Startup Failure (Blinking Question Mark) and more.....

Hi,
I have a G4 iBook that has a problem, with the hard drive I think, but I want to see if anyone has run into this problem. A search of the board didn't yeild much. Anyway, what happens is if I boot the iBook up it will get to a small folder icon with a flashing question mark and mac face. I realize this is an indicator that the startup drive isn't found. If I pinch the lower left corner during a startup then the iBook boots properly. Has anyone seen this behavior before?
Thanks,
Steve

Hi love, I had this problem last october. When I bought my Mac it was an ex-display model with a new hard drive (August 2004). Last October 2006 I restarted my mac only for it to come up with the flashy finder folder / question mark. I was told that this means the Mac can't access the OS - apparently (not gospel!) this means that either your OS is being a bum or your hard drive has died, meaning that your mac can't access the OS 'cos obviously it's stored on your hard drive. I'm not sure how much of that is correct, however when I sent it off for repair, it came back with a new hard drive. I'd also like to say at this point that the Hardware test disk said my Hard Drive was OK but that when I connected my Mac to another Mac via firewire to try and retreive my data it could not access the hard disk.
Sorry to break the bad news to you but it's very very likely you'll need a new hard drive. I am suffering at the moment 'cos my hard drive died again about 3 weeks ago, I got it back 10 days ago and it's gone again now. I have a week before I finish my degree and all my assignments were on there! (Naturally the ones I'd done this week hadn't been backed up yet!)
Good luck with your Mac, let us know how it goes

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Blinking question mark and folder on startup

Hi everyone,
I'm in need of some help. I turned on my mac today and got a gray screen with a little folder icon and a blinking question mark in the center. I'm on a G4 running OS X Tiger. I'm trying to boot using the startup disk but here's the problem, I have an external dvd drive connected by firewire, so the only way I can startup the Tiger dvd is from that external dvd drive. I put the dvd in (only my monitor, mouse, keyboard and the dvd drive are plugged in), restarted, pressed 'c' got the installer menu, went to disk utility but the only hardrive it shows is for my dvd drive (2.6GB LaCieGroup SA) and the icon of the dvd underneath, it does not show the macs hardrive.
I don't know what to do can someone please help are there any other options?
Thanks
Chris

Hi Chris99,
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
Regrets you're experiencing difficulty.
In the absence of any additional details about your scenario, here are my two cents.
The folder icon with blinking question mark implies that your Mac fails to recognize its internal hard drive as a bootable device.
Further, Disk Utility fails to recognize your Mac's internal hard drive.
One possiblity is that your internal hard drive's ribbon cable has come loose. You can test this by opening the G4's case and playing with the cable.
Another possibility is that the hard drive's ribbon cable is defective. You can test this by using another ribbon cable.
A third possibility is that the hard drive has stopped functioning properly. If you have another Mac, you can test this by connecting the G4 to the other Mac using a Firewire cable, then cold boot the other Mac, then cold boot the G4 while pressing the T key. If the G4's hard drive fails to display on the other Mac's desktop, this would support the third possibility. You also can test this by using a third-party hard drive repair utility (Tech Tool Pro; DiskWarrior; Drive Genius).
If you live near to an Apple Store or authorized Apple service shop, you could bring your G4 to a technician there and request a diagnosis.
Hope this helps.

Blinking question mark and smiley face

when mac is powered on a small folder is displayed in the middle of the screen that has on it a blinking question mark that changes to a blue and white face over and over.can anyone offer any suggestions to eliminate this.
thank you

i've had this problem before, and at the time the hard drive was on its way out. you might want to consider replacing your hard drive.

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I wonder if anyone can help me solve this problem. i just bought a mac pro, turned it on and a flashing question mark blinked on the screen. i got on my mac book to search apple.com for the problem and it said to boot with the install disk and hold the c key. i did all that and now i cannot take out the disk. i'm still unable to select a startup disk either. i currently have a mac g5 and loved it but it is old am really surprised with having this problem. can anyone help?

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Depending on how the computer was handled in transit, these things can get jostled loose, and loose RAM or cabling will give you what you observe.
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I did the back up as instructed... Installed a larger hard drive and followed the restore instructions... Now I get a white screen with a folder icon and blinking question mark. When trying to set startup with new drive I get a bless tool error... Help!!

If you have installed a new hard drive , you will need to have formatted it in Disk Utility correctly. This may explain your problem.
Boot into your 10.6 Install disk again at the top menubar > Utilities > select Disk utility and in there select your new hard drive, and select the tab Erase and choose to make the format as Mac OS Extended Journaled. When that is finished look in the main window to make sure that the partition map scheme says GUID Partition Table.
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Blinking question mark on startup - tried lots of things - advice?

Hi,
A friend called me yesterday about a two year old iMac. Got the blinking question mark on startup. So I went over, tried disc utility, but disc utility (off the iMac's install disc) could not even see the hard drive. So I tried TechTool Pro. Same result. TechTool from AppleCare disc, same result, DriveGenius, same result, start up in single user mode, same result, targeted disc mode connected to my MBP, same result, Data Recovery II, same result, connected a Mac via FireWire and started up from that and ran those same diagnostics, same result. None of those could even find - much less repair - the hard drive. It still shows a blinking question mark. It seems like all the hardware is working fine (motherboard, display, etc), except the hard drive. Any advice?
Thanks!
Russ Conte

The machine must be a G5, or it would be older than 2 years. And no AppleCare or it would be in the shop before this. The most likely cause is hard drive failure, as already stated. A fact of life is that all hard drives will fail or have failed.
You can deal with this, providing you can handle a screwdriver. Go to the support area of the Apple Website and click "Manuals" instead of discussions where you are reading this. In the block "search manuals" type "Imac Hard Drive". The next step is to select the instructions for correct machine, and download.
Cost of replacement drives depends upon capacity. One source is macsales.com.
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Final step after installation is to install the OS hopefully from the original disks.
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My iMac has a blinking question mark folder on it and won't let me boot.

I have a late 2009 27 inch iMac whos hardrive failed a while back. A couple days ago i decided to pop in a new hard drive in it, the same brand, just different capacity. I wanted to put windows on it, and tried to boot it with pressing c on the keyboard at startup but encountered a few problems.
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Drive Partition and Format
1. 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 Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
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Sound like a hardware failure / cable / connection
Genius reservation http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/
on-line https://getsupport.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.action
check warranty https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do

Blue and white G3 blinking Question mark

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Use a G5 startup DVD on iBook G4? (Blinking question mark)

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I attempted multiple times to boot and install from the install DVD, but it would usually freeze or crash, so I gave up the effort.
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I bought the iBook used, so there were no install discs, which worries me. But if I can use the discs that came with my G5 to at least perform restore duties, that'd be good.

Check the setting in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
(53439)

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Startup Issues - Resolve
Startup Issues - Resolve (2)

Blinking question mark folder icon on startup (but not always!)

I recently obtained a new hard drive (Western Digital 80gb) and installed the Mac OS on a 500 mhz Cube; the DVD drive was not recognized but I removed the jumper on the drive pins rendering the disc a master and finally, the DVD drive was found so that I could perform the OS install. The problem is that if I start up the Cube after a long period of time having been OFF (e.g., 5 hours) there is the blinking question mark folder (Mac OS logo alternates with question mark). After 3-4 minutes, the startup disc is finally located. Now, if I do a cold restart a few minutes later, there is NO problem on startup. My startup issue always occurs after a longer period of time with the Cube having been OFF. There is a new battery installed, permissions are fixed, the drive checks out without problems with disc utility. What could be the problem?

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[Texas Mac Man's PRAM, battery, PMU tutorial|http://www.geocities.com/texas_macman/pram.html]
[Apple's PRAM reset directions|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238]
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Checking incircuit: powercord disconnected press PMU reset button for >about 5 sec before measuring.
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[Resetting Cuda/PMU on Power Mac G5, Power Mac G4, Power Macintosh G3|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86760]
Message was edited by: Limnos

PowerMac G5: Blinking question mark at startup

I have a 3 1/2 year old G5. When I boot it up, it goes straight to the blinking question mark. I've reset the PRAM, no change. I've tried booting off an installation disk. That gets me to the Apple logo, then the logo pixels go kinda funky and it freezes. I don't hear the hard drive at all during this process; it does not spin up. The CD/DVD drive is obviously spinning, but as I said, it won't boot off an installation disk (I tried three different disks).
I'm assuming the hard drive is bad, but I don't know. I've never had a problem with a Mac before! Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't think of a 3.5 year old Mac as being that old, but I'm a bit nervous about dropping a new hard drive in and wondering if I should just get a new system.
ETA: I have disconnected all peripherals and restarted, and that made no difference.
Message was edited by: Stacia Seaman

I'm having this same problem with a system I just replaced a logic board in. Won't boot off of HD or CD. The HD that is in it is a brand new drive from a different power-mac (the HD from the dead box was moved to the new powermac to get that user back online) so it should be ok, but regardless of that, it won't boot of CD/DVD either.
I guess I don't have anything useful to add. Just a "you're not alone with this problem". If I come across anything that helps, I'll let you know.

I replaced hard drive in macbook pro and when turning on i get a blinking question mark

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Startup Failure (Blinking Question Mark) and more.....

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