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.

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Folder with happy faces & a question marks

My iBook G4 goes from chime to a black page and then to a grey screen with a folder with an alternating happy face & a question mark??? I have reset P-ram. I have run TechTool Pro and fixed all permissions and volumes and I have run Disk Utility and start-up disk off my 10.4 install disk. In all cases, the hard drive was recognized by Disk Utility and TechTool Pro 5. But still no proper startup or restart. I have also " reset nv-ram" and "reset all" from command line.
I have also reloaded 10.4. No change.
Any suggestion on what to try next???????
Thanks

Yes I repaired the disk as well (numerous times). I have also tried an Archive and Install. I have checked the drive for disk corruption with TechTool Pro 5. I have connected via Target mode and see the drive and ran all tests over again. I have even reinstalled 10.4.6 (install disk) with erase of the disk. Nothing seems to work. All diagnostic, repair and connections see the hard drive, but no proper start up.
Is there a possibility that the bios firmware is corrupted or a hardware problem that still allows you to see the drive??? Please note that I had only 4 gig of disk space left on 60 Gig driven (less than 10%)....Yes I know that is bad but I was out of town at the time that it went south.

My iPod Classic has started to display a folder with an explanation mark on it-no tunes! Is there an easy fix?

My iPod Classic has started to display a folder with an explanation mark on it-no tunes! Is there an easy fix?

Exclamation mark!

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.

IPod stuck on folder with exclamation point

My iPod suddenly stopped working and started showing me the apple logo and the folder with the exclamation point over and over again.
I have uninstalled all software, reinstalled, followed everything in the trouble-shooting section on this site. I have tried to manually reset it, but it doesn't recognize that. Windows recognizes the iPod, but neither the updater or iTunes do. I tried to restore it, but it just freezes every time.
Please help!
Caitlin

Welcome to Apple Discussions.
Looks as though there is a problem with your iPod. Better have someone, say at an Apple Store, to check it out.

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.

Folder with face and flashing question mark, what to do when this happens?

I'm sure this has been asked a million times, please help, my brother has a ibook G4, OSX 10.3.9, about 3 years old and now when he turns on the ibook it has a folder with a face in it and a flashing question mark. Do you just leave it and it will sort it self out or is there something to do to make it go away? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

I have replaced a 40 G harddrive with a seagate 160 G drive. When I try to start it it only comes up with the flashing question mark. I have tried to boot off the install CD, but it only flashes the question mark. This is my daughters computer and she really needs it to work for school.
I have tried to "restore" using my new Mac Book and the old 40 G drive in an external USB case. But still is no good. I have used DiskWarrior and the drive will boot.
This is an ibook G4 running 10.4.2

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.

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 stuck on folder with happy face.

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