Startup screen folder with a question mark
My nephew is at sea in the Navy. His macbook suddenly only starts up with a question mark folder and he has no disks with him. Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance
Same thing happened to me with my new Macbook (see my thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1246710&tstart=45)
I spent over an hour with the Apple tech person over the phone and he came to the conclusion that the my hard drive was malfunctioning. My Macbook is now in the shop getting a new hard drive.
Similar Messages
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My screen has gone blank on startup and occasionally a grey folder with a question mark appears. I have tried rebooting either by pressing the start up with power or pram.. Neither attempts have worked ! My iMac is 2008. Please help :)
Hey Carolinearnold!
I have an article for you that seems to address this issue and can provide some troubleshooting steps for you:
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Have a good one!
-Braden -
I had to restart my iMac and when it came back on the screen shows a file folder with a question mark. What should I do?
Did you move any system files? It's looking for the system folder. You can startup from the system CD by inserting the CD and restarting the computer and at the same time hold down the C key. The computer will boot from the CD. At that point run the disk utility and check your hard-drive. It the problem persists then do a fresh clean install of the system folder and that should help you get back on track.
Good Luck. -
Hi Everyone, I have tried all the solutions mentioned by apple and still have a white screen with a blinking file folder with a question mark in the center, anyone have any ideas or experienced this?
Nooo or you would use OS X Recovery Mode: Disk Utilty and then Startup Disk.
Mac OS X & Mountain Lion Community
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/os_x_mountain_lion?view=discussio ns
Recovery Mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
ExpressLane
https://expresslane.apple.com/
Mac OS X Help
http://www.apple.com/support/macbasics/
Isolating Issues in Mac OS
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1388
https://www.apple.com/support/osx/
https://www.apple.com/support/quickassist/
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/help/
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/tour/
Get Help with your Product
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304725 -
My iMac is completely unresponsive. Whenever I restart it, it's just a white screen with a flashing file folder with a question mark in the middle. What does this mean?
this means the mac cannot find the startup disc. which more times than not means you need a hdd replacement.
try starting holding the option key, then using utilities try to repair the disc. -
My MacBook screen is displaying a blank screen with a folder with a question mark on it. Can't get it to respond. Tried rebooting and folder with question mark comes back up. Does anyone know what to do? Thanks.
Question (?) Mark, Blinking Folder, or Gray Screen at Startup
These are related but not identical issues. Their causes are outlined in Intel-based Mac- Startup sequence and error codes, symbols. Solutions may be found in:
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Mac OS X- Gray screen appears during startup
In most cases the problems may be caused by:
Problem with the computer's PRAM - See Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM.
Boot drive's directory has been corrupted - Repair with Disk Utility.
Critical system files are damaged or deleted - Reinstall OS X.
The disk drive is physically non-functional - Replace the hard drive.
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.
The main difference if you are using Lion or Mountain Lion is that you must first boot from the Recovery HD:
Boot From 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.
Reinstall Snow Leopard 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.
Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing The 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 the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless. -
Mac Book Air froze up and had to power down by force. When I tried to reboot, folder with a question mark on it is all that shows up on the screen.
Flashing folder with question mark?
Go step by step and test.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1440
Startup Manager to select Startup disk.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1310
Repair Disk
Steps 2 through 8
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
Reset PRAM.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405
Reinstall OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10763?viewlocale=en_US -
Hi, I have an iMac which I just booted up and have a white screen with a blue folder with a question mark blinking on and off. Any help would be appreciated. Tommy
That means your iMac could not find a system to use for startup. That may mean the internal hard drive has become faulty, or the hard drive mechanism is fine, but the startup volume ("Macintosh HD" unless you renamed it) may have some type of data corruption that makes it unbootable.
First, you should try resetting PRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
and if that does not help, use this procedure to reset SMC (power management). If your iMac is from 2008, this is the procedure for Intel (not PowerPC) Macs.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
(This forum category is for "iMac (PPC)," so if this iMac is older (with a PowerPC processor), please post back.)
Disconnect all peripheral devices. When you connect it back to power, if you have been using a power strip of some type, try connecting it directly to a wall outlet, by itself (at least initially). Start up with nothing but the power cord connected, then add only standard mouse and keyboard. If it works, run it that way for a while.
If PRAM and SMC reset have no effect, you should insert your Mac OS X installation disc (for the currently installed system) in the optical drive, and restart with the C key held down. This should get you to the Installer screen, where you can run Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
In Disk Utility, does the internal hard drive appear in the sidebar? If so, select Macintosh HD in the sidebar and go to the First Aid tab. Use Repair Disk. If an error is found, note if Disk Utility was able to fix it or not.
You can then quit Disk Utility and attempt to restart normally. -
IMac wont boot Past Grey Screen, finder folder with blinking question mark
iMac G5 won't boot Past Grey Screen. The G5 froze and i restarted, It will not go past the grey screen and it has the finder folder with blinking question mark, also the fans kick on wide open. As it atempts to boot a sound plays "beepda beepda beepda beep" that starts quiet and gets louder and repeats a couple of times. I ran a hardware check on the startup disk and all hardware passed. I thought it might be the RAM any suggestions?
I have restarted using the troubleshooting methods in the guide.Sorry for the late reply. The drive shows up when booting to disk, but it will not allow you to verify disk or repair. Also it will not allow you to select the hard drive to reinstall the software. Under disk utility Maxtor sabre shows up with total capacity:0 bytes.
I've taking the Mac to the Apple store to get looked at, and its probly the hard drive. Now Im trying to see if theres a way to recover the data myself. I've used software like "Data Rescue" the hard drive shows up "Maxtor Sabre" totally capacity: 0 bytes, and it will not recover anything.
Did this test just to see if it was power problem.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2173
Thats when noticed the beeps are coming from the hard drive. So its getting power.
Now just wondering how to recover data.
Any suggestions? -
If my computer displays a white screen with a folder with a question mark in it...what does this mean?
Hi Pattib123,
The flashing question mark says it can't find a valid system to boot from. Check out this article.
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
Nubz -
When I boot up my I get a grey screen with a flashing folder with a question mark
I was trying to set up a bootable Linux flash drive for another computer using UNetbootin and I accidentally selected an empty partition on my hard drive instead of the USB I was trying to use. It went through the install process, and I didn't realize it was on my computer rather than the USB. The computer worked fine, so I thought nothing of it.
Today, I go to mess with my computer and it is frozen at the login screen. I restart it, and now I just get a blinking folder with a question mark. I try to go into recovery, but it isn't there. Internet Recovery works fine, but when I go to use Disk Utility or to reinstall the OS it cannot find the internal Hard Disk.
What am I supposed to do here? I don't want to lose all my data.greenbil1
You can contact AppleCare to buy a replacement set of the oringinal Install discs for a nominal cost. You will need the serial number and a credit card to place the order. -
does any one know how to fix a problem with my book pro that has a gray screen with a folder with a question mark on it?
Hello Mokhtary123 and welcome to Apple Support Communities,
It will help us diagnose your problem to know the exact model, size, year built, RAM installed and OS you're running.
But basically your system can't find the boot disk. Usually this is a symptom of a dead/dying/corrupted hard drive;
A flashing question mark or globe appears when you start your Mac - Apple Support
OS X Recovery
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT4718 -
When I went to turn the desktop on, the start up sound came on. Then the screen was white with an icon flashing. The icon is a file folder with a question mark on it. I cannot get it to fully turn on. HELP
Run a disk repair tool on the hard disk or install a new OS.
(59898) -
It started while I was using Adobe InDesign, and that program froze, then crashed. When I tried to reopen the program, the error message I received was simply "Error: 16".
I tried to take a screen shot of the error message for reference, and it gave me a message saying I couldn't because I didn't have access to the files where it would normally store the shot.
Attached to my computer at the time was my Seagate Free Agent Go-Flex for Mac backup drive.
So, I closed any open applications, and restarted my computer. But it wouldn't restart. It only displays a grey screen with a flashing icon in the middle of a folder with a question mark on it.
I have no idea what happened - I wasn't using the machine any differently than usual, and it only had a few basic applicaitons open in addition to InDesign (like Preview, Text Edit, Microsoft Word, iCal).
I have MacKeeper on my MacBook, and I keep it clean.
Does anyone out there know what this flashing icon indicates, and if there is anything I can try on my own to fix it?
Thanks.ali har wrote:
It started while I was using Adobe InDesign, and that program froze, then crashed. When I tried to reopen the program, the error message I received was simply "Error: 16".
I tried to take a screen shot of the error message for reference, and it gave me a message saying I couldn't because I didn't have access to the files where it would normally store the shot.
For the Error: 16
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/827/cpsid_82744.html
Seems a uninstall and reinstall of CS is in order.
Attached to my computer at the time was my Seagate Free Agent Go-Flex for Mac backup drive.
May or may not be a contributing factor, may have kicked in at a wrong time or running root code.
So, I closed any open applications, and restarted my computer. But it wouldn't restart. It only displays a grey screen with a flashing icon in the middle of a folder with a question mark on it.
Computer can't find a bootable volume.
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
I have MacKeeper on my MacBook, and I keep it clean.
Well that explains it, MacKeeper is almost malware.
http://applehelpwriter.com/2011/09/21/how-to-uninstall-mackeeper-malware/
Search the forums here for "MacKeeper" they will tell the whole story, crapware.
Disconnect all drives, follow the "Grey Screen" instructions and hold Shift key down while booting, if you get into OS X , immediatly backup your files to another drive and disconnect.
In my opinion you should first check to make sure you have a backup of your data, then just erase the entire internal drive (hold c boot off the 10.6 disk, use Disk Utility), reinstall OS X, same user name, update to 10.6.8, c boot off the 10.6 and Repair Disk (to fix a update error) install your programs and finally return files from backup into the same main user folders like before (Music, Docs, Pictures etc.)
A pain it is, but you've hosed your system and in the process you might as well rebuild everything and have a fast machine again. So happens to clear MacKrapper, uninstall CS5 and any other junk in your system at the same time. Fresh, clean, lean and mean.
Learn to Carbon Copy Cloner to a external drive that new pristine boot drive, you can hold the option key and boot from it (even update it), which is a real bacon saver when something like this happens. Also it's free to use, donations accepted.
http://www.bombich.com/
Note: if anything above I've mentioned is too complicated or your not sure, seek the services of a local computer specialist. -
Any idea what a blank screen with a flashing folder with a question mark inside of it means???
Ambinder55,
it means that the forced shutdown corrupted some portion of the internal disk’s filesystem. Which version of OS X is installed on your MacBook Pro?
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