My MacBook has question marks on all folders and won't run ANY program. Help!

A week ago I was editing some photographs in Photoshop CS 5 extended. My computer has been running slow for a while so I thought that I would finish these files and then clear it of some photos since I know I've recently uploaded several gbs onto it.
The next day it was frozen. I had to shut it down and restart. It came on and now every folder has a question mark on it and none of the programs will open. They just bounce up and down and then the menu bar says Application not responding.
I have no idea what I need to do. I was going to update to Lion but I'm unsure if that's what I should do or if it needs some TLC from the apple store.
Help?

A professional will image your drive and attempt a bit by bit file recovery method directly from the drive itself.
You see when you delete something, it's not quite erased yet, but the space the file took is available to be overwritten, so it's only a matter of time before that occurs and the file is really gone.
So they will recover what they can, and then restore your machine and it's software and return the recovered files.
The TimeMachine is certainly going to assist, good thing you got it.
The trick is to hire someone and quit using the computer until they rescue you, show you in person how to rescue yourself .
Good Luck

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My MacBook Pro turns on but not all the way, it gives me an icon of a grey folder with a question mark in the middle, and won't go further that that. Anyone knows why, or what's the problem?

My MacBook Pro turns on but not all the way, it gives me an icon of a grey folder with a question mark in the middle, and won't go further that that. Anyone knows why, or what's the problem?

If these do not resolve the issue or if you are not comfortable with proceeding through these steps then take your Mac to an Apple store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. An Apple store will perform these initial steps, diagnose the problem, and give an estimate for repairs (if needed). If the Mac is less than one year old or is covered by AppleCare any repairs would be free.
Genius reservation http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/ .
or find an Apple Authorized Service Provider https://locate.apple.com/country

Mac has a Question Mark in a folder and won't start up

Mac has a ? mark in a folder and won't start up

This can mean a few things. First, one of the main, critical files are missing in the system or some how it was entered into recovery mode. Try holding the power button down until it turns off. Turn it back on. If that doesn't work try downloading the 10.7 recovery assistant from Apple's site. Put that on a USB key and plug that in. Turn on the computer. Hold the recovery hot key (should say on Apple's site) while booting up to enter into the recovery software. Hope this helps.

Question mark in all folders

I have a grey question mark in the toolbar of all my folders, even the empty ones, since recently?
At least never noticed it before.
Clicking on it results in the message "The item can't be found" or something similar in dutch.
What item can't be found? (in an empty folder)
I do have a problem with a file created by FileMaker Pro which in an AppleScript can't be found, although the file is there and the file path is correct.
A similar question was posted here recently, but the answer was not very satisfactory.
Anyone with an explanation?

CT wrote:
This article is old but still valid, I believe.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA20551
Ancient, actually but still valid if the OP was talking about the Dock...
*in the toolbar of all my folders, even the empty ones.*
-mj

My macbook has question mark flashing on a grey screen and no functions, my macbook has question mark flashing on a grey screen and no functions

Hi
My MacBook has a question mark flashing on a grey screen and no functions, help?

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 and reboot. 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). That will force your MacBook to boot from the install DVD in the optical drive.
When it does start up, you'llsee a panel asking you to choose your language. Just 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.
If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

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.

Ouicktime Q has question mark on all web pages, I uae Firefox as a brouser

I have purchased and installef QT key, restarted computer several times since purchasing key, when I open Quicktime I can see the registration code.
Nevertheless any pages I go to that apparently has some quicktime running, there is just this giant Q with a ? in the middle. So, now what do I do?

Quicktime with a ? refers to Flash video, which Quicktime does not play.
These are the downloads and the settings you need in order to view/hear pretty much everything that the net can throw at you: The setup described below has proved repeatedly successful on both PPC and Intel macs, but nothing in life carries a guarantee!
Assuming you already run OS 10.4.9 or above and have Quicktime 7.2, and are using Safari 2 or 3, download and install (or re-install even if you already had them) the latest versions, suitable for your flavor of Mac, of:
RealPlayer 10 for Mac from http://forms.real.com/real/player/blackjack.html?platform2=Mac%20OS%20X&product= RealPlayer%2010&proc=g3&lang=&show_list=0&src=macjack
Flip4Mac WMV Player from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx (Windows Media Player for the Mac is no longer supported, even by Microsoft)
Perian from http://perian.org/
Adobe FlashPlayer from http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1ProdVersion=ShockwaveFlash
In Quicktime Preferences, under advanced, UNcheck Enable Flash, and under Mime settings/Miscellananeous only check Quicktime HTML (QHTM).
In Macintosh HD/Library/Quicktime/ delete any files relating to DivX (Perian already has them).
Important: Now repair permissions and restart.
The world should now be your oyster!
You should also have the free VLC Player from http://www.videolan.org/ in your armory, as this plays almost anything that DVD Player might not.

HT4623 I started to install the latest version it has been downloading for 4 days and won't go any further

My emails will not open onto the internet I'm finding I have to go in manually why is this happening could someone please help me sort this out thanks

Is iTunes updated on your computer? Are all apps updated on computer?
Turn off wifi and use cable to connect to iPad
Update.
Reset settings.
Reboot the iPad

Quicktime icon has question mark on it

Hi,
When I click on some websites,not all, I cannot get in and the screen changes to a Quicktime icon that has question mark on top of it.
I use Mac G5, Panther, FireFox.
Thank you!

For a long time now I'v been also plagued with the same problem Q w/?. until today!! after reading all your problems I figure it out.
I have tried Firefox, Netscrape, Safari and Opera and even an old copy of internet explorer and keep on getting the Q&?.
So I said, what the heck and went for it. Here is what I did. I have a G4 laptop running Mac OS 10.4.10 but I'v been lazy on doing up dates cause I only use it when I'm out in the field doing a photo-shoot. The problem machine was my Dual 2 GHz Power Mac G5 running Mac OS 10.5.
Heres the fix, try this. All I did was copy the folder in your system "library/Internet Plug-Ins" folder from the laptop to the G5 and restart Safari and now everything works with no "Q?" .

I am resurrecting my old iMacG5 for my grandson. Appleworks has question mark in dock and does not load from bundled software on original installation discs. Can anyone help?

I am resurrecting my old iMacG5 for my grandson. Appleworks has question mark in dock and does not load from bundled software on original installation discs. Can anyone help?

I'm sorry no-one has answered you yet - I'm afraid I don't know the answer to the question: but I wanted to put into your mind that starting up with AppleWorks at this stage isn't a good idea. The program was 'end-of-lifed' years ago, it won't run on Lion, and some of the document types created in it - Databases in particular - cannot be opened at all by any other program whatever. Word Processing documents can be opened in Pages, and Spreadsheets in Numbers (with some reservations in both cases), but building up a collection of AppleWorks documents at this stage is going to lead to problems later on.
It's difficult to know what to recommend for a PowerPC machine that would still be compatible with modern ones. An older version of Microsoft Office, perhaps, if you can find one which will run on PPC; but most of the modern Word Processors are Intel only. This is something you would need to investigate.

Iphoto won't open just has question mark over icon

My iphoto won't open on my iMac spotlight doesn't akknowledge it. Just a question mark covers the icon on my dock. Any help to get it back would be great

To re-install iPhoto
1. Put the iPhoto.app in the trash (Drag it from your Applications Folder to the trash)
2a: On 10.5: Go to HD/Library/Receipts and remove any pkg file there with iPhoto in the name.
2b: On 10.6: Those receipts may be found as follows: In the Finder use the Go menu and select Go To Folder. In the resulting window type
/var/db/receipts/
2c: on 10.7 they're at
/private/var/db/receipts
A Finder Window will open at that location and you can remove the iPhoto pkg files.
3. Re-install.
If you purchased an iLife Disk, then iPhoto is on it.
If iPhoto was installed on your Mac when you go it then it’s on the System Restore disks that came with your Mac. Insert the first one and opt to ‘Install Bundled Applications Only.
If you purchased it on the App Store or have a Recent Mac you can find it in your Purchases List.

Question marks on my pictures and diagonal lines down the page

My site is web.mac.com/jkmerchant. Last night I changed a couple page names, re-ordered them, added some photos, added a blog entry and updated the text, added a new picture on the welcome page and replaced a picture on the welcome page. Ever since then, my changes publish (with an error) and I can see the updates via my browser, but almost all of my pages now have question marks on the pictures and diagonal frame type lines down the page. I appreciate any suggestions to fix this problem. I've verified the question marks are appearing in IE using a windows computer and Safari (as well as in iWeb) on a Mac.

Kevin ~ If you haven't already tried this, it may help — in iWeb do File > Publish All to MobileMe. If not, +"A lot of problems can be solved simply by..."+ Read more in the "Fix iWeb" section here:
http://www.iwebformusicians.com/WebMusic/iWebTips.html
Also it may be better to access your site via:
http://web.me.com/jkmerchant
...rather than:
http://web.mac.com/jkmerchant

How do I keep my macbook pro from automatically rearranging my folders and PDF files on my desktop

How do I keep my macbook pro from automatically rearranging my folders and PDF files on my desktop? It seems to happen a lot after I've hooked my laptop to my Thunderbolt in my office and then I unhook my laptop to go present at a clients of taking my laptop home to work. Every once in a while if even places all of my folders and PDF files in the far upper left corner of my screen. Needless to say, having to constanly rearrange my desktop is extremly annoying and would love to know what the fix is for this problem. Thank you in advance for any help offered!

Thanks for the tip "baltwo", unfortunately my desktop settings were already set to NONE. I've had one of my IT guys here this moring helping me look through all of this and we're at a wall trying to figure out why it's doing this. This morning when I docked to the Thunderbolt all my folders and PDF files are in the upper lefthand corner stacked on top of each other almost out of view. If I go to settings, displays, and swith to mirroring, all the folders and files go right back to where they're set up on my MacBook desktop, but I lose the ability to utilize the entire screen of the Thunderbolt. Very frustrating to say the least and after searching through and reviewing several forums, Apple is very much aware of this issue and seems to be keeping silent on the issue. Hoepfully they'll launch a fix soon!
THANKS again for the tip, it's much appreciated!

HT1310 when i starst my mac i get a flashing folder with a question mark. i tried rebooting and holding the option button then i get 2 boxes, one with a refresh arrow and one with a forward arrow neither of them seem to do anything. now what

when i starst my mac i get a flashing folder with a question mark. i tried rebooting and holding the option button then i get 2 boxes, one with a refresh arrow and one with a forward arrow neither of them seem to do anything. now what

Here is an article that describes what it is supposed to do:
Startup Manager: How to select a startup volume
If no Volumes are shown, it is telling you there are no potentailly bootable Volumes attached. That means your boot drive has died or the bootable image on it is unrecognizable.
What Mac Pro ? by year, GHz, number of processors, screen size?
What Mac OS X ?

Query to get a listing of all folders and joins in EUL

If anybody has a query that provides a listing of all folders and joins between those folders in a Discoverer EUL, can you please share it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi
As Rod commented you won't get an accurate listing going through XREFS. You need to look in the statistics table, EUL5_QPP_STATS where you will find a history of all worksheets that have been executed. Unfortunately the item columns in EUL5_QPP_STATS are encoded so you will need some special SQL to uncode them.
First of all you will need to have installed the EUL extensions which can be found in the script called EUL5.SQL (located in the Discoverer\Util folder where Admin is installed) when logged in as the owner of the EUL. Theh try running this script, altering the data switch to a suitable date:
SELECT
QS.QS_DOC_OWNER USER_NAME,
QS.QS_DOC_NAME WORKBOOK,
QS.QS_DOC_DETAILS WORKSHEET,
TRUNC(QS.QS_CREATED_DATE) EXECUTION_DATE,
*(LENGTH(TO_CHAR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID)))+1)/9 ITEMS,*
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),1, 6)) ITEM1,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),10, 6)) ITEM2,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),19, 6)) ITEM3,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),28, 6)) ITEM4,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),37, 6)) ITEM5,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),46, 6)) ITEM6,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),55, 6)) ITEM7,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),64, 6)) ITEM8,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),73, 6)) ITEM9,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),82, 6)) ITEM10,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),91, 6)) ITEM11,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),100,6)) ITEM12,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),109,6)) ITEM13,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),118,6)) ITEM14,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),127,6)) ITEM15,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),136,6)) ITEM16,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),145,6)) ITEM17,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),154,6)) ITEM18,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),163,6)) ITEM19,
EUL5_GET_ITEM(SUBSTR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID),172,6)) ITEM20
FROM
EUL5_QPP_STATS QS
WHERE
*(LENGTH(TO_CHAR(EUL5_GET_ITEM_NAME(QS.QS_ID)))+1)/9 < 21*
AND QS.QS_CREATED_DATE > '01-JAN-2009'
Best wishes
Michael

My MacBook has question marks on all folders and won't run ANY program. Help!

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