My Macbook A1181 won't startup. After turn on I get white screen with a folder sign with question mark in the center.

My Macbook won't startup. After turn on, I get a white background screen with a folder icon (question mark inside) in the center. this icon even blinks
The battery is charging.

It sounds like your hard drive is bad. If you can see it in Disk Utility you may still be able to get your files off of it. If you have one of the MacBooks with the removable battery it's very easy to put in a new hard drive.
Here's instructions on replacing your hard drive http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=45088
To buy a hard drive try Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=380&name=Laptop-Hard-Dr ives
Here's a cheap SATA external hard drive case on eBay http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-5-SATA-HDD-HARD-DRIVE-EXTERNAL-ENCLOSURE-CASE-BOX-/120 636286623?pt=PCC_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item1c167ba69f
Put your old hard drive in an external case and after you've formatted your new hard drive and installed your operating system on it plug in your old hard drive and see if it is recognized by the new system. If so then transfer whatever files you want to the new hard drive

Similar Messages

My MacBook has a grey screen with a folder and a question mark in the middle what does this mean?

My MacBook has a grey screen with a folder and a question mark in the middle what does this mean?

It means a valid system cannot be found. You need to reinstall OS X.
If you have Snow Leopard:
Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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. 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 installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
If you have Lion or later:
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 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 is three times faster than wireless.

IPhone 3G After turned on i get white screen

When I turn on my iPhone I get a white screen. The apple shows but when the lock screen should show that's when I get a white screen. I have tried the home power holding thing does not work. Please help

Reset the device:
Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button together for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.
If that doesn't help, restore the iPhone > iTunes: Restoring iOS software

My MacBook won't boot past the grey screen showing a folder sign with question mark, My MacBook won't boot past the grey screen showing a folder sign with question mark, My MacBook won't boot past the grey screen showing a folder sign with question mark

Hi, I need some serious help immediately. I have been using an external hard disc to watch movies and stuff on my MacBook. However last night I removed the external hard disc accidentally without closing the programs that were still using the data from the hard disk and hence the complete MacBook got hanged and nothing responded. I tried using command Q to shut down the program buy it didn't help either. So finally I gave up and shut down the MacBook manually by pressing the power on/off button.
However when I tried restarting my MacBook I faced a serious problem. The start up won't boot beyond the grey screen showing a folder sign with a question mark sign in it .. I just don't know what to do. Somebody please help me and guide me through this problem
Awaiting quick response
Gratitude in advance
Regards
AJ

If you try booting your Mac holding down the Option key, you should see the icon for Macintosh HD. Try selecting that to boot. If you can get in that way, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk and select your Mac HD, then click Restart.
If you can't see the Mac HD, the volume may indeed need repair as Niel said.

MacBook Air will not reboot. A file folder with a question mark in the center of it appears. What is the problem?

MacBook Air will not power on or reboot. A file folder with a question mark in the center of it appears. What is the problem?

Go step by step and test.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1440
Startup Manager to select Startup disk.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1310
Repair Disk
Steps 2 through 8
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
Reset PRAM.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405
Reinstall OS X
If this does not help, contact Apple.
Best.

Apple Macbook 13.3" Laptop-Black 2008 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo will not boot up and instead I get a grey screen with a folder and a question mark over it.

My Apple Macbook 13.3" Laptop-Black 2008 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo will not boot up and instead I get a grey screen with a folder and a question mark over it. I've tried Option key, and Control S keys and it still will not boop up. Can anyone help?

If you are running Snow Leopard:
Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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. 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 installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
If you are running Lion or later:
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 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.

What does it mean when you computer crashes and when you turn it back on it shows you a blank blue screen with a little folder and a question mark in the middle?

What does it mean when you computer crashes and when you turn it back on it shows you a blank blue screen with a little folder and a question mark in the middle? It's a old imac from 1997.

I don't have original discs that it came with.
Then you still can use the second option with the keyboard combo I posted, called "resetting the PRAM."
Also when you way hold the c key down do you mean turn computer off and turn back on holding the c key?
Yes, or you can simply restart. As you don't have the CDs, this isn't on the plate any more.
The internal backup battery is not expensive and, in most iMacs is user-replacable. If yours has a tray-loading optical drive like this one:
it takes a major teardown to replace the internal battery. If this is the case, you'd be better off to leave the computer plugged in all the time; that eliminates the main reason for having a working battery.
If it has a slot-loading optical drive like this one:
things are much easier. The battery is visible through the RAM access door on the bottom of the computer case. The manual:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iMacG3_2000UserManual.PDF
has sketches of how to access the RAM and therefore the backup battery. Unfortunately, the pdf on the manual goes up sideways on-screen and the RAM instructions are pretty deep into the manual. It's probably easier to scroll (for a while) to the section on adding RAM and print the applicable pages.
When you work on the battery, some sort of non-conductive pliers or large tweezer or forceps help unless you have tiny fingers. Make sure to note the polarity of the old battery and install the new one in the same orientation.
The battery itself is readily available. If price is no oblect, you can get it for a small rasom from Radio Shack Store ("Tandy" outside the US) as part number 23-026.
Online, they are dirt-cheap even after adding shipping. I buy backup batteries form this outfit:
3.6v Newer Technology Lithium 1/2 AA PRAM Computer Clock Battery

HT4650 My computer turns to a white screen. In the center it blinks a suitcase with a question mark in the center. I can not access my desktop. Is this a malware virus?

My computer turns to a white screen. In the center it blinks a suitcase with a question mark in the center. I can not access my desktop. Is this a malware virus?

Hi, likely neither.
What shows for boot choices if you hold alt or option key on startup?
Bootup holding CMD+r, or the Option/alt key to boot from the Restore partition & use Disk Utility from there to Repair the Disk, then Repair Permissions.

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/

I messed up badly by trying to restore my brand new macbook pro by doing restart then command R and choose disc utility repair now when I start ,all I get is the white screen with a folder and a question mark,What can I do???help please

I messed up badly by trying to restore my brand new macbook pro by doing restart then command R and choose disc utility repair now when I start ,all I get is the white screen with a folder and a question mark,What can I do???help please

Can you still boot to the Recovery partition using Command and R whilst booting? Or did you wipe the Recovery partition as well?
If your Recovery partition is still intact, you can simply boot to it and reinstall the OS via the Internet. If you wiped the Recovery partition, you can hold down Command, option and R keys whilst booting and boot into true Internet Recovery mode. You'll be able to reformat the hard drive, erasing all partitions (format it as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" with a dingle GUID partition) and then reinstall the OS that shipped with your machine.
Note that you should use a physical Ethernet connection when restoring over the Internet - it's three times slower if you use wifi.
Try your Recovery partition first and if that doesn't work, use Internet Recovery.
Clinton

Macbook Air - White/Grey Screen with a folder and a question mark

Out of the blue , my macbook air stopped starting up and strted to show me a white/grey screen with nothing but a folder and a question mark . After searching on the internet for solutions and trying to reset my PRAM setting , it still wouldn't boot up . I opened up disk utility and going through internet recovery , I ran the first aid verification on my MAC OS X Base System and it said that it found no problems . I can't restore or erase by the way and i really wouldn't erase my files as I have very important files on my mac . Moving on , I tried to reinstall OS X , but apperently it needs a disk to install OS x on and since none appear , I tried using an USB . After creating a partition and erasing everything on my USB , not happy about that , it wasn't big enough for the OS . So now I am basically stuck in the mac white screen Limbo .
Any sort of help would be fantastic and please do keep in mind that this is a macbook air and I do not have a place to put DVDs into . All I have read on different forum pages didn't help so i decided that it would be a good idea to create my very own thread . I am not very sure about the Mountain Lion version ,but I am not very sure that it matters .

Out of the blue , my macbook air stopped starting up and strted to show me a white/grey screen with nothing but a folder and a question mark . After searching on the internet for solutions and trying to reset my PRAM setting , it still wouldn't boot up . I opened up disk utility and going through internet recovery , I ran the first aid verification on my MAC OS X Base System and it said that it found no problems . I can't restore or erase by the way and i really wouldn't erase my files as I have very important files on my mac . Moving on , I tried to reinstall OS X , but apperently it needs a disk to install OS x on and since none appear , I tried using an USB . After creating a partition and erasing everything on my USB , not happy about that , it wasn't big enough for the OS . So now I am basically stuck in the mac white screen Limbo .
Any sort of help would be fantastic and please do keep in mind that this is a macbook air and I do not have a place to put DVDs into . All I have read on different forum pages didn't help so i decided that it would be a good idea to create my very own thread . I am not very sure about the Mountain Lion version ,but I am not very sure that it matters .

My G4 AGP won't startup after turning on firewire target disk mode

Can any one help me on this? I have a G4 AGP Graphics Mac running 10.4.11.
I turned on firewire target disk mode in the startup utilities to transfer files to my G5. The G4 started up in Firewire just fine and I could open it up as a drive on my G5, but the problem now is that the G4 won't startup in anything but firewire mode.
So my question is: How do you shut off the firewire target disk mode? I have tried all the keyboard commands at startup and inserted the Tiger install disk and holding the C key, but nothing will let me get me passed the Firewire Icon at startup.
Any help would be appeciated, Thanks.

Hi Steve, and a warm welcome to the forums!
More things to try...
Does it boot into Open Firmware with CMDOption+of ?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=42642
reset-nvram (press Enter)
set-defaults (press Enter)
reset-all (press Enter)
Have you done a PRAM reset...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
Tried resetting the PMU?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

Macbook Pro won't startup after installing of 10.8.4

I just installed the 10.8.4 combo update package anf my Macbok Pro won't restart. After downloading the updates, the computer restarted itself, finished installing the updates, restarted itsalf again, anf when it gets to the gray screen with the Apple logo and the rotation icon underneath the logo, it just hangs. It goes no further than that. I let it run for about an hour before I tried to restart it manually, but I could never get it past that final screen. How do I fix it?

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Step 3
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is damaged and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to step 5.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 4
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 5
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 6
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 7
Repeat step 6, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a backup.
Step 8
A dead logic-board battery in a Mac Pro can cause a gray screen at boot. Typically the boot failure will be preceded by loss of the startup disk and system clock settings. See the user manual for replacement instructions.
Step 9
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested.

Macbook Pro won't startup after Update

I guess everyone has been having problems around here. But I really have no clue what to do. I did not even know there was un update until I restarted. After I did it now my macbook pro won't start up. It makes that chime noise at the beginning and then it shows the apple and the spinning thing below it and I left it for 2 hours and came back and nothing had changed.
It my computer broken? Did I do something wrong? Have I lost all my stuff? Please help!

Yeah, I have had the exact same problem. it happen last friday. Also, i'm not sure if this is related or not but right before the update the computer for no reason in the middle of doing stuff it would tell me to force shut down by holding down the power button. not sure what to do. If i ship it out it will be about a 2 weeks before i get it back and if I take it in, they can't put it on the bench for about 5 days. its very frustrating and apple needs to figure something out for service.

Macbook Pro won't startup after 10.9.1 update

Early 2013 Macbook Pro 13" retina running Mavericks.
Installed the 10.9.1 update and left it to do that and when I returned it had restarted in Bootcamp in Windows 8.1
Requested in Windows that it startup in OSX. On starting up OSX a message came up saying there was a problem starting.
It tries to startup a couple of times then a circle with a line though it comes up and it goes no further.
Tried booting into recovery mode to check permissions etc. in disc utility but that's not coming up either.
Any suggestions on what else to try?

Chose startup disk manually:
Hold the Command button during startup, then select your macintosh partition.
Reset the nvram:
Turn on your mac while holding Command-Option-P-R until the chime sounds for the second time.
Safe boot:
Boot while holding down the RIGHT shift button.
If you have a Time Machine, you can use that to restore.
Reinstall via recovery:
Hold down Command-R during boot, then hit reinstall in the menu.
Other than that, you'll have to go to a Genius Bar.
Hope this helps!

My Macbook A1181 won't startup. After turn on I get white screen with a folder sign with question mark in the center.

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