Startup with question mark flashing..how to do

Hi;
mac book air startup with question mark flashing..how to do

Check the advice in this knowledge base article.

Similar Messages

I installed the window 7 os in to my mac book pro. after that the partition is not supported and then the folder with question mark flashing on my screen. plaese helf me what to do next to resume the mac os x?

i installed the window 7 ultimate OS in to my mac book pro. after that the partition is not supported and then the folder with question mark flashing on my screen. plaese helf me what to do next to resume mac mac os x?

Assuming that you tried to install Win 7 in bootcamp.
Power on the machine and press and hold the "option" key when you hear the bong sound.
Select the Macintosh HD icon and press "return" or just click on the icon.
Once booted into OS X go to System Preferences and select the Startup Disk icon and configure startup to use the Macintosh HD.

Initial startup with question marked folder with a disk already inside

Initial startup with question marked folder with a disk already inside

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.

Folder with question mark flashing n screen

HELP my son's mac bok pro is flashing a folder with a question mark. How do we fix this? He has a report due and he cannot get past this.
Thanks

10.8 Mountain Lion
One of these steps may be helpful.
1. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11046
2. Use Startup Manager to select Startup disk.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1310
3. Repair Disk
   Steps 2 through 8
   http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
4. Reset PRAM.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405

Switched on my imac 24inch intel based and all I get on screen is a folder with question mark flashing,I had backup on external hard drive but when I try to reinstall it can not find my mac hard drive

Hi when I started my intel based imac this morning all I am getting is a folder with question mark in the middle flashing,I have external hard drive with backup,but when run disc utilities it does not show my mac hard drive.hope someone can help.(it's running mountain lion, well it was)

Try starting up your Mac while holding down the Option key. That should prompt the Startup Manager window where you can select the startup disk then click Restart.
The question mark folder indicates your Mac cannot find a system folder to boot from.
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac

Folder with question mark flashing.. help me

sorry for my english ..
later on, my macbook was working fine until i went to utilities to format my macintosh hd but accidently i removed it so it shutted down on its own i dont no why but now it shows a folder with a question mark flashing i am trying to install my mac os x dvd it doesnt complete and also in utilities the startup disk has a question mark it show the mac os dvd and an internet..

Reinstall the HDD. The display is indicating that it cannot find a bootable HDD.
Look at these support articles for additional information:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
http://https://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
Ciao.

Frequent startup with question mark folder icon--a diagnostic challange!!!

I recently obtained a 500 mhz G4 Cube; I transplanted memory, video board, video riser board, and DVD/CD drive from my old (dead) 450mhz G4 Cube (logicboard and DC-DC board were fried) to the 500 mhz Cube AND I added a Western Digital 80gb hard drive. The problem involves frequent startups with the question mark folder (Mac OS logo alternates with question mark).; Eventually the system folder is found and OS 10.4.11 starts up--sometimes in 20 seconds and sometimes in 3, 4, 5 minutes or longer..........I have tried 2 brand new batteries after numerous PRAM (via keyboard) and CUDA resets (depressing the CUDA button on the motherboard just once and then installing the new battery). The battery terminals in the Cube look perfect--no corrosion. With the new battery, startups were fine for a day but now 4 out of 5 times, I will get the question mark folder. Using Disc Utility, I fixed any errant permissions and the hard drive checks out with zero problems. Once running, the Cube works great, but these startups are maddening. One other issue; if I start up with the G4 Cube 9.1 installation disc, the install program DOES NOT recognize any bootable discs; whilst starting up using the Tiger Upgrade install disc, my 2 bootable discs (partitions of my Western Dig. hard drive) ARE recognized. Any ideas would be greatly welcome!!

I believe I have solved the problem regarding the question mark startup---> after rechecking all cable connections to HD, OD, and logic board, I revisited the jumper setup on the HD; it turns out that I set the HD up to be the MASTER, but what I should have done was set the HD to be the MASTER with attached SLAVE. Since reconfiguring the jumper, all startups have so far been normal. Also, I did install OS 9 drivers, but I the OS 9.1 install disc still does not recognized my 5 gig partition when starting up from the CD; this is minor in retrospect as I can still use the classic mode with a earlier version of OSX that does not hog so much disc space.

White Screen with Question Mark Flashing

Hi
All the sudden I have the white screen with the flashing question mark. I have a macbook pro 2010. I unscrewed the bottom of my Mac and wiggled a couple of wires around and it actually booted up and ran for a while. Then it started to freeze on me. I put in the Mac disk, and I went to the disk Utitlity and it says disk 2 Mac OS X Base System. So it looks like it is reading the Hard Drive, but I don't know because I do not know that much about computers. The thing is it will not let me erase or repair that drive. Does anybody have any idea on what this is? I used my computer around 1:30 in the afternoon and then came home to do homework around 5 and in a matter of 4 hours my computer does not work. I am guessing that it is probably something serious and I will not be buying mac again.
Any Help??
Thanks,
Matt

Hi
All the sudden I have the white screen with the flashing question mark. I have a macbook pro 2010. I unscrewed the bottom of my Mac and wiggled a couple of wires around and it actually booted up and ran for a while. Then it started to freeze on me. I put in the Mac disk, and I went to the disk Utitlity and it says disk 2 Mac OS X Base System. So it looks like it is reading the Hard Drive, but I don't know because I do not know that much about computers. The thing is it will not let me erase or repair that drive. Does anybody have any idea on what this is? I used my computer around 1:30 in the afternoon and then came home to do homework around 5 and in a matter of 4 hours my computer does not work. I am guessing that it is probably something serious and I will not be buying mac again.
Any Help??
Thanks,
Matt

TS1440 When booting up, grey screen with a 'folder icon' with 'question mark' flashes?

When I boot up, a grey screen appears with a folder icon with a question mark inside it. The Mac won't respond to and commands or anything, only the On/Off Power button.
Any ideas? If you read my previous question, you can see what happened before all of this started happening.
Thanks,
-Dylan

Did you follow this procedure?
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-install-or-reinstall-mac-os-x-mount ain-lion.html

Mac book air won't start up it has a flashing folder with questions mark. How do I fix it?

Please help!!!

Hold the option key down while booting the machine (wired keyboard) and a list of bootable options appears.
Select OS X and click the arrow, then set the Startup Disk again in System Preferences. Hopefully this will fix the issue and no further problems.
If no bootable options appears, then your internal boot drive could be dead.
If you have 10.7 or later and doing the above shows only RecoveryHD, then your Macintosh HD partition is corrupted.
..Step by Step to fix your Mac

White screen with file folder with question mark flashing?

My iMac wont start. I get a white screen with a file folder. In the file folder is a ?, flashing.

What operating system do you use? If you use Lion, boot in recovery mode (Command and R buttons) and open Disk Utility to see if your hard drive is detected, and if it's detected, click "Verify Disk". If you use Snow Leopard or early, boot from your install DVD, click "Utilities" and open Disk Utility to do the same as for Lion. It sounds like your Mac doesn't have a bootable device, so it could be a lot of things (hard drive broken or formatted, hardware error, etc.). If this doesn't work, reinstall your operating system

I powered up my macbook and there is a file folder with question mark on the screen flashing. What does that mean?

Powered up Mac book and screen showing file folder with question mark flashing?

A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Hope that solves your issue.

At startup I get grey screen and a folder with a flashing question mark. How do I reset my MacBook Pro to the manufacture defaults?

At startup I get grey screen and a folder with a flashing question mark. How do I reset my MacBook Pro to the manufacture defaults?

Click here and follow the instructions. If the computer originally shipped with Mac OS X 10.6.8 or earlier, when you reach step 5, insert its original disk, restart with the C key held down, use the Disk Utility to erase the internal drive, and install a fresh OS.
(113954)

I got new hard driver for my MacBook I don't have the cd but I do have flash drive that has the software I need help because when I turn on my laptop it shows me a file with question mark how can I install the software from the flash driver?

I got new hard driver for my MacBook I don't have the cd but I do have flash drive that has the software I need help because when I turn on my laptop it shows me a file with question mark how can I install the software from the flash driver?

Hold down the Option key while you boot your Mac. Then, it should show you a selection of devices. Click your flash drive and it will boot from that.

MacBook Pro flashes file folder with question mark and startup manager will not run

My son's MacBook Pro won't boot (gets the flashing file folder with question mark). When I try to open startup manager (holding "option" key during boot does not do it). Other posts suggest inserting the install disk, but I am pretty sure that for Lion, there was no disk, it was just off the website through the App Store. Any further suggestions?

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.

Startup with question mark flashing..how to do

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for