Start up results in Folder with a happy face??

Hello all,
When ever I start up in Panther, I get the little folder with the smiling mac face and then Panther loads. What does this mean??
Thanks
JerBear65

It means you have not set the startup disk. Open the Startup Disk preference pane in System Preferences. Select your startup volume from the icon list, the click on the Restart button. That should fix it.

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After trying to backup my hard drive i can't get my G4 quicksilver to boot. I get the old icon of a folder with a split face that alternetes with a flashing question mark

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I doubt it's CCC's fault, possibly a bad DIMM, or slot, or corrosion in the slot.
How large is the drive? Which G4? Some can only handle 128-123 GB Drives. Is it an old drive?
So we know more about it...
At the Apple Icon at top left>About this Mac, then click on More Info, then click on Hardware> and report this upto but not including the Serial#...
Hardware Overview:
Model Name: eMac
Model Identifier: PowerMac6,4
Processor Name: PowerPC G4 (1.2)
Processor Speed: 1.42 GHz
Number Of CPUs: 1
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.9.2f1
If you don't know the model, find the Serial# & use it on one of these sites, but don't post the Serial# here...
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html
http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php
How to find the serial number of your Apple hardware product...

Start up stuck on folder with happy face.

So I went to use the computer and the mouse icon wasn't showing at all. So I tried hitting force quit and nothing happened. So then I turned the power off and attempted to restart. At first it was flashing with a smiley face alternating with a question mark, now it's stuck on just the smiley face. Can anyone help?
Thanks!

Do you have OS 9 (Classic) selected as the startup disk? If not, then are you able to boot into OS X?
A flashing folder with a question mark and/or a sad mac icon indicates a missing or corrupt system folder. Unfortunately, a reinstall of the system may be necessary. Try to recover any lost data by bringing into the Apple Store near your place of residence and have them target boot the laptop for you (They also may be able to further help you with your problem). They then can burn the files that you need the most to disc as a backup.
Good Luck.

My G5 is starting up with an icon of a file folder with the smile face. Motor runs loudly and then nothing. What is going on?, my G5 is starting up with an icon of a file folder with the smile face. Motor runs loudly and then nothing. What is going on?

My G5 is starting up with an icon of a file folder with a blue smile face. The motor will run loudly for a few minutes and then nothing. I can not get it to run at all.
Any suggestions?

Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.
If that doesn't work, Does it boot to Single User Mode, CMD+s keys at bootup, if so try...
/sbin/fsck -fy
Repeat until it shows no errors fixed.
(Space between fsck AND -fy important).
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

Help! Macbook can't start up and a folder with a symbol "?" in it.

my english is not good
i hope u can understand what i said about the situation
about 4 days ago,i opened a psd file in may mac,but my mac worked very hard at that moment.and the cursor turned like a coloful circle
then i shut down the power
after couple of hours i opened the computer again,but terrible thing happened
it could't start up,just a blank screen, a folder with a symbol "?" in it.
someone told me maybe there was something wrong with the hard drive
so i put the system disk 1 into the computer and use the Disk Utility but it can not find my hard drive!!
Disk Utility show that only a cd,no hard drive
what happened with my mac? can anybody help me?
Message was edited by: noirz

thx ^_^
i bought my mac in september last year so i still can get some care with my mac from apple inc.
$1600 is too expensive and it's not my mistake about the situation.
i found many people have this problem: computer doesn't work -> shut down the power -> can't restart ->hard drive crashed
so, don't u think the hard drive is too weakness? i've never got any problem like this when i use other computers
sigh... the most important thing is send my computer to the service
T_T ...pictures...movies...music...memory...etc..

Start up showing a folder with a ? in the middle

Just switched on my iMac and all I get is a grey screen with a folder icon in the middle with a ? In it. I'm assuming this is not good but is there anything I should try?
Thanks
David

That folder means that your Mac is unable to find any bootable device. It may mean two things:
Your Mac forgot which the startup disk is.
Your Mac cannot detect the hard drive.
To discard the first reason, turn on your Mac and hold the Option (Alt) key until you see all bootable devices in the display. If you see your OS X partition, choose it, and after starting up, go to System Preferences > Startup Disc, and select your OS X partition.
If you do not see any device to start up your Mac, it is a more serious problem, as it probably means that your hard drive is damaged. At this point, if you are a non-expert user, I would recommend you to take the Mac to an Apple Store or reseller. Other users may recommend you to reinstall OS X, but this will not solve anything if your hard drive is the problem.

Can't start my laptop - file folder with a question mark is on the screen -

what should I do? got my new Macbook only one month ago. now traveling, but can't start up the computer.

You can try a few things, but if they fail then only reinstalling OS X will fix the problem. Try the following:
Delete caches to resolve some startup problems:
Boot into single-user mode. After the system prompt appears enter the following lines pressing RETURN after each:
/sbin/fsck -fy
Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found:
** The volume (nameofvolume) appears to be OK
If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message:
*** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED ***
If this message is returned repeat the command until the OK message is received. If you repeat the command more than seven times without receiving the OK message, then your drive cannot be repaired. Do not proceed beyond this point.
/sbin/mount -uw /
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/*
You will be asked to enter your admin password. It will not be echoed.
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions.mkext
sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS
sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/com.apple.LaunchServices*
sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/*
reboot
Please write down the above commands carefully as you can create a bigger problem if they are not entered correctly.

Mac won't start blinking folder with ?

Hello have a question, my mac won t start, it appears a folder with a ? Inside....can anybody help me.....

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. 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. 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.
If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

Blinking folder with a question mark

I just bought a 2008 MacBook and all as sudden it starts showing a blinking folder with a question mark in it. Anyway to fix this?

The question mark on a blinking folder is to tell you there is no Operating System on the computer. Since this is a 2008 MB it can run Snow Leopard (operating system 10.6). You can buy a copy here:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
If the MB can be upgraded further you can buy more recent OS from the App Store.

Blinking folder with a question mark at startup.

Dear all.
I am a newby with Macs and I just found an iMac G3 266Mhz. (Why anybody would throw a Mac away is beyond me but anyhow)
When starting up I just get a blinking folder with the question mark.
I can start up with an CD of Mac OS 9.2 but when wanting to install the software I get an error message about my firmware not being up to date etc etc... when going through the things I have to do for an firmware upgrade I get an error message saying disk locked....By browsing through these pages I found that that was most likely due to starting up from the CD.
But now I'm not able to start up from any other folder then the CD.
If I select to start up from the hard disk I just get the folder icon with the question mark again.
Please please please can anyone help me....or I am doomed to using PC´s forever.
Irol

Hi Irol
You're in a sort of catch 22 situation. You have to run the firmware upgrade while running from the HD.
Anyway. Try this
Start up from the CD as you did before then copy the firmware update app onto your hard drive .
While running from the CD open the HD and look for the "System Folder"
What does it look like? Is it a plain folder or is it a folder with the picasso face?
It should have the picasso face.
If it's a plain folder do this.
Open it and locate a file called "System" - it will have the picasso face. Drag the file out of the system folder onto your desktop.
Now close the system folder.
Now with one swift action - drag the picasso file and drop it onto the closed system folder - do it quickly so that the folder doesn't open. Then wait a moment.
The picasso face should appear on the systgem folder. Now try starting the mac normally.
Does it work?
If so, run the firmware updater. There are two versions, one for a tray loader and one for the slot loader. It you get the wrong one it will tell you, It will also tell you if the firmware is up to date.
Anyway, if you can't start the mac other than from the CD it is most likely that there is some corruption on the disk. A good tool to use is Diskwarrior - it's a bit expensive but it's a staple of my toolkit - it's far more efficient than both Norton and Techtool.
Another alternative - but probably more difficult. is to run from an 8.6 or 9.0 CD if you can find one - ebay?
Just to say - the flashing question mark is the system's way of saying "I cannot find a valid start-up folder"
Hopefully one of the above will get you going.
The fact that you can start the mac up from the CD says that the mac itself is OK - I wonder if it was thrown away because the owner couldn't sort it out.

Computer crashed - now I get folder with question mark on startup

Last week my computer froze when I was using it.
I waited about 15 minutes and it was still frozen. So I powered it off.
I re-started computer and ran Disk Warrior. It repaired some files. Now when my computer re-starts I get the folder with the question mark for several minutes -- and then it boots up.
What is the file it's looking for? Is there any way I can fix it?
Thanks.

Hi, Sean.
This indicates the system was having problems finding the startup disk.
1. In System Preferences > Startup Disk, be sure the desired disk is selected as the Startup Disk.
2. As a general check, run the procedure specified in my "Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption" FAQ. Perform the steps therein in the order specified.
3. See also "A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac."
4. Did you write down the errors found by Disk Warrior or save the report? The worst-case scenario here is that the OS is corrupted and has to be reinstalled via Archive and Install. See my "General advice on performing an Archive and Install" FAQ for some important tips on this process if you decide to go that route as no other troubleshooting has corrected the problem.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

** Flashing folder with question mark **

This is my first time here because I don't know where else to go.
I am on my 5th Apple computer in 7 years. I have went through 2 laptops and 2 desktops. I just purchased my 3rd laptop because I have to have it for what I do. I don't have time to wait and see if the old one can be repaired.
Just last week, I experienced, what appears to be, another hard drive crash. On start-up, a blinking folder with a question mark appeared. I did all the things I was suppose to do before I was told to see a certified Apple repair person. Last time this happened, I took my hard drive to the right people and a week later they told me I had lost my hard drive. Last time my computer was still under warranty. This time it is not So instead of waiting for them to tell me the same thing again this time, I just bought another computer. I suppose I shouldn't get too upset until I get the final word from a technician, but it's hard to have any kind of hope after going through this blinking folder thing before.
I have spent an incredible amount of money over the last 7 years on mac computers. (Obviously.) I just do not understand. Most people say I must just have bad luck, others say I run my computers hard. I am a photographer and do process a lot of pictures through Photoshop, but I thought macs were made for this sort of thing? Any insight into this? How do I find the right people to talk to at Apple?
Thank you so much for your help.
Val

chloemilskit wrote:
I just have a hard time believing that this many can die on me like they have.
I'm not sure how many failures you have had and how many were true hardware failures. A corrupt file system is more likely than a hard drive failure. A reinstall should fix that. If the reinstall process hangs, then the hard drive is dead.
I have a fellow graphic designer friend who has been working on the same mac since college.
It is all about "mean-time between failure" and the law of averages. Truly random processes don't look random when looking at a small number of instances. But, in the end, all hard drives fail. Your friend is living on borrowed time.
I have had people say "why in the world do you keep buying mac then?"
That has nothing to do with it. Macs and PCs all use identical hard drives. These days Macs are about 92% identical to PCs. Years ago, Apple used to prefer Quantum hard drives and they seemed (to me at least) to have noticeably more reliable. But then Quantum was bought out and I think their buyer was recently bought out. Hard drives are now bigger and cheaper than ever before but also less reliable. There is a reason why Apple made the Macbook hard drive so easy to swap out.

Safely saving Data when you have the gray folder with question mark?

I'm starting to get the folder with the question mark and I've tried everything but reinstalling Mavericks. I don't want to reinstall because I really need my data. Is there any safe way for me to save my data before I fix the problem on my mac? Would firewire work? I don't have the cable but I don't want to go and buy one right now without knowing if it will work. I'm not all that knowledgeable on computer terms either. If anyone can help I'd REALLY appreciate it.

What model of Mac is it?
Do you have a backup of the Mac or any of the files on it?
Do you have access to another Mac & a disk large enough to copy the data from the failing Mac?
Using 'Target disk mode' with Firewire or Thunderbolt may work to read data however you need another Mac to access the failed Mac and a cable to connect between them. Obviously the connection types depend on the Mac model(s). You need Firewire or Thunderbolt on each Mac.
Target disk mode - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
How did you get into this situation? Did the Mac just start doing it or have you run some cleanup software or done something else recently?
The flashing question mark means it cannot find a valid startup disk.
1. Try holding alt at startup & see if a list of disks appears. Select the main boot disk if it appears, otherwise hold the power button to shut down if nothing appears - report what happens here.
2. Boot into recovery & see if the main disk shows up & can be verified/ repaired.
Boot holding cmd+R. Recovery mode should startup (assuming you have a recovery partition).
Select Disk Utility in the list of options
In Disk Utility select the 'boot disk' this is usually the item above 'Macintosh HD' (or whatever your boot disk is called).
Select the 'First Aid' tab
Repair any disk damage that is reported via 'verify'. Then select The 'Macintosh HD' & repair the permissions too.
3. It may be possible to run third party repair or recovery tools, do you have Disk Warrior, Tech Tool Pro or any other Mac apps for this?
4. Report back here with info about what other Macs you can access etc
5. It may be possible to reinstall 10.9 without loosing your data, the default 'reinstall OS X' option will try to replace the OS files & leave all your user data intact. If the disk is still functioning & has a valid partition this could make it bootable. HOWEVER if the disk is damaged beyond repair it will need to erase the disk - DELETING all your data. Personally I would take a backup before doing this, even if it meant waiting to use a friends Mac (or a trip to the Applestore).

Putting old HD back in.... folder with question mark error

I wasn't successful installing the larger Hardrive because the computer just spit out the cds when i tried to boot them. Perhaps something wrong with the optical drive.
So i decided to put the original HD back inside but every-time the computer starts i get a Folder with a question mark on it???
Does anyone know why i'm getting this? thanks

Hello,
The blinking ? means one of the following:
You didn't install the HDD correctly.
The hard drive is corrupt.
The OS has become corrupt.
I'd do the following:
Re-install the drive. Pay particular attention to ensuring the Master/Slave pins are set correctly.
If that fails to solve it, then run an Archive and Install from the OS X Install disk.
mrtotes

Start up results in Folder with a happy face??

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