Question mark folder appears at startup. Impending doom?

Like it says, it flicks on for half a second then starts up OK.
I have used some utilities to tidy things up- Onyx and Applejack (I expect there's some redundancy there). These should have fixed all permissions, etc.
However, I still get this, and am quite concerned that some day soon it will stay and stay flashing!
Any thoughts on where to go with this next?
JKB

You might also want to do some maintenance on the machine. See these tips:
Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
Mac OS X 10.3/10.4: System maintenance
Mac OS X speed FAQ
Maintaining OS X

Similar Messages

HT3964 What does a file folder with a question mark that appears upon startup?

What does a file folder with a question mark which appears on startup mean??

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.
With 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6 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, 10.8 Mountain Lion or 10.9 Mavericks, 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.

Question Mark folder icon on startup

Hello - When I startup I'm getting the Question Mark folder icon. I can't get past this to do anything else at all.
A little background, Three days I got the Spinning Beachball couldn't do anything and Cmd-Opt-Esc did nothing; I had to use the power button to turn off. Restarted and all was fine. But then it happened again. And each time the "PC Connection" light on my cable modem was not lit. Last night I left the machine to sleep on its own but it would not wake up this morning. I held the power button and nothing happened; held it again and it started up but just displayed the Question Mark. (TimeWarnerCable recently upgraded their speed this week but that wouldn't cause this would it?)
Please help!
You should see below that I'm still on Tiger; my iMac is about four and a half years old.

Okay, so got home and checked the mouse and keyboard, un and re plugged them in; unplugged the GarageBand controller I had connected and my printer, which has been troublesome lately. Started up and... fine, no problem. Now I just have to hope it doesn't happen again.
I will be updating shortly to Lion (after first updating to SnowLeopard). But if their is a hard disk problem that wouldn't help, would it?
Here's the quite lengthy error report that appeared after I started up and logged in. Perhaps someone can decipher it?
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x001A49CB): Unresolved kernel trap (CPU 0, Type 14=page fault), registers:
CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x00000000, CR3: 0x00fa1000, CR4: 0x000006e0
EAX: 0x00000000, EBX: 0x039b1500, ECX: 0x00000000, EDX: 0x00000000
CR2: 0x00000000, EBP: 0x25133ef8, ESI: 0x039b1500, EDI: 0x00000000
EFL: 0x00010246, EIP: 0x00848ca6, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x00000010
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x25133ce8 : 0x128d0d (0x3cc65c 0x25133d0c 0x131f95 0x0)
0x25133d28 : 0x1a49cb (0x3d2a94 0x0 0xe 0x3d22b8)
0x25133e38 : 0x19b3a4 (0x25133e50 0x39c6ef0 0x25133e98 0x13597b)
0x25133ef8 : 0x9064e1 (0x39b1500 0x297 0x25133f28 0x907564)
0x25133f28 : 0x909e92 (0x39c0b00 0x39c0ba4 0xaa 0x0)
0x25133f58 : 0x90a268 (0x39c0b00 0x0 0x25133f78 0x19e23a)
0x25133f78 : 0x13d989 (0x39c0b00 0x0 0x19e23a 0x385df5c)
0x25133fc8 : 0x19b21c (0x0 0x0 0x19e0b5 0x385f3b4) Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0x0
      Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
         com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage(1.0.7)@0x905000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(1.5.1)@0x51b000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily(1.0.3)@0x845000
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.11.1: Wed Oct 10 18:23:28 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.25.20~1/RELEASE_I386
Model: iMac7,1, BootROM IM71.007A.B03, 2 processors, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.4 GHz, 2 GB
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro, ATI,RadeonHD2600, PCIe, 256 MB
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 1 GB, DDR2 SDRAM, 667 MHz
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM1, 1 GB, DDR2 SDRAM, 667 MHz
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x88), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (4.170.46.9)
Bluetooth: Version 1.9.5f4, 2 service, 0 devices, 1 incoming serial ports
Network Service: Built-in Ethernet, Ethernet, en0
Serial ATA Device: WDC WD3200AAJS-40RYA0, 298.09 GB
Parallel ATA Device: MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-85J
USB Device: Built-in iSight, Apple Inc., Up to 480 Mb/sec, 500 mA
USB Device: Keyboard Hub, Apple, Inc., Up to 480 Mb/sec, 500 mA
USB Device: Apple Optical USB Mouse, Primax Electronics, Up to 1.5 Mb/sec, 100 mA
USB Device: Apple Keyboard, Apple, Inc, Up to 1.5 Mb/sec, 100 mA
USB Device: IR Receiver, Apple Computer, Inc., Up to 1.5 Mb/sec, 500 mA
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller, Apple, Inc., Up to 12 Mb/sec, 500 mA

Blinking question mark folder icon on startup (but not always!)

I recently obtained a new hard drive (Western Digital 80gb) and installed the Mac OS on a 500 mhz Cube; the DVD drive was not recognized but I removed the jumper on the drive pins rendering the disc a master and finally, the DVD drive was found so that I could perform the OS install. The problem is that if I start up the Cube after a long period of time having been OFF (e.g., 5 hours) there is the blinking question mark folder (Mac OS logo alternates with question mark). After 3-4 minutes, the startup disc is finally located. Now, if I do a cold restart a few minutes later, there is NO problem on startup. My startup issue always occurs after a longer period of time with the Cube having been OFF. There is a new battery installed, permissions are fixed, the drive checks out without problems with disc utility. What could be the problem?

Probably your PRAM battery is gone. This stores information such as your preferred startup disk. I know you said you put in a new battery but have you actually tested it? The computer being off for several hours really, really sounds like a bad battery. Also check the terminals both on the battery and in the machine aren't corroded and it is seated correctly.
[Texas Mac Man's PRAM, battery, PMU tutorial|http://www.geocities.com/texas_macman/pram.html]
[Apple's PRAM reset directions|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238]
If you have a digital multimeter you can check the condition of your present battery. It should read at least 3.2V if it is the 3.6V half-AA battery type. Ideally this should be measured while the battery is under load; added recommendation from Hans777:
I have recently found out that an exhausted battery will still indicate >3.6 V with a high internal resistance VM.
Checking incircuit: powercord disconnected press PMU reset button for >about 5 sec before measuring.
Checking outside: load the battery with a 1500 Ohm resistor when measuring.
[Resetting Cuda/PMU on Power Mac G5, Power Mac G4, Power Macintosh G3|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86760]
Message was edited by: Limnos

A question mark folder appears on the start up after the sound ... with white back ground

im using macbook pro 11in ... i had recently ungraded to os x lion through app store .... i was working on my laptop with firefox open .. i closed my macbook just as i normally do to make it go to sleep (not shutdown) ... i went hope i opend it and it was stuck .. nothing was moving ,.. there was this rainbow wheel instaed of the mouse arrow .. so i pressed and hold the power button and it got shut.. i opened it and now there is the question mark folder after the start up sound ... i dont have my snow lepoard dvds with me .. im traveling ... when i press the option key on the start up i dont get the recovery disk which was an option with the lion os x ... so now wat i do ... help help !!!!

You can try a SMC and PRAM reset, but I think something got fried and your going to need to take it in for service.
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/26871.html

MacBook Pro crashed, and then question mark folder appeared

So I have a MacBook Pro, the other day I left my computer on sleep mode as I always do. I open my computer to find a screen that is slightly grey, like the picture link: http://farm1.staticflickr.com/55/126466201_486bff5598.jpg
I've had this happen to me before, and so I restarted it without worries.
First I held down the Power button for 3-5 seconds and then it powered off.
I'm not one to have patients as I am a teenager, so I quickly booted the computer on.
I had the signature Mac chime, and then it went to a grey screen, I went to get something to drink, as I remembered Mac's take quite the time to boot back up.
I came back to the same grey screen with a flashing folder with a question mark on it. I was now in panic mode. I lucky had my trustee iPhone by my side and quickly described my problem, found many articles on solutions, but nothing truly worked. I tried the "Hold C and turn on power at the same time", "Safe boot by holding Shift", "Try PRAM", and blah blah blah.
At first I was missing my Install disc, as many of the articles stated, my problem may be resolved by using the disc. I am a teenager, this disc could be ANYWHERE, so thinking on my feet, I went to my mothers laptop case and found her Install disc (which was 10.6.7, my computer was running 10.6.3). I didn't realize the difference until much later.
After a few hours of trying to fiddle around with my moms disc, I decided to go on a hard core hunt for my disc.
Hours later, my room in a huge mess, I found my disc, under my bed (of course).
It took me an hour to figure out how to get my moms stuck disc out of my MacBook.
I found that solution through another article.
So I put in my Install disc and I went to go backup my MacBook with my external hard drive, and I went through the steps required and I thought forsure it was fixed and done, until this: http://tinypic.com/r/hupto4/5
I'm stuck.
I've been sitting trying to fix this for at least 12 hours now, and I have had minimal success.
--Questions
1.) Could I have damaged something, by putting my moms install disc in?
2.) Where did my hard drive go? Could I have possibly deleted it?
3.) Is this the end for my MacBook Pro?
Specs:
MacBook Pro
Bought: Last year (but on the back it says 2010)
Snow Leoperd
OS X 10.6.3
External drive: My Passport (Link: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=440 )
Please provide a step-by-step fixture if possible.
Thanks!

Failed hard drive possible. Bring it to an Apple store or AASP.

Why does a folder with a question mark momentarily appear at startup?

Hi everyone.
Is that normal or is that indicative of potential problems to come?
Thanks,
Al

Hi, Hank. What model is the old Powerbook?
Hi eww,
According to http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=24604, it is the PowerBook (FireWire) computer (M7572). As I understand it, this is a G3.
If it's a Powerbook G4 (any model), that CD can't
boot it, and in order to perform an installation on
the Powerbook, you would have had to start the PB
from its hard drive, insert the CD into the external
FireWire drive, and then perform the Clean Install
that way. I'm surprised if that was possible; the
installer should have refused to run.
Well, IIRC, this is indeed what I did...
Even if it did
run successfully, both the installed OS 9.0.4 and the
OS 9.0.4 on the CD itself would be unable to boot the
PB afterward, possibly resulting in exactly the
symptoms you see now.
...and I think you have nailed it.
If this is an accurate
description of what you did and how things went, the
solution is to obtain an appropriate OS 9 installer
disc for the Powerbook model in question — that what
disc that is will depend on which PB G4 model you have.
If it's the last of the Powerbook G3's (the first PB
that had a built-in FireWire port), it was originally
shipped with OS 9.0.2, and a retail (not
model-specific) OS 9.0.4 CD should boot it OK. If
your CD is a valid one for that model, you should be
able to boot the Powerbook to the CD now, even if the
installation was unsucessful — unless your
FireWire optical drive isn't bootable itself: some
aren't. Have you ever booted the Powerbook or any
other Mac to a CD in that drive before?
It sounds like you are describing the situation perfectly. The OS 9.0.4 CD is what we have. I did indeed boot to a Norton SystemWorks 2.0 CD yesterday via the FireWire external drive, but I was unable to change the startup disk (so as to be able to restart the PowerBook from the HD).
You mentioned that I probably can't boot to an OS CD via the FireWire drive, and it is true that I have not been able to do this. Before I decide on another (stupid) course of action, I'll wait until you comment.
My next idea is (1) to start up the two Macs -- connected via FireWire -- with the PowerBook in target disk mode, (2) insert the OS 9.0.4 disk into the iMac, and (3) choose to install system software on the PowerBook ("choose volume"). Could this work?
Thanks again,
Hank

Question mark folder on startup, Question mark folder on startup?

Have startup problem with question mark folder flashing on startup. How do I fix it?

Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
Do the following:
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 the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/.

IMac won't boot - flashing question mark folder

Hi, I was having performance issues with my iMac, so after searching for a resolution, I followed some suggestions to reset the PRAM and SMC....after resetting the PRAM it will not boot up at all! The startup sound chimes, then a blank grey screen briefly before a flashing question mark folder appears. Nothing happens..... I have the install cd, but there is a CD in the drive and I can't get it out. Help!!
Thanks in advance....
Andrea

HI Andrea,
To get the disk to eject, start the iMac while holding down the mouse button.
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Try booting while holding down the Option key.
Carolyn

Initial startup with question marked folder with a disk already inside

Initial startup with question marked folder with a disk already inside

Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion 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.
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. 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 main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion 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.

Flashing Question Mark Folder - Cannot Eject Disc - Problem Startup

My Macbook will not start up. I get a flashing question mark folder and will not startup.
Also, I have a dvd inside that will not eject.
Any suggestions?

You will need to reinstall OS X. Try this:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
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 Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) 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 quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) 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. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.
If your drive cannot be repaired then you will have to reformat the drive and install OS X from scratch.
To eject the DVD press CTRL-E while booted from the installer disc or hold the mouse button down while the computer is booting from the installer disc.

OS X Insall crashed halfway. Now getting question mark folder on startup

I was in the process of wiping my wife's old MacBook so that I could give it to my daughter. I inserted my Tiger install disc and proceeded to erase and install (didn't need wife's old data and I wanted the system to be fresh). Unfortunately, the process froze-up halfway and now I cannot start the MacBook. I get the flashing question mark folder.
I tried repeating the process again, but when the install process begins, it scans the CD for file integrity. When it does this, it says that there's a problem and that the disc needs to be cleaned. I've cleaned it to the point of being able to eat off it, but it's still not working.
The CD drive in the machine has always been flaky so I'm wondering if it's the drive rather than the disc. Is there a way to install OS X from a firewire drive or another mac tethered to the MacBook? I have a Powerbook, an iMac and a LaCie firewire drive that I could use.
Thanks for any help!
.g

Sure, use either Mac... but it all depends if your old MacBook will boot into Firewire target disk mode.
If it does just pop in the DVD (in the good DVD drive) and install. I'd suggest a reformat also, under the circumstances.
To use FireWire target disk mode
1. Make sure that the target computer is turned off. If you are using a PowerBook or iBook as the target computer, you should also plug in its AC power adapter.
2. Use a FireWire cable to connect the target computer to a host computer. The host computer does not need to be turned off.
3. Start up the target computer and immediately press and hold down the T key until the FireWire icon appears. The hard disk of the target computer should become available to the host computer and will likely appear on desktop. (If the target computer is running Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you can also open System Preferences, choose Startup Disk, and click Target Disk Mode. Then restart the computer and it will start up in Target Disk Mode.)
4. When you are finished copying files, drag the target computer's hard disk icon to the Trash or select Put Away from the File menu (Mac OS 9) or Eject from the File menu (Mac OS X).
5. Press the target computer's power button to turn it off.
6. Unplug the FireWire cable.
If the target computer's hard disk does not become available to the host computer, check the cable connections and restart the host computer.
-mj
Message was edited by: macjack

Keyboard Not Working and Question Mark Folder on Startup

I've got a question for a Mac Genius: What is the cause of my keyboard not working and a grayscreen coming up on startup? I'll give you a little background. I have a 1.83Ghz Macbook that is two years old now...almost exactly. I came back from work yesterday and it was in a semi-frozen state. Two apps were frozen but the finder was still alive. Within 10 seconds of trying to navigate through the Finder, it froze too. I went ahead and tried to restart it, but nothing happened. I held down the power button and it shut off. When I tried to start it back up a gray screen comes up. It makes the chiming sound but goes no where. After about half a minute the folder with the question mark will appear. The first few times I tried it, it seemed like the optical drive was trying really hard to work, but it doesn't try so hard anymore. None of the keys work and the Caps Lock and Num Lock don't light, so I can't use any of the keyboard commands to work my way around (resetting PRAM/using startup disks). The CD is stuck in it because I can't force eject it. I believe the trackpad is also not working, but I couldn't be sure.
Previously I had noticed that when I came back from work I would find Mozilla Firefox using tons of the CPU when it wasn't really doing anything. This heated up the computer and made the fans spin at crazy speeds(6000RPM). I will try the Hard drive in another computer tonight probably because I'm pretty sure that's not the problem, but I would like to be sure.
Any ideas would be helpful! I'm just about to tear it open and see if anything has been physically fried.

I went ahead and tried to eject the CD with an external mouse but it didn't work. What I ended up doing is swapping my hard drive into my friend's computer and discovered that that was the only problem. It appears that my HDD was totally fried because after I booted off of the start-up cd, the HDD was nowhere to be found within disk utility. My computer starts up fine and the keyboard works fine when I have someone else's HDD in mine. I'm really surprised that the Macbook needs a good HDD to operate it's trackpad and keyboard. Thank you for your help! Although now I have a new question; is there any way to salvage the data trapped on my old HDD? Cheers!

Frequent startup with question mark folder icon--a diagnostic challange!!!

I recently obtained a 500 mhz G4 Cube; I transplanted memory, video board, video riser board, and DVD/CD drive from my old (dead) 450mhz G4 Cube (logicboard and DC-DC board were fried) to the 500 mhz Cube AND I added a Western Digital 80gb hard drive. The problem involves frequent startups with the question mark folder (Mac OS logo alternates with question mark).; Eventually the system folder is found and OS 10.4.11 starts up--sometimes in 20 seconds and sometimes in 3, 4, 5 minutes or longer..........I have tried 2 brand new batteries after numerous PRAM (via keyboard) and CUDA resets (depressing the CUDA button on the motherboard just once and then installing the new battery). The battery terminals in the Cube look perfect--no corrosion. With the new battery, startups were fine for a day but now 4 out of 5 times, I will get the question mark folder. Using Disc Utility, I fixed any errant permissions and the hard drive checks out with zero problems. Once running, the Cube works great, but these startups are maddening. One other issue; if I start up with the G4 Cube 9.1 installation disc, the install program DOES NOT recognize any bootable discs; whilst starting up using the Tiger Upgrade install disc, my 2 bootable discs (partitions of my Western Dig. hard drive) ARE recognized. Any ideas would be greatly welcome!!

I believe I have solved the problem regarding the question mark startup---> after rechecking all cable connections to HD, OD, and logic board, I revisited the jumper setup on the HD; it turns out that I set the HD up to be the MASTER, but what I should have done was set the HD to be the MASTER with attached SLAVE. Since reconfiguring the jumper, all startups have so far been normal. Also, I did install OS 9 drivers, but I the OS 9.1 install disc still does not recognized my 5 gig partition when starting up from the CD; this is minor in retrospect as I can still use the classic mode with a earlier version of OSX that does not hog so much disc space.

Question mark folder at startup, safe boot not working

Last night my iMac froze up, Force Quit didn't work, and I used the Power button to shut it off. When trying to restart, it was getting stuck at the grey Apple.
I tried unplugging the peripherals and restarting; zapping the PRAM and restarting; safe boot and restarting. Safe boot did it.
I then ended up going through those steps a few more times as my iMac starting freezing up again. One of those times I changed all my applications in the dock that were set to launch at login to not do so, wondering if that was somehow causing a problem. I also took a folder of recent items I'd created, mostly a LOT of PDFs of newspaper articles, burned it to a DVD and deleted the folder to free up more memory if that was part of the problem (I'm running out). I then restarted from the Apple menu and it shut down through safe boot and then restarted without safe boot and did so just fine. I ran Disk Utility and very few if any permissions needed repairing. And it was operating OK for a bit and then froze up again.
Now I'm getting the question mark folder at startup and safe boot isn't working. What should I be trying next? Lion Recovery with Command-R? I'm relatively new to Lion, but it had been working OK for me for a while now.
What other things should I try? Would Target Disk mode possibly work from the MacBook I'm using now, which doesn't have Lion installed?

The question mark folder usually means that the
firmware could either not find a valid operating
system to boot, or, it could not find a hard disk
with an operating system on it.
Have you tried booting to Lion Recovery? If
you can, then go into Disk Utility and do a
Repair Disk on your OSX volume. If the
OSX volume is not showing up, you may need
to do a reformat and re-install.
Since it is a 24" iMac (from your description) it was
a pre-Lion Mac. If you still have the original install
disks, try booting with it and use Disk Utility from it
to see if the hard drive is working.
Try this first before making a road trip.

Question mark folder appears at startup. Impending doom?

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