Question Mark in folder window header

I just noticed a question mark "?" at the top in the header area in all my folder windows.
http://www.sasnet.com/question.png
Has anyone seen this before or know what it is, or what to do about it?
Steven

If you drag a file to the toolbar and hold it there until a plus sign appears, it will appear in the toolbar as effectively an alias. If you delete the original you will get this question mark. To remove it, command-drag it off the toolbar.

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Question mark in folder window

Just noticed this, I see a question mark next to the search bar on the top right corner inside any window folder I open.
any help?
rd

At some point put an alias to a file/folder there (click and drag on a file or folder up to the toolbar of a window and let go of it will put a shortcut to that file or folder in all finder windows). If you delete that file/folder the system can no longer find it and will replace the icon in the toolbar with a ?
To get rid of the ? just right click (control click) on the icon and select "Remove Item" from the drop down menu. You can remove it using the View menu's "Customize Toolbar...", just drag it out of the toolbar and it will disappear with a poof.

Mba freezes and than can't reboot (question mark in folder)

My mba acts kind of crazy lately. It suddenly freezes and when I try to reboot it doesn't find my ssd and gives me the dreaded question mark in folder sign. When I try recovery mode it doesn't show my ssd, but if I keep trying sometimes after a few minutes or a few hours it boots just fine.
Is it a software ot hardware issue?
Thanks in advance for your help.

If you have the original disk that shipped with the iMac, you can try booting from it.
Put the disk in and restart the computer while holding the C key down. If the computer boots you can start the installation process. (You are not reinstalling.) After the screen where you select the language you will see a menu bar. Click Utilities and run Disk Utility. In DU, select the hard drive on the left, First aid, and click Repair disk. When that is done, quit DU and restart the computer in the usual way.
If DU tells you the disk cannot be repaired, you will have to replace it.

Boot error with question mark on folder icon

Hello.
This is very newest iMac (2014 late).
It worked very first time with basic way.
But 3 days later, iMac doesn't boot at all.
I've tried everything about reinstall and boot
Internet recovery, P+R+Alt+Cmd, recheck and verify hard drive.
However, sometimes There's no show hard drive on disk utility mode.
Can't even erase or format because I don't see it on hard drive list.
And now after power on, there's only [question mark on folder icon] and
it looks like warning me something.
Should I refund it? Or try something else?

Hi
Given Solution
1st check Hard Disk Working or Not
2nd check Partition table
3rd check reinstall Mac Os
and
after any problem vist ; [email protected]

File folder with question mark, file folder with question mark

Battery died went to turn on computer with adapter plug...
white screen with flashin file folder with a question mark???
How do i fix this?

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, boot from the recovery partition (Command +R on boot) and use Disk Utility to repair your OS 10.7 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 in Finder Window

Just bought a new mac book and im noticing something odd. When I open the finder window there is a "?" mark at the top of the window located between the button with the "gear" on it to create a new folder and between the 4 view buttons. When I click it I get a pop-up box with the Finder icon in it that says "the item cannot be found." My Mac Mini does not have this. Any thoughts as to what this means? Im relatively new to Mac so please forgive me if this is something I should know.

newtxmgf,
If you're running Leopard, that's where the Quick Look button should be.
In the Finder, choose View>Customize Toolbar and see if you can drag the Quick Look button up there and get rid of the question mark.
Matt

BIG Question Mark in Finder Windows

My Hard drive Finder Windows (any programme) OS 10.4.6.
are suddenly showing a large Question Mark between the 'view buttons' and the 'action wheel icon'.
When 'clicked' the question mark gives a message "The Item Cannot be Found".
All items in each individual folder within the window open normally.
Why is this suddenly happening, and can I get rid of the Question Mark somehow.?
Many thanks.
Lance. UK
iMAC FP. Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Before there was a "sidebar", OS X Finder had a "toolbar" where a user could drag arbitrary items (files, folders, applications) for quick one-click access. Although it may not be obvious with the brushed metal finish, "Finder" windows still retain this function.
However, if the original item to which the toolbar shortcut points is deleted or otherwise becomes inaccessible, its icon will be replaced with a question mark (the same thing happens with "Dock" icons).
The shortcuts can be removed from the window by holding down the "⌘" key and dragging the icons off the toolbar.

Question Mark in Finder Windows

All of my Finder windows have a large question mark to the right of the Action icon. When I click on it I get a message saying the item can't be found. What is this?

I also got this reply from another board:
"That would be a file or folder that you had previously dragged to that area. Things that you drag there are like bookmarks, pointing to the actual file or folder. If you have a question mark, that means that the original file or folder has been deleted. So you should just hold down the Command key and then drag that question mark off of that area and it will disappear in a puff of smoke."

Flashing Question Mark on Folder Icon on Startup: Not Yet Fatal

I running into a potential problem with my White, 13" MacBook. I'm running 10.5.6 (upgraded from 10.4).
I recently bought a new, larger capacity hard drive. I used the Applications "SuperDuper" to clone my existing drive onto the new drive. My computer runs (as far as I can tell) the same as it always did. However, whenever I startup the computer, it briefly flashes the dreaded "giant folder with a blinking question mark". However, this is quickly replaced with the Apple Logo, and the computer boots normally.
I have repaired permissions, and verified the disk using disk utility. The disk verified with a message along the lines of "The disk appears to be ok".
While my computer's working now, I'm concerned there might be a deeper problem, and I'd like to catch it before it becomes critical. Also, if this is something standard that happens when you replace a hard drive with a new one, I'd like to know that as well so I can stop worrying.
If your answer is "put your old drive back in", pretend I did that and am still seeing the problem. What now?
Possible data point, I opened the console and saw the following two lines right before the "got boot device" line
4/29/09 5:00:07 PM kernel Waiting on <dict ID="0"><key>IOProviderClass</key><string ID="1">IOResources</string><key>IOResourceMatch</key><string ID="2">boot-uuid-media</string></dict>
4/29/09 5:00:07 PM kernel AppleYukon2: 532111ab,00000000 sk98osx_dnet - CheckDictionaryEntry failed, expected vs. dictionary
Thanks in advance for your help.

Open Startup Disk preferences, select your startup volume from icon list, click on the Restart button.

Question mark in folder flashing. Nothing works, can I conclude my HD is dead?

My computer screen froze the other day and the only thing I could do was to restart it.
However, when I did, all I got was a grey screen and a question mark flashing in a folder.
I have since then tried everything suggested in these cases. Nothing works, no matter how I reboot, I never get anything else than the flashing question mark on a grey screen.
I have 3 old installation discs (Panther!) - should I try these?
Or can I conclude that my hard disc is dead?
My Imac is from 2008 (or 2009…) and was running on Mavericks.

If you have the original disk that shipped with the iMac, you can try booting from it.
Put the disk in and restart the computer while holding the C key down. If the computer boots you can start the installation process. (You are not reinstalling.) After the screen where you select the language you will see a menu bar. Click Utilities and run Disk Utility. In DU, select the hard drive on the left, First aid, and click Repair disk. When that is done, quit DU and restart the computer in the usual way.
If DU tells you the disk cannot be repaired, you will have to replace it.

PLEASE HELP- flashing question mark in folder

Hi everyone,
last night I was just on my macbook as usual and suddenly it froze, so I turned it off. When i went to turn it back on, all that appeared was a flashing question mark in a folder.
I have tried all the suggestions on this page http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58042 , but none of them worked because it didn't even recognise/find the harddrive in the disk utility section. I don't have apple care ($419 is a lot of money for a student!) but I only bought the macbook about 6 months ago, so it is still within warranty. What should I do now?
Any help is much much appreciated!
Melissa

Melissa,
I just had the same exact problem last night too. I called the apple technical service number and nothing they did helped because the hard drive wasn't found. I even got a fire wire cable and tried to hook my MacBook up to another Mac and tried the target disk mode hoping I could pull off data that I needed, but the other mac couldn't find the disk either. I'm kind of worried about losing some of my data. If you could let me know if you find any solution that would be awesome! I plan on going to the apple store this weekend to get it looked at.
-Michelle

Flashing Question Mark in Folder at Startup - Retrieving Lost Data on HD

I've had my macbook for 9 months and Thursday it started making a clicking noise. I remember accidentally opening iMovie, then all my applications slowed down. The rainbow wheel wouldn't go away and everything froze (clicking noise continued). So I shut it down manually using the power button and instead of starting up, the flashing question mark in a folder popped up. I took my computer to an Apple Store and they told me I can either get the hard drive replaced, meaning all my data would be lost, or I could contact a hard drive recovery company to try to retrieve as much of it as possible. They said it would be fairly expensive ($500-$1000)..
Does anyone have any experience with any of these companies? Do they try to fix your old hard drive (I've noticed that a number of other people have had problems with 9-month old macbooks) or do they retrieve as much data as they can and save it to a new hard drive? And how long could this process take? I am a college student and I need access to a computer as well as the information on my own laptop.

Funny I has a very similar problem with my 8 mo old MacBook on the 15th and got the same reply from the Genius at the Apple Store today.
I spoke with someone at one of those companies located in the Boston area. They could look at my computer with in the hour if it was an emergency, turn around time could be pretty quick or take up to a week. They charge $95 to look at it and then will give you a list of files they can retrieve. You can then make a decision as to whether they should go ahead and recover. The fee for them to actually recover your files is $500 at a minimum and it could be higher. They do not fix your hard drive. They said my warranty would still be valid when they were done. hope that helps...I can't decide what to do for myself, it was just pictures that I had not backed up yet. Good luck.

MacBook won't startup - question mark in folder - is Hard Drive the problem

My 10 month old MacBook 2.0 gHz running 10.4.9 will not start-up. After 9 days of running with just putting it to sleep (once a log-out, log-in); I came down after breakfast to see the screen-saver -- but nothing else. OK I usually do a restart every 1-4 days, so now's the time.
That's when I hear a slight click-tack, click-tack and after 20-30 seconds see the folder with the Question Mark.
I've tried starting with control-command keys held down; tried resetting the PRAM and even resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)-- but nothing works--
I have lost only about 48 hours of information, as I have a backup from late 9 April 2007 (with 17 years of information...)-- and I am using SuperDuper! to transfer that to my G3-733 -- to one of the 2 hard drives I have on that Mac.
BUT WHAT about the data I've lost-- 2 days is not the end of the world, but the apple service store near me says it will take 10-15 days to get my MacBook serviced...
I PLAN TO PURCHASE DISKWARRIOR 4 in a few hours and try that. BUT since Disk Utility cannot see the hard drive (likely it has 'crashed', right? There is essentially nothing to see, right?-- I don't know how my $100 towards DiskWarrior is going to help or??
ANY SUGGESTIONS APPRECIATED.
Thanks and regards,
Steve Schulte on 12 April 2007

Well thank you again and I've clicked on SOLVED here-- You really have made my day (after I thought it had been ruined!) Writing to you from Belgium, it's nearly 6pm and the MacBook goes to the shop tomorrow.
Fortunately with SuperDuper! I have essentially lost nothing other than 2 days of out-going eMails and some other reports-- and now incremental backups will be a DAILY event!
One last idea: Is there any way to possibly activate the hard drive? I mean it stopped working while just sitting there-- it's not like I dropped it or anything-- just sitting on the coolpad! If I could just get it to spin I could (maybe) copy the data-- the computer works fine otherwise-- I've booted from an external HD with 99% of the files saved (as previously mentioned)-- just too bad...
OK "Live and Learn, or at least you live..."
Again-- super help-- thanks!
Steve
12 April 2007

Another question mark in folder only more confusing!

So pretty much here's my problem. I turned my MacBook Pro off last night and I turned it on this morning and it makes he start up chime then nothing for a few minutes then the famous question mark inside a folder pops up. Now this happened about 2 months ago so I'm not really impressed with apple at the moment. Anyway after it done this the first time I took it into Apple, they said it was the hard drive and had to be replaced which I'm on warranty so I didn't mind. However this time, when I go into disk utility (I have tried resetting the PRAM didn't work.) It shows my hard drive so it knows its plugged in and connected I've look at the hard drive itself and made sure all the cables were where they should be an still nothing, it doesn't show my hard drive as Macintosh HD this time it's the Drive model which is TOSHIBA.
Any help will be totally appreciated thanks guys.

The folder with the question mark means the firmware can't find the volume it's assigned to boot from in System Preferences > Startup Disk.
If you hold the option key down on a wired or built in keyboard while booting, Startup Manager launches and you can see your choices of bootable options.
If OS X is there, then select it and make the changes in System Preferences > Startup disk.
If OS X is not there, it could mean either the drive, the Macintosh HD partition, or the data of OS X itself is corrupted.
Since it's a new drive, if it was restored from a TimeMachine backup or clone of the old drive, the OS X may still be corrupted, just the data now and not the drive that originally caused it.
You can about fixing the issue in place, or wipe and install OS X.
Run through this list of fixes and it hopefully should get you up again, the last options is to wipe and install fresh.
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
If you've eliminated software as the cause, then I would suspect something is wrong with your NVRAM which stores the data of what volume to boot from.

Flashing question mark and folder icon

Hi
I got the dreaded flashing folder/question mark icon a couple of days ago I used a friends computer to read the information in these forums and eventually managed to get my iMac to start up again. I have a very recent Time Machine back up, so am not worried about losing anything. During the numerous re-start attempts I decided to **** with it and do a re-install of the software, but the HD icon wasn't showing up as an option. If thats what I have to do then so be it.
A lot of the posts talked about a Apple Hardware test, which involves a re-start. If I do that I am afraid that I wont be able to start again
Any suggestions about what my best move would be?
Thanks in advance
By the way, what causes this to happens? Is it a hard or soft ware issue?
Message was edited by: Tony Hague

It sounds like you may have an intermittent issue with that hard drive. I would get it replaced--especially if it's under warranty.
Dave M.
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Question Mark in folder window header

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