Starting Up: Folder with Question Mark Icon

I do not know when this problem began whereas I do not restart my Mac that often. But the problem is that whenever I boot up my MacPro now I get this icon that is a folder with a question mark inside of it, and it keeps blinking.
The weird thing is, when I insert the OS X disc and book from the HD where OS X is located, it works just fine and dandy, however, using it without the disc just stays at that folder icon screen.
I have not done anything differently in the past few days to my computer to warrant this so I'm unsure of the problem.

Did you go back to system preferences startup disk control panel and reset it?
Might want to run Disk Warrior once a week as well as before and after doing a backup or restore.

Similar Messages

MacBook won't start, shows folder with question mark. Hard drive fried?

Last night, my MacBook was loading the contents of a message board in Firefox. Someone had apparently uploaded 20 mb photos, or something, because my Mac practically froze trying to render the webpage. I left my Mac running for perhaps 45 minutes. When I came back, I noticed the fans were whirring very loudly, and that the bottom of the MacBook (I'm guessing where the hard drive is located) was very hot. When Force Quit didn't work, I decided to manually shut down the computer by pushing the power button. When I turned it back on the computer made high pitch screching sounds (perhaps from the hard drive) and the computer wouldn't start up, only showing a folder with a question mark?
Is my MacBook fried? I have five years' worth of very important pictures, not to mention all of my other files, stored there and nowhere else. Do you think I can get the files back?

If you see a flashing question mark when you start your Mac, it's probably because it can't find the system software it needs to start up. Usually, all you have to do to get your Mac back up and running is remind it where its software is.
See if this helps: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1440
Also, please backup your data regardless so if you can't retrieve it from the internal hard drive, you don't lose years of info

MacBook fails to start, shows folder with question mark or crossed-circle

My MacBook is only a few months old. It has recently refused to start. The battery is charged, and the power cord is attached. When turned on, it displays the gray screen as well as the apple logo, but not the loading circle. After a minute or two, it switches to either a crossed-circle (such as a no-smoking sign) or a folder with a question mark over it. It seems to cycle through those screens randomly. Has anyone come across this problem before? Any ideas?

It's not recognizing the hard drive. Boot from your system install DVD, run Disk First Aid from your Disk Utility and repair your permissions.
-Bmer
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Blinking folder with question mark icon upon start up? Disk or SATA?

Long story short, disk utility is unable to repair the "Macintosh HD" disk. Re-installing mountain lion is not an option due to the computer's inability to detect the HDD disk. How do I differentiate between a corrupted (dead) hard drive or a broken SATA cable (in which acts as a medium)?
Note: my intentions are to fix the issue instead of resorting to apple care.
Thanks in advance

If you have a known functioning boot drive, you can substitute that for the internal HDD.
You can try to use your current drive externally. Use Startup Manager and if the external HDD appears, select it. If it boots the MBP, then that is an indication that the SATA cable is faulty.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1310
Ciao.

Folder with Question Mark Icon--hard drive kaput?

Hello,
I know there's extensive info on this occurring at startup but I wanted to ask anyone a couple of specifics.
1). My imac is old. It's from 2007 and while I've enjoyed it etc., I understand that it's time has "probably come".
2). No and this is my bad; I've not backed it up. Luckily, there honestly isn't a ton of irreplaceable stuff on it so in worst case scenario it's not a disaster. It's more of a nuisance.
3). I used OSX Leopard.
So here's the meat and potatoes.   Whether its coincidental or causal, I can't say but after I upgraded my iPhone to iOS7, I started to get a couple of "can't connect to iTunes" errors and then suddenly my imac shut down and when I tried to restart, I'd get the grey screen with the ? folder.
I'm not a techie but I tried the gamut of troubleshooting fixes.   In short,
1) I tried rebooting after unplugging peripherals.
2). I tried rebooting while holding the Option key.
3). I tried inserting the OSX install disc and restarting while holding down C. The computer merely ejected the disc.
4). I tried resetting PRAM
On all attempts, the folder icon reappeared. I cannot get any kind of disk utilities tools to open. I cannot get past the folder icon.
I went to the Genius Bar this AM. The techie ran a diagnostic and concluded that my hard drive was dead and that he cold not help me anymore because the machine was too old. He couldn't/wouldn't give me any details presumably because apple has no interest in servicing/dealing with an old machine. All he would say to me is try an authorized reseller.
My experiences with Genius Bar are routinely unpleasant so I can't tell if this guy was truthful.
My questions:
1). Is there another fix I can attempt to get the imac to reboot? If I can get one reboot, I'll go immediately back up everything.
2). Does this sound like a hard drive death?
3). Are my data lost forever?
Thanks!

I tried rebooting while holding the Option key.
If the startup disk is not available from the Startup Manager window, that's an indication that the disk has failed
Genius Bar was most likely correct.

Folder with Question Mark on Boot

I can't get my mac to boot. Instead I get the gray screen and a folder with question mark icon. I'm guessing the HD is dead? Any chance for recovery? If not how much does a new one cost? The one year warranty just expired!
Please help!
Thanks,
Brian

So, what is it? The thing froze today and wont reboot - just a gray screen with NOTHING. Then after about 10 min. the flashing question mark folder appears.
So, I popped in the install DVD that came with the computer, get the little gray Apple logo and it boots from the DVD.
Launch Disc Utility. The HD appears on the left. Click on it - all of the "Verify" and "Repair" buttons remain grayed out. So what the hxll do I do?
I cant boot into single-user mode or any other mode for that matter.
This is a Macbook pro, dual-core Intel, less than a year old.

Folder with Question Mark on Start-up/ DOS-like screen with errors now...

Left my Mac Pro running last night, woke up to it being frozen (looked like it was
in hibernation mode and wouldn't wake up).
Forced a shut down from button on tower - on start-up, went gray screen
with blinking folder with question mark.
Inserted install disc 1 and held down 'C' - Went to choose your lang menu,
I picked English, went to choose start-up disc. Options were the install
disc and a network drive with a question mark. I picked drive with
question mark.
Computer looked like it was trying to restart, apple with loading circle
spinning, and then blinked to a black screen that looked like DOS that was
blinking error messages (one message was "diskOs2 undefined Oxe0030005")
Any suggestions?
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Was there a storm or outage that could have brought it down? for now it sounds like a kernel panic screen is what you are seeing. If you don't have a UPS, I wouldn't be w/o. Never know when one of those high winds will knock out power.
You could try to do an SMC Reset and see.
I assume you usually sleep the system and it doen't have trouble with wake from sleep, and you haven't altered the system (new hardware etc) in any way that would change that.

Folder with Question Mark, to Apple Icon, to Kernel Screen at Startup.

At startup Folder with Question Mark, Followed all steps to resolve it to no avail, I try to re-install Snow Leopard and Apple Icon with Grey screen appears, then Kernel screen.
I cannot get past the Kernel screen. No options to click anything, like system preferences or anything. I have a Macbook, with Snow Leopard. Any help would be much appreciated.
I tried Pram Reset and everything.

Hey, thanks for the quick reply Mende.
I tried that, it goes to the apple icon, however after about 10 seconds of the apple it goes straight to the Kernel screen. It doesn't give me the options of opening anything. Infact it doesn't even have a mouse curser.
If I hold "option" it gives me the option of choosing only the "Leopard DVD" but that's it and then it goes to the Kernel Screen
Again, thanks for the taking the time to help me out.

Folder with question mark and smiling mac face at start up

After I was importing some video today, shut down G5 and on start up I get the folder with question mark and smiling mac face.
Any help?
Power Mac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Boot from a drive with Disk Warrior 4, or your emergency boot drive (FW or alternate) or if you lack that, use single user mode to run fsck command. The last option would be your Tiger DVD but that may be 10.4.3 or earlier and not your best.
I say that because it seems like it was more than just needing to reset the startup disk preference and may have a corrupt directory. It shutdown smoothly and fully?
At the least, using the OPTION key and SHIFT key for Safe Boot. My recollection of trying to do both is that it won't. You can do one or the other, but not both. So running FSCK is just insurance to repair the directory.

My computer has a blinking folder with question mark on it at start... What is going on?

My computer has a blinking folder with question mark on it at start... What is going on?

The hatter wrote:
also that the default is no longer set asin when someone had windows as default and removed it w/o changing Startup Disk panel.
Oh yes, I forgot that people still do that

When I start my iMac 2008, appear something like folder with question mark inside

When I start my iMac 2008, appear something like folder with question mark inside

Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
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 Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
If you are running Lion or later:
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks without erasing 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
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 then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Mountain Lion or Mavericks
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

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.

Flashing folder with question mark on start up + many other issues

About 6 months ago I first encountered the flashing folder with question mark on startup. I fixed the issue myself by unplugging the mouse and keyboard and rebooting. I also did the cmd S fsck -fy before that and all was well.
The other day I had the flashing folder again...I got it going a couple of times but it happened again. Right now I seem to be in deep trouble. Please read the following:
1. I booted up from the leopard dvd and no hard drive was there to run a disk utility on
2. Booted up again from the dvd and hard drive was there. Ran the disk utility and everything was fine...for about 5 minutes. Then the computer froze and I had to hard power down. Rebooted to the flashing folder.
3. Did command s and fsck but at the end I get the message failed to issue comm reset after 3 attempts.....failing....
4. I powered down, vacuumed out the vents, sprayed compressed air to make sure it wasn't over heating from dust buildup as I read somewhere.
5. Booted up...worked for about 5 minutes again.
6. Now I can't get to the hard drive from the install dvd at all...I tried 100 times. Cmd s won't work at all!! So it looks like I am out of options. Does anyone have ny radical solutions that i can try to fix this. There are some very important things on my hard drive that I would be very upset about loosing.
Please reply

Sorry to bear bad news, but most likely the drive is already dead or dying. I hope you backed up everything when the first symptoms appeared.
There are data recovery services, but might be very expensive.
EDIT: Some (a few) people have had success putting the drive (sealed very well in a plastic baggy) in the freezer overnight and then quickly putting it in an external enclosure and getting the data off it that way.
Message was edited by: WZZZ

Flashing folder with question mark at Startup

Here is what I know so far.
- The computer was powered off by pushing the power button without shutting down.
- The computer was then restarted and it was coming into the white screen with the Apple logo in the middle, but i noticed that it was skewed slightly (like someone took a 4:3 ratio screen and stretched it to a 16:9) and then it would show a circle slash icon and then the flashing folder with a question mark on it.
- It would not come up in single user mode (Command + S) and it said that there was an error loading kernel 'mach_kernel'
- It would not come up in safe mode (Shift)(The flashing folder came up again)
- I reset the PRAM (Command + Option + p + r) and it seemed to fix the problem with the stretched screen but did not help the boot situation (still got flashing folder)
- I did the start up where you can select the hard drive to boot with, it owed the HD and i selected it, but then i got the flashing folder with question mark.
- It would not come up in Verbose Mode (Command V) Error loading Kernel again.
- I bought a FireWire cable and hooked it to another MacBook Pro, and booted the faulty Mac into Target Disk Mode, the FireWire logo came up on the screen and bounced around like all forums said that it would, but the drive would not show up on my host. I checked the System Profiler on the host and it did acknowledge the Target Disk Mode was there, but the drive of the target would not show up on the host. I restarted the host, nothing. I checked all of the connections, nothing. I replugged all of the connections, nothing. I even reversed the FireWire cable, nothing.
- I have DiskWarrior 4 if i can get the drive to show up in TDM, but nothing so far.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for your help guys. I managed to get the computer started by holding down C at the Start Up with the Install Disc 1 in the computer. The disc was really kindof unnecessary, as the newest version of Mac OS X (10.4.10) became available via the hard drive.
I then found out that the battery was not installed, so I reset the management system by removing the A/C power, the battery and pushing the power button for 5 seconds, and then reconnecting everything. It did not help, the battery is bad i guess, so I am going to call AppleCare and get a new battery.
Thanks for your help.

My MacBook pro stop working and it shows folder with question mark after this update, it's not my fault, Apple should solve the problem with out ask me to make payment

After updating my MacBook pro it shows only a folder with question mark on it
It is not my fault, Apple updates problem
They should solve it fir me without make any payment
Thanks

Try starting your computer holding down the option key as soon as you hear the startup sound, and continue holding it. Hopefully, you will see the icon for your startup disk come up on your screen within a minute. Click on that icon and press return. If your machine starts up normally from there, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk and reselect your startup volume

Starting Up: Folder with Question Mark Icon

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