STRANGE: FINDER FOLDER WITH A ?
When I start up my PowerBook, a small icon of the Finder icon comes up, and then flashes to a question mark, so it's like Finder, question mark, Finder, question mark....I have no idea what could have happened or how to fix it. Any suggestions????
Hi, chaseu2. How long have you waited for the computer to start before giving up on it? Try waiting at least 15 minutes. Even if no startup disk has been designated using the procedure Cornelius describes, the computer will eventually finish hunting for options and just boot from the internal drive — provided, of course, that there is a bootable OS installed on that drive. If there isn't, or if the installed OS has been corrupted or the disk directory is damaged, then the computer really won't start up at all. In that case, start it up from your most recent OS X installer disc, open Disk Utility on that disc, and use it to repair the computer's hard drive (the "Repair Disk" routine). If any problems are reported to have been repaired, run the same routine again until you get two successive runs with no problems reported. Then open System Preferences and set the internal hard drive as the Startup Disk. Restart the computer, holding down the trackpad button to eject the installer disc, and test again to see whether the Powerbook will boot normally to its hard drive.
Similar Messages
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Finder folder with question mark, now will not start at all!!!
Hey guys, I was working in Avid and i opened up Quicktime, all of a sudden i got a crash log. So i restarted, upon restart i got the finder folder with the blinking question mark. I tried restarting with the OS9 cd by holding down the C button, no luck there. So i moved onto the next step, resetting the PRAM, no luck there (just sat on black for numerous minutes until i let up, then the folder came back). Then I moved onto resetting th PMU, now it will not start up at all. I restart, and all i see is a black screen, nothing. Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance.
The machine im workin on is a Powermac G4 (quicksilver), OS9, 1.5 G Ram, machine bases around Avid Editing system
RhynoOk let me clarify this.
1)system crashed restarted and got the folder with the ?
2) tried to boot from the OS 9 CD no luck? it did not boot?
3)reset pram and still the flashing ?
4) Reset the PMU chip and the mac is dead won't start up at all?
a couple of ideas too...
did you press the pmu button more than once?
Check to make sure the power cord is plugged in correctly etc.
Check the Pram battery to see if it might be dead it should read between 3.3v and 3.7v
also try to restart the computer without other devices plugged into it (USB Firewire, keyboard, even monitor.
hmm...
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3) -
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? -
IBook G4 grey screen,then "finder" folder with "?" flashing, please help!!
Hello again my fellow smarter than me mac lovers. OK, here is my problem. I used my ibook all night last night at work. Used it this morning just fine. My teenage daughter was using it and she stated that it froze on a screen she was looking at on possible you-tube. She proceeded to turn it off (not restart), and when she turned it back on it only responded with a grey screen. After a few minutes of the grey screen, a small blue folder will flash in the middle with the "finder" face/icon on it and a question mark flashing. It stays there a few minutes, but no cursor to click on the folder ect. After several minutes of that, the screen will go black and the computer will turn off. I have tried to reset the PRAM and PMU, but no go. Do not have discs, as this was a buy this past summer refurbished. I love my ibook and really hope it can be fixed. If there are any suggestions, please let me know. If not, I guess we will take a trip to the apple doctor. Thanks again for any help you might have.
ValHello Gengap,
This sounds like a failing harddrive issue....a computer starting up with a flashing question mark means that it is unable to find the software to load up the OS. Since you don't have the discs that should have come with the computer, you can try inserting a Tiger disc, or some other equivalent OS.
Start up from a disc, when the installer opens, open up Disk Utility. In Disk Utility, you should see a harddrive appear on the top left - but if it is failing (this just happened to me on an iBook G4), then it might not be there at all.
So if you close out Disk Utility, and you try to proceed with the installation, if the disc is not being recognized, then it will not be available to select a destination disc to try a re-install.
You might be SOL in recovering any data that is on the drive. A replacement HD should be in order if you are unable to re-install the OS.
Once the replacement HD is in, when you go to set it up again, you'll want to install a fresh clean copy of the OS by erasing the HD (incase it's formatted to work for Winblows) - you'll want to re-format it to work for Mac OS (Extended), and then re-install.
I'm not sure how comfortable you are with taking computers apart or not but since you bought it second hand anyways, you won't be voiding any warranty's of any kind. I just did this very same procedure on a 12" iBook G4 800MHz.
Ifixit.com is a great place to find exactly what you are looking for with step-by-step troubleshooting guides to get your mac up and running again.
Please post back to let me know how it works.
<Edited by Moderator>
Jason -
Find folder with incompatible applications created during system upgrade
When I upgraded to Lion the sustem placed all incompatible software into a hidden folder. Kaspersky antivirus was places there. I purchased eset antivirus. When I asked it to update it asks me to uninstall kaspersky. Even when I ask finder to show hidden files I cannot find kaspersky. Does anyone know what my solution is?
jeanfromct wrote:
When I upgraded to Lion the sustem placed all incompatible software into a hidden folder. Kaspersky antivirus was places there. I purchased eset antivirus. When I asked it to update it asks me to uninstall kaspersky. Even when I ask finder to show hidden files I cannot find kaspersky. Does anyone know what my solution is?
Best solution is to uninstall with either the uninstaller that came with it or one from the product's support site.
Once uninstalled keep it uninstalled. There are no known viruses that attack OS X and it will cause many more problems than it solves, like none.
Also, forget the other AV. These will only cause problems for you.
Try your Go menu > Computer > Macintosh HD -
tried hard drive in another g5 but with the same result.can anybody suggest what might be wrong
had the same result on other g5 blue screen finder folder with question mark. i put the hard drive in the bottom bay of my g5 after and ran disk repair said disk ok .reparaired permissions tried hard drive in top bay again but with same result.
do i just disconnect the two connections on hard drive and then try your second suggestion? -
Grey Folder with Question Mark?
On Saturday afternoon April 7th I was at the Apple Store and they ran a diagnostic on my Black Mac Book. All things checked out with green check marks. I was a happy person. Well, yesterday, at start-up, a strange gray folder with a question mark appeared. What is that? And, most importantly, what does it mean?
ThanksIt means the OS could not be found or that you need to select a startup disk in Startup Disk preferences. Does the computer complete startup? If not, then you will need to reinstall OS X.
Reinstalling 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: Select Reinstall Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You can also re-download the Lion installer by opening the App Store application. Hold down the OPTION key and click on the Purchases icon in the toolbar. You should now see an active Install button to the right of your Lion purchase entry. There are situations in which this will not work. For example, if you are already booted into the Lion you originally purchased with your Apple ID or if an instance of the Lion installer is located anywhere on your computer. -
Folder with "?" shows before apple icon at startup
I've searched a bit to see if this is answered anywhere else but can anyone help with why a "folder with a ?" might show at startup just before the Apple icon comes up?
Could be a myriad of reasons I suppose. The MBP works fine but this is annoying and I may be missing a vital component.
Thanks all.
Message was edited by: Bill James-WallaceHi Steve,
*"a gray Finder folder with a question mark on it blinked in the center of the screen."*
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
*"There were HUNDREDS of permissions and groups found to be in error. The first said SUID is wrong and cannot be repaired (??). The others said things like, "Permission for ABCDEFG is 80 should be 20," but it did not say what I expected, like "..is 80 should be 20, changed to 20.""*
Mac OS X 10.5: Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions (SUID) messages that you *can safely ignore*
Permissions aren't the issue here. The question mark on boot can mean several things. One, the hard drive is failing or failed, or, your Mac can't find a System Folder to boot from.
Try booting while holding down the Option key. That should prompt the Startup Manager. Select MacintoshHD 10.5.x and click Restart. If that doesn't work, try booting from your install disk and see if you can repair the disk.
Insert the installer disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu (Panther and earlier) or Utilities menu (Tiger and later) and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
*(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)*
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
When you are finished with DU, from the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Startup Manager.
Select your start up disk and click Restart
While you have the Disk Utility window open look at the bottom of the window. You will see Capacity and Available. Make sure you always have a minimum of 10% free disk space.
If you cannot boot from your install disk, try booting in Safe Mode
Carolyn
Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit -
HI all
Pardon me for the stupid title - -been some time since on the forum
This is much better.
So the situation on son's Mac Book Pro.
It seems a few days ago the computer would not take a CD - -not huge deal
Then suddenly he had trouble.
Turned on computer and get the folder with the ? I am pretty certain this means it
can't find the start-up items.
I guess he tried to do some "diagnostics on the internet - it was a Hardware diag.
and said everything was OK but couldn't find a HD
So he bought a new HD and we just installed it. Start tje computer and the same question in folder.
He bought the HD from apple so not an aftermarket.
I guess he is not sure where is start-up disks our (kids) but what can we do now?
He is at our house now and can't seem to connect to the internet becuase he can't see my network
which is wireless.
Is there something we can try - -should we re-install the old HD - -the new one may not be formatted
not sure all we know is it was from Apple direct.
He just told me the OLD hard drive could be read by a device at school. So it seems perhpas the HD MAY? be
OK but there is some sort of communication thing going on.
In the old dayson my G-3 slot - -we would start up with a network
Not sure how do do any of that on this book
PLease help - - very important (he is a grad student and needs the computer that is why he paid for
on day shipping
What do we do? Any tips tricks?\ please offer any ideas - -dad is stuck - -Thanks
JimHello Grant - -Thanks - -
I notice you are west of Boston - -we in Medford and son goes to Tufts in town
(small world)
Not really certain what you are telling us - - I am not good at computers
A couple of other things that may be tips - -
1 - on wednesday of this week
our son noticed the fan was going on almost continuosly,
After that trouble started - -
2. - When we put the new HD in - -same things happened,
which is ? mark in folder (start-up items)
3. - His computer will not see my wireless even if I put it next to my I-mac
It sees several networks but not mine - -and if we type in my netwokr
info - -it will not take. He wanted to try a network start-up .
I forget how that is done.
4, - The bottom of the computer is getting hot - -much hotter than i think it should.
any ideas why his computer won't see my router?
I think he may just have to take it to Apple Store on Newbury Street.
Would they be able to get his info off the old HD assuming it is still good and
transfer to the new HD fairly easy.
LAstly - - I am pretty certain I have the str-up disks for my I-mac which is running
10.5.8.
Would I be able to do anything with my computer and hook into his computer
into mine like an external device or something like that
I really appreciate your thoughts and efforts on this and must admit I have no
external enclosrure? but I have an external HD on my I-mac
As you can tell - -I am not to good at this
Thanks from Meffa (lol0 Jim the father -
Everytime I open Safari on my MacBook Pro a pop-up window from my Finder menu, with the Applications highlighted on the left in the favorites column with the Resources folder highlighted comes up and locks my Safari page until I manually close the Resources window then I have to refresh the internet search address line at the top of Safari. Can someone tell me how to stop this. It started after a software upgrade. It didn’t do that before. Thank you.
A few thoughts for diagnosis/testing purposes:
Have you recently run the disk utility and repaired HD and permissions? If not do so.
Boot into the Safe mode - hold down shift key on boot - and see if the problems are still there. Some functions won't work but see if anything odd happens.
Check your startup items. Get rid of them temporarily.
Create a new user account and see if the problems occur with the new account.
Lastly, be sure your backup is up-to-date. -
I have made a burn folder with photos exported from I-photo. It now shows in information, that the date created and modified is different from the original digitized date. How can I get the original date to show in the info from Finder?
The Finder reports File information. The date and time of the photo are in the Photo's Exif metadata. The Finder has no awareness of this. All photos apps on any system do.
Regards
TD -
Hi Everyone. I have an old Mac Book with software updated to 10.6.8. I have saved a ton of emails in my inbox 'On My Mac'. There are so many it is slowing down my computer. Where do I find the folder with all the emails so I can cut and paste them to an external hard drive? Pls.help. Tks.
Depending on which email client software you use
the files should be in 'your home folder' library, esp.
if you use Mail application.... ~/Library/Mail
Since you don't specify what mail application,
that would most be associated with the file.
I notice there are some items to the right of your post
where it says "more like this' so that may be worth a
look to see if similar issues were answered. Also, the
Help viewer in your system is a searchable database.
Seems that google also brings up fair information, too.
Do you have a complete bootable clone of your entire
Mac system on an externally enclosed hard disk drive?
Good luck & happy computing! -
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 -
How do I transfer files from a flash drive to my new iMac? I get a folder with "no name" that I can live with but I can't find a way to transfer the flass drive files to to iMac hard drive.
What happens when you try to drag & drop the files?
~Lyssa -
When i use view as list in finder and open a folder with many files i cant right click with mouse without selecting or highlighting a file....i just want to right click to paste an item or create a new folder...what can i do?
Thx for that im gonna try it....but is there a way to do it without using toolbar or cmd-c...? i mean using only the mouse?why does it have to highlight the file even though i click a bit next to it....?using icon view i can right click next to the folder and i wont have a problem but with list view that i prefer using it will highlight the whole row.....and i dont find free space to right click cause i got many files
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