, and a normal USB keyboard, not mac devices. I'm willing to put OSX on this computer if its necessary to make it work, but right now all i can get on it is that white screen and then the blinking folder. Does anybody have any idea how to fix this?

Drive Partition and Format
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. 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.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, 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 Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
When formatting has completed quit Disk Utility and install OS X.

HT1553 I did the back up as instructed... Installed a larger hard drive and followed the restore instructions... Now I get a white screen with a folder icon and blinking question mark. When trying to set startup with new drive I get a bless tool error...

I did the back up as instructed... Installed a larger hard drive and followed the restore instructions... Now I get a white screen with a folder icon and blinking question mark. When trying to set startup with new drive I get a bless tool error... Help!!

If you have installed a new hard drive , you will need to have formatted it in Disk Utility correctly. This may explain your problem.
Boot into your 10.6 Install disk again at the top menubar > Utilities > select Disk utility and in there select your new hard drive, and select the tab Erase and choose to make the format as Mac OS Extended Journaled. When that is finished look in the main window to make sure that the partition map scheme says GUID Partition Table.
Now go to the Restore tab and reinstall from your backup.

I want to upgrade my Hard Drive to 1TB and more. What is the maximun Hard Drive I can install for a MacBook Pro 2009 Yesterday, I tried a SEAGATE SSHD but my screen was always a showing a QUESTION MARK (?). It's not the cable because when I put back

I want to upgrade my Hard Drive to 1TB and more.
What is the maximun Hard Drive I can install for a MacBook Pro 2009
Yesterday, I tried a SEAGATE SSHD but my screen was always a showing a QUESTION MARK (?). It's not the cable because when I put back the old original version, everything works...Any sugestion of brabnding or procédure to upgrade my hard drive?

The largest 2.5" dia SATA drives available are 2 TB in capacity.
Have you tried the Seagate SSHD connected externally to the MBP via USB? The drive itself may be faulty.
Ciao.
Here is a good place to start looking for a replacement drive:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/

PowerMac G5: Blinking question mark at startup

I have a 3 1/2 year old G5. When I boot it up, it goes straight to the blinking question mark. I've reset the PRAM, no change. I've tried booting off an installation disk. That gets me to the Apple logo, then the logo pixels go kinda funky and it freezes. I don't hear the hard drive at all during this process; it does not spin up. The CD/DVD drive is obviously spinning, but as I said, it won't boot off an installation disk (I tried three different disks).
I'm assuming the hard drive is bad, but I don't know. I've never had a problem with a Mac before! Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't think of a 3.5 year old Mac as being that old, but I'm a bit nervous about dropping a new hard drive in and wondering if I should just get a new system.
ETA: I have disconnected all peripherals and restarted, and that made no difference.
Message was edited by: Stacia Seaman

I'm having this same problem with a system I just replaced a logic board in. Won't boot off of HD or CD. The HD that is in it is a brand new drive from a different power-mac (the HD from the dead box was moved to the new powermac to get that user back online) so it should be ok, but regardless of that, it won't boot of CD/DVD either.
I guess I don't have anything useful to add. Just a "you're not alone with this problem". If I come across anything that helps, I'll let you know.

My iBook Shows blinking question mark

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