Questioning Mac on start up

When I am starting up my iMac, I am now getting the 'questioning Mac' for a short while before it starts up. That's like a folder with a question mark appearing on the screen.
I can't think why, I have one operating system and my HD is not partitoned. I have no DVD or CD in the drive. It's not just a one off, it's happening all the time, and I'm not to happy. I had this before on my iMac G3 which was dual boot and occasionally I'd boot into OS9. But not on my new iMac. I feel a bit uneasy about seeing this. Any suggestions?

It sounds like your boot device (your hard drive) is not select. When no predefined boot device is selected, the Mac will show the folder/? screen for a short time, while it examines the hard drives. CD/DVD drive, Firewire, and Network ports for a bootable device. Once it finds a device to boot from, it continues on normally.
Go to System Preferences, Startup Disk, and make sure your hard drive is selected as the boot device.
Tom N.

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Question: I cannot start my iPhone 4. It just "died". I connected it ti my Mac, but tha Mac doesn´t recognise it. Any ideas how to wake the phone.The battery is fine, I just cannot get it working!

Question: I cannot start my iPhone 4. It just "died". I connected it ti my Mac, but tha Mac doesn´t recognise it. Any ideas how to wake the phone.The battery is fine, I just cannot get it working!

See Here for
Frozen or unresponsive iPhone
Try this first... You will not lose any Data...
Press and Hold the Sleep/Wake Button and the Home Button at the Same Time...
Wait for the Apple logo to Appear...
Usually takes about 15 - 20 Seconds... ( But can take Longer...)
Release the Buttons...
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1430
If that does not work... try letting the battery fully drain.
Then Charge for an Hour and try the suggestions again.

If I reset my Mac's PRAM and NVRAM because the question mark in starting up . Will that earase anything ?

If I reset my Mac's PRAM and NVRAM because the question mark in starting up . Will that earase anything ?

Hold the option key down and boot your computer, a row of icons appears, select your OS X and click the arrow
Once in, head to System Preferences > Startup Disk and select yours, this will tell the firmware again what your supposed to boot from.
If that doesn't work, then run through this list of fixes
Step by Step to fix your Mac

Folder with question mark at start up

Why a, I ratting a blinking folder with a question mark at start up. My MacBook will not open beyond that. Is it a ram issue?

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.

Boot problem: sometimes I get a folder with a question mark at start up

I am having a problem lately which I think might be hardware related. I get a question mark in a folder icon on start-up This happens randomly. In most occasions it occurs when I do a cold boot (so the system has been off for a while). As soon as I switch it off and switch it on again, my Mac Pro starts fine. The hard-drive is "verified" in the disk utility and I tried to fix/repair permissions. I also cleared the PRAM, did a firmware reset (option key on startup) and repair disk using the installation DVD. All these thing do not seem to work. I also had this issue sometimes in Tiger.
I do not have a library/receipts folder as someone indicated. I am running 10.5.1
I haven't had any other issues with Leopard so far.
I am wondering if this issue might be hardware related. The S.M.A.R.T. status of my boot up disk is "verified" and I have no other issues in Leopard (no crashes/freezes). So if it is my hard-disk, why does this only occur at startup and not randomly when using other programs?
Any suggestions? I have 3 year Applecare so if there are no solutions... I might use that.

This may occur for several reasons. One may simply be that you need to set the startup volume in the Startup Disk preference - open Startup Disk, select your startup volume, click on the Restart button.
However, more often this is indicative of a problem with one or more required system files for startup. If the problem is simply cache related then you may fix the problem by using a utility such as TinkerTool System or Leopard Cache Cleaner to clear out the system caches then do a restart. However, if you truly have a bad system file then only re-installing OS X is going to fix the problem. You may be able to do this by Archive and Install which doesn't require erasing the drive provided your drive is OK and you have adequate disk space.
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, 4.1 for Leopard) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger, 4.6.1 for Leopard) 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.

Mac mini start up shut down code

I appreciate the two responses, from '300Tech' and TITOUMAX to my original question.
I was reluctant to take the "sudo halt" terminal suggestion since a warning loomed over the danger of losing data.
I was unable to post a copy of the code sequences suggested by TITOMAX since the problem was solved by the time I saw his post.
I received an answer from Apple.
I was able to halt display of start up and shut down code by shutting the Mac mini down and starting the machine while holding down "cmd option PR" keys until the computer gave the normal start sound followed by a repeat of the start sound. This procedure led to a normal start up process and also a normal shut down process without the display of the "start up code" during start up or the display of the "shut down code" during shut down.
By the way, holding down the "cmd option R" keys with my left hand while pressing the Mac mini start button with my right hand and quickly getting my right hand in place to hold the "P" key was tricky, but only took two tries to achieve success.
I was concerned that the display of those lines of code was an indicator of an impending problem. It turned out to be an unintended feature following replacement of the logic board.
By the way, Apple Care has been wortwhile for me.

Thanks for the report, that's called a PRAM reset, CMD+Option+p+r...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

Imac not booting, Able to get to disk ulility with snow leopard disk. Tap on had disk, not given choice to do anything. Information list that smart is certified and partition map is us formatted. How do I get mac to start up again?

Imac not starting up, keep getting white screen. Using snow leopard. Able to get to disk utilities with snow leopard installation disk. Tap on had disk, not given choice to certified disk or anything else. Information on disk states that smart status is certified. Partition map I formatted. Also tried to restore from back up, but get error: not enough disk space. Tried to erase disk, but unable. What do I do next to get mac to start up?

Thank you. That's what I thought will need to happen.
One more question. I tried using the Apple install disk that came with the computer. It's an OS 10.5.6 disk. It does not see my 10.6.8 system internal hard drive to repair. All it see's is itself 10.5.6 disk. Do you think I can use a 10.8+ disk utillity since that is a higher system it will see the 10.6.8. Where the 10.5.6 does not?
I don't want to turn the computer off for fear I'll get the question mark again. P-Ram got me going last time but for how long I don't know? It would be nice to be able to turn the computer off for the night and startup as usual to give it a rest and try to reset itself.
Thanks for your help, I know I will eventually need to re-install. But I am in the middle of a project with tight deadlines and all I can do right now is back-up. Trying to migrate to another computer temporarily to finish the job. That's a lot of extra work in the short time also.
Just trying to put a band-aid on it for another couple weeks.

Question mark on start up

how to solve or repair or load the start up program once you see the file question mark on start up

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'll see 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.

Fleshing question mark on start up

Fleshing question mark at start up

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'll see 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.

IMac 5 running Mountain Lion I get message "your Mac OSX start up disc has no more space available for application memory" I have moved approx. 6 apps from the dock but still get same message,what e

Receiving message "your Mac OSX start up disc has no more space available for application memory."
This has just started in past week, I removed about 6 apps from dock to see if it cleared it but message still appears. Mac is iMac 5 with Mountain Lion (10.8.4)
Would appreciate some help.
Barb

The message has nothing to do with available disk space. There is excessive swapping of data between physical memory and virtual memory.
That can happen for two reasons:
You have a long-running process with a memory leak (i.e., a bug), or
You don't have enough memory installed for your usage pattern.
Tracking down a memory leak can be difficult, and it may come down to a process of elimination.
In the Activity Monitor application, select All Processes from the menu in the toolbar, if not already selected. Click the heading of the Real Mem column in the process table twice to sort the table with the highest value at the top. If you don't see that column, select
View ▹ Columns ▹ Real Memory
from the menu bar.
If one process (excluding "kernel_task") is using much more memory than all the others, that could be an indication of a leak. A better indication would be a process that continually grabs more and more real memory over time without ever releasing it. Here is an example of how it's done.
The process named "Safari Web Content" renders web pages for Safari and other applications. It uses a lot of memory and may leak if certain Safari extensions or third-party web plugins are installed. Consider it a prime suspect.
If you don't have an obvious memory leak, your options are to install more memory (if possible) or to run fewer programs simultaneously.
The next suggestion is only for users familiar with the shell. For a more precise, but potentially misleading, test, run the following command:
sudo leaks -nocontext -nostacks process | grep total
where process is the name of a process you suspect of leaking memory. Almost every process will leak some memory; the question is how much, and especially how much the leak increases with time. I can’t be more specific. See the leaks(1) man page and the Apple developer documentation for details.

My mac pro start up slowly

my mac book pro is almost one year old and version 10.7.4, after i updated this version my mac book start up way slower than before

Hi, and a Warm Welcome to the Power Mac G5 Forum!
Well - not personally familiar with the Mac Pro... but, starting with the "Late 2005" dual-core G5s, the Startup bong was routed through the puny internal speaker, even if external speakers were connected, and no matter what sound preferences were selected.
Think the change was made after one or two heart failures when people forgot to turn the volume down after a heavy session the night before...
With speakers connected to the optical digital audio-out port, the Startup sound goes to the puny internal speaker also - even on this pre-dual-core G5.
Presume the Mac Pro is the same - but you could check by searching, or posting a question in the Mac Pro forum
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1124
Good Luck.

Hard disc dead??? flickering folder with question mark on start up

I get a flickering folder with question mark on start up, and i cant get into mac osx.
I tried the hardware test and it detected no problems. Ive tried to do an install with the disc but no harddisc was detected to install it on.
I cant believe my harddisc is broken all my work is gone (backing doesnt help with configurations etc)

I know many of you don't understand english. Basicly what the articel tells us is that there is a problem with the harddrive due to a contruction caused error.
I would say please do something about it. Start a program to solve this problem
Thank you very much (my seagate still works, lets see for how long!!!
Der Festplatten- und Datenrettungsspezialist Retrodata aus der englischen Grafschaft Hampshire gibt eine beunruhigende Warnung an MacBook-Besitzer heraus. Apple-Notebooks, in denen ab Werk Seagate-Festplatten arbeiten, sind nach seinen Untersuchungen mit einem Fabrikationsfehler konfrontiert, der zum Totalausfall der Festplatte mit einhergehendem Datenverlust führen kann.
Nach eigenen Angaben erhält der Spezialist eine Vielzahl dieser ausgefallenen Platten zur Wiederherstellung von Daten. Die Untersuchungen von Retrodata zeigen, dass der Schreib-Lesekopf der Festplatte mechanisch ausfällt. Dies führt dem Spezialisten nach zu tiefen Kratzern auf der Oberfläche der magnetischen Scheiben mit entsprechenden Datenverlusten.
Anwender können schnell selbst feststellen, ob ihr MacBook gefährdet ist. Die betroffenen Segate-Platten sind ausgestattet mit der Firmware in Version 7.01. Zeigt der System-Profiler, zugänglich über den Befehl “Über diesen Mac… / Weitere Informationen” im Apfel-Menü, in der Kategorie Serial-ATA ein Laufwerk mit der Hersteller-Kennung ST und der Versionsnummer 7.01, dann besteht nach diesem Bericht ein hohes Ausfall-Risiko. Die Firma rät allen betroffenen Anwendern ein Backup der Daten anzulegen und umgehend ihren Händler zu kontaktieren.

Question about Rescheduling Start Date of a Task

Question about Rescheduling Start Date of a Task
I'm trying to determine whether the 'Reschedule' action is appropriate to my situation...
I have a service that consists of 4 tasks. The first 3 tasks will be completed immediately and then the request's 4th task will sit in a queue for about a month so that all of these requests can be grouped together and fulfilled during a few overnight work sessions.
While the 4th task is waiting to be fulfilled, the technician will be contacting the requestor to schedule the work to be done sometime during a 3 day window. The technician needs to specify which of the 3 days each request will be worked on. I'm not sure if I should store the date in a service form field or have the technician reschedule the task so that the start date of the task is set to one of the 3 days. If I use the reschedule feature, are there any downsides?
The advantage of using the reschedule feature is that the scheduled start date can be displayed in ServiceManager's task list and can therefore be sorted on and queried. This wouldn't be possible if I stored the date in a dictionary field on the service form. In that case, I'd have to use custom reports to group the tasks by start date.
Please let me know your thoughts...
Thanks,
Scott

This strikes me as a very good use of this feature, since your need to to have the date for this task rescheduled/reflected in ServiceManager. This is the specific effect of using this feature.
For the benefit of others reading this post, remember: this rescheduled date will not change the due date for the service.

My MacBook Pro version 10.7.5 4GB (keeps crashing with the error message 'Your MAC OSX start up disk has no more space available for application memory' - what do i do

My MacBook Pro (version 10.7.5 4GB)keeps crashing with the error message 'Your MAC OSX start up disk has no more space available for application memory' - what do i do. I keep force quitting the applications and turning the computer off but it happens again after a while

Hhow much goal and free hard disk space is available? Sounds like you need to move some things off of that hard drive.

My mac doesnt start. All i get is the gray screen with the apple and the loading icon but nothing more happens. I tried to start it in safe mode but it doesnt help. What can i do?

My mac doesnt start. All i get is the gray screen with the apple and the loading icon but nothing more happens. I tried to start it in safe mode but it doesnt help. What can i do?

If you have a external USB enclosure - trying installing your hard drive in that enclosure and connect it to your usb port - restart your macbook while holding down the options key. If you Macbook boots to your desktop then you have a faulty cable. If you get the same error, then your hard drive just died on you.
good luck.

Questioning Mac on start up

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