My macbook boots up on the screen is a folder flashing with a ? sign.

my macbook book boots up on the screen is a folder flashing with a ? sign .

That folder with the question mark icon means that the MacBook can't find the boot directory. That can either mean it can't find the hard drive or the Operating System data on the hard drive is somehow corrupted.
Put your install DVD into the optical drive (CD/DVD drive) and reboot. Be sure to either use the disc that came with your Mac, or, if you installed a later Mac OS X version from disc, use the newer disc. As soon as you hear the boot chime, hold down the "c" key on your keyboard (or the Option Key until the Install Disk shows up) until the apple shows up. That will force your MacBook to boot from the install DVD in the optical drive.
Or if you are running 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mountain Lion, boot from the recovery partition (Command +R on boot) and use Disk Utility to repair your OS 10.7 or 10.8 partition.
When it does start up, you'll see a panel asking you to choose your language. Choose your language and press the Return key on your keyboard once. It will then present you with an Installation window. Completely ignore this window and click on Utilities in the top menu and scroll down to Disk Utility and click it. When it comes up is your Hard Drive in the list on the left?
If it is, then click on the Mac OS partition of your hard drive in the left hand list. Then select the First Aid Tab and run Repair Disk. The Repair Disk button won't be available until you've clicked on the Mac OS partition on your hard drive. If that repairs any problems run it again until the green OK appears and then run Repair Permissions. After repairing use Startup Disk from the same menu to choose your hard drive for restarting from your hard drive.
If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

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TS1365 My Macbook Pro 17" 2.44ghz all of a sudden one day decided to not boot up. When the power button is pressed the sleep light in the front on the latch release turns on and there is a small running sound but it never boots up and the screen never lig

My Macbook Pro 17" 2.44ghz all of a sudden one day decided to not boot up. When the power button is pressed the sleep light in the front on the latch release turns on and there is a small running sound but it never boots up and the screen never lights up. Anyone else have this problem? Any ideas?
I'd love to repair it but not if it'll cost 500 bucks or more to replace the logicboard.
I appreciate any help
Michael

Lao Bo,
yes, you can locate and copy a file from your HD to a USB key using UNIX commands. If you know the exact name of the file which you’re trying to locate, try this:
find / -iname filename -print
This command will search your entire internal disk for the particular filename. If you know that it’s within a particular user account, then you can save search time with this variation:
find /Users/username -iname filename -print
Either variation of this command will print all files found which have the given filename. Presuming that you’re able to identify the correct file, you can copy it to a USB key using the command
cp -p filename_returned_by_find /Volumes/USB_volume
If you’re not sure which volume name your USB key has, this command will show you what the possibilities are:
ls /Volumes
Please let me know if you have any trouble with these commands.

Hello All, I have a Model - MacBook Pro Laptop and the screen recently turned grey giving me zero visibility or access to the computer. Has anyone else seen or had this problem? Is it fixable or should I get a new unit?

Hello all,
I have a Model - MacBook Pro Laptop and the screen recently turned the colour grey, giving me no visibility or access to the unit.
Has anyone had or seen this problem before? Can it be fixed? I had a repair guy from my local Mac Store take a look at it - he said I needed a whole new screen and top of the computer, but this didn't fix the problem. I took the unit home unrepaired, and a week later it was all of a sudden working fine.
What is happening with my Laptop? Once this happens (grey screen) does it mean that it's going to become a chronic problem?
Please advise....Thanks

It's kind of difficult to diagnosis your problem without a visual clue, because there is a (mostly) software based "gray screen" at boot issue.
But if you got the screen replaced, took it home and now it works, why the repair shop didn't get it working before it left the store is beyond me.
Unless the repair shop is a authorized apple reseller/repair, I wouldn't have taken it to them, and of you did, they should have fixed the issue right away.

Just turned my macbook air on and the screen is white except for what looks like a camera with a question mark flashing. any ideas what to do?

turned by macbook air on and the screen is white with a question mark flashing and nothing else on the screen. will not boot up.

Click here and follow the instructions. If the computer was running Mac OS X 10.6.8 or earlier and you reach the third set of steps, insert a Mac OS X install disk or connect the computer's original thumbdrive.
(124635)

In my macbook pro sees in the screen very wide a vertical black bar and it does not let see what this underneath that bar

in my macbook pro sees in the screen very wide a vertical black bar and it does not let see what this underneath that bar

Take it in for service. Your screen probably needs to be replaced.

My macbook pro randomly turns the screen black!

my macbook pro randomly turns the screen black when it's still on!
i tried to change the energy saver settings but it still happens.
i turn my computer off aprox. every 2 days i tried to bring a solution to this but its just weird
please help!
ps. this has been happening since i downloaded the first version of OS X Lion

Mine does this too, have you had any luck with any solutions?

HT3986 i was trying to download windows 7 on mac book air 10.8.2.seems like i didnt copy my windos disk on the usb properly at the begining,so after the boot camp steps the screen is black and telle me to put the write disk.

i was trying to download windows 7 on mac book air 10.8.2.seems like i didnt copy my windos disk on the usb properly at the begining,so after the boot camp steps the screen is black and telle me to put the write disk.
eventually i made a coorect usb windows 7 and put it back to continue as it was saying so,but there is no change and the screen still is dark and says no bootable disk ,insert.
how to solve the problem?

Right now I have 6 different systems installed. Windows XP, 7, and 8 plus Linux Mint, Commodore, and OS X Snow Leopard (for old times sake), all running on Mountain Lion.
I recommend reading the user manual as it greatly helps getting through the steps, however an intuitive person should pick it up fairly easily.
Thanks to BobTheFisherman for the link.
There are other ways to get Windows on a Mac but I'm a big fan of open-source software.
Give it a try. You might like it or it may not be your cup of tea.

My MacBook Pro Beeps and the Screen Goes Crazy

I upgraded my RAM from 4GB to 8GB a couple months ago. Ever since then, my MacBook would freeze and the screen would get all weird and distorted, and then it continues to sound off three longish beeps. I can't do anything except hold down the power button until it shuts off. This only happens every couple of days. I'm thinking it's a RAM issue and I've already tried reseating the RAM, but it keeps happening. Anyone have any solutions? Maybe the RAM is faulty?

Wow. Every 5th thread is someone who has a problem with their screen going black since 10.6.8

My laptop have refused to start it will just show windows boot manager on the screen,

My laptop have refused to start up, it will just show windows boot manager on the screen,and me to choose an operating system to start or press tab to select a tool but when I tryed all those things none of it will respond

Thanks also Star 1. I have gone the route you suggest also but with the same results as I explained to the hatter. I have about a dozen die-hard Windows friends and they have been trying to help me also. We have tried everything and I have read a several pages on how to do it but nothing looks like what they are saying it does. When in Vista, Vista says it is the default SU OS. When in XP, XP says it is the default SU OS. So there is nothing to change. Only the Windows Boot Manager (which is really not a manager but a boot selector) shows Vista as default and XP next. I've learned again what I already knew. Windows is a conglomerated piece of crap that is hard as heck to use.

My Macbook starts up, shows the screen saver, then immediately goes to sleep. I tap the spacebar, it comes back for a second, shows the tool bar and the hard drive icon then immediately "goes to sleep". This can go on forever, on, sleep, on, sleep.

My Macbook starts up, shows the screen saver, then immediately goes to sleep. I tap the spacebar, it comes back for a second, shows the tool bar and the hard drive icon then immediately "goes to sleep". This can go on forever, on, sleep, on, sleep. I can only see the screen for maybe 3-5 seconds; not enough time to do anything. Someone did step on it, so I don't know if the problem is with screen or ??
Thanks!

Hello, Juniorjr2.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
This sounds like screen curtain may be enabled. Screen curtain is a feature that allows display privacy. To disable screen curtain while VoiceOver is enabled, you can three finger triple tap the screen to disable this feature. You may need to press the home button once in order to process these steps. If you wish to disable VoiceOver, see the link in the article below.
iOS: Configuring accessibility features
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5018
If the issue persists, try reaching out to us here.
Cheers,
Jason H.

My screen on my MacBook Pro blacks out constantly. If I press on the bottom left side of the MacBook, I can keep the screen on. I have been placing a small note pad to keep pressure on the bottom in order to keep the screen lit up.

My screen on my MacBook Pro blacks out constantly. If I press on the bottom left side of the MacBook, I can keep the screen on. I have been placing a small note pad to keep pressure on the bottom in order to keep the screen lit up.

You should try taking the battery out and putting it back in, but then if that doesn't work, you should take it into your Apple Retail Store and have a genius at the Genius Bar take a look. That seems like a hardware problem to me.

I restarted my computer, but the screen only shows a flashing folder icon with a question mark. What to do?

I restarted my computer, but the screen only shows a flashing folder icon with a question mark. What to do?

It means that the system boot directory can't be found.
See this support article for suggested actions
Also see this discussion.

Hi I have an Ipad 3 (new ipad) and it wont let me open up the screen, it just comes up with'this machine hasnt been backed up for so many weeks, when you press ok, it just stays there and cant do anything else ???

I Have an Ipad 3 and it wont let me open the screen,it just comes up with 'This machine has not been backed up for so many weeks' and when you prsss ok nothing happens, its just locked out ,. Any Ideas ??

Have you tried a reset ? Press and hold both the sleep and home buttons for about 10 to 15 seconds (ignore the red slider if it appears), after which the Apple logo should appear - you won't lose any content, it's the iPad equivalent of a reboot.

I tried for update but when i saw the screen its showing an arrow with a USB cable towards itunes icon, and now i'm not able to do anything, i also tried to connect ipad through my laptop but no use

i tried for update but when i saw the screen its showing an arrow with a USB cable towards itunes icon, and now i'm not able to do anything, i also tried to connect ipad through my laptop but no use

That message means that you have to restore the iPad now. There was a problem with the update. So connect the iPad to your computer and restore your iPad.
You can read bout it here.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1414
If that does not work you will need recovery mode. You can read about it here.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4097
Or you can follow these Recovery Mode Instructions
Disconnect the USB cable from the iPad, but leave the other end of the cable connected to your computer's USB port.
Turn off iPad: Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button for a few seconds until the red slider appears, then slide the slider. Wait for iPad to turn off.
If you cannot turn off iPad using the slider, press and hold the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons at the same time. When the iPad turns off, release the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons.
While pressing and holding the Home button, reconnect the USB cable to iPad. When you reconnect the USB cable, iPad should power on.
Continue holding the Home button until you see the "Connect to iTunes" screen. When this screen appears you can release the Home button.
If necessary, open iTunes. You should see the recovery mode alert that iTunes has detected an iPad in recovery mode.
Use iTunes to restore iPad.

I got a 8gig ipod touch from a freind and all I get on the screen is a usb plug with an arrow pointing towards the itunes logo. How do I resolve this?

I got a 8gig ipod touch from a freind and all I get on the screen is a usb plug with an arrow pointing towards the itunes logo. How do I resolve this? I don't know what operating system it runs, or what year it was manufactured, it is a chrome one.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1369
There have been some problems accessing pages on the Apple web site. If the hyperlink gives you a "We're sorry" message, try again.

My macbook boots up on the screen is a folder flashing with a ? sign.

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