Strange icon when the computer start up

I just recently noted that when my computer start up a blue icon that looks like the Earth flashes for a couple of seconds and then a folder with a question mark appers and flashes and, finally, the log on window comes up.
It's that a serious issue?

In that case, I recommend you run Utilities > DiskUtility and confirm that the SMART status of your drive is "Verified".
This checks to see if your HD is starting to fail. Verified is good.

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Bluetooth no longer loads automatically when the computer starts

I have the Bluetooth Stack version 2.01.21.1. It was working fine. When the laptop booted up, the bluetooth mouse was automatically connected.
All of a sudden the icon no longer appears automatically in the system tray and so I have to manually connect the mouse each time
It is still listed in the startup menu on the desktop and it is still checked in startup in the msconfig.
How do I fix this?
Thanks in advance

I have just gotten off the phone with a microsoft tech who actually seems to have fixed this somewhat
He went to start/run to get to services.msc.
He chose "SSDP Discovery Services" which "enables discovery of
UPnP devices on your home network" and DISABLED it.
Go figure
The BT icon now appears in my system tray and starts up automatically when the computer starts.
I say somewhat because It still disconnects if left idle for a long period, which it did not do previously, but at least it is there when I log on.
I want to mention that I have a Dell, not a Toshiba (did not realize this forum was for Toshiba laptops rather than Toshiba software) but perhaps
you will find this information useful.
Also, at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx you will find an autorun tool that lets you fix what is or is not
in the startup menus. It seems to work better than using msconfig which on my laptop was not making a difference as to what started up and what did not.
It is meant for IT professionals so I would not mess with it too much. However if you just check or uncheck in the startups for the BT manager you will
not do any damage.

I have a stuck CDR disk in my MacBook. I have tried everything and nothing works. When the computer starts it makes weird sounds and also when I try to eject it. Nothing Works! Please Help.

I have tried everything and nothing works. When the computer starts it makes weird sounds and also when I try to eject it. Nothing Works! Please Help.

I had that happen with a MacBook. It turned out that the metal case above the slot was slightly bent down.
Putting a flat blade screwdriver in the slot and gently twisting it to move the metal case up allowed it to eject. Don't put it in too far you only want to bend the case not the drive.
The case can get bent down by picking it up with your thumb pressing down on the case above the slot.

My Start Up Disk is Full and I can get no acces to anything when the computer starts

The computer turns on and I can get no acces to anything. It display a message "Your Start Up Disk is Full" and comes to a white screen. I can only move the mouse but there is nowhere to click.
How can I delete any files, so the computer can come back to life?? Is there any way I can acces those files??
I'm using 250GB and this Mac has 500GB total memory.

Supposedly one can hold the Shift key down while booting (Safe Mode) and that's supposed to allow one to boot the machine when the startup disk is full.
Step by Step to fix your Mac
If that works, then use a storage drive (not TimeMachine) to move excessive files too likely starting with Movies (large and easy) or iTunes supscirptions downloads which have gotten out of control.
Most commonly used backup methods
Another method is to create a boot drive on a external drive, this then will allow one to option key boot the computer and remove files off of the internal drive, allowing the free space needed for OS X to swap stuff to the drive and operate.
Create a data recovery, undelete boot drive
Now for some reason it takes rebooting the original drive to get OS X to recognize there is free space available again, so reboot the machine normally (no Shift key). Just saying that because you may be wondering how come it does't register when you delete stuff later.

Just replaced my screen. when the computer starts up it goes immediately back to sleep.

After replacing the LCD sceen on my 2006 intel imac, I turned on the computer, first blue screen then black, restart computer apears to have boooted up but immedetaly goes back to sleep.
any ideas?

After replacing the LCD sceen on my 2006 intel imac, I turned on the computer, first blue screen then black, restart computer apears to have boooted up but immedetaly goes back to sleep.
any ideas?

Strange icons appearing as computer starts up? Prolonged startup!!

Hi. I'm having trouble with my startup on my PowerBook G4 12-inch. However, I haven't noticed problems with any other apps or programs on my computer except for startup!
When I start it up, it plays the sounds at the start as always... And then this little image of a colour globe on a small grey puzzle piece, starts flashing for a while. Then it changes to an even smaller image of one of Mac OS's symbols, and changes between this and a question mark in a box.
What's going on?? I don't get it!
Each time I start it up, this process of strange images and stuff goes for longer, before the progress bar comes up and it loads my accounts login page.
can anyone help?? Please do!!
Cheers,
koko_87

Wow. I've never seen THAT before! A puzzle piece icon? Seems that your Mac is confused as to which startup system to boot from. You don't have multiple versions installed on your PowerBook, do you? (This is possible if you have partitioned your hard drive and have Mac OS X--a different version from your primary boot volume--installed on it).
For starters, let's let Apple help you out first:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58042
Then, if that doesn't work, I'll try to find more. (As I mentioned, I don't recall seeing a puzzle piece icon with a globe whenever I've had the rare occasion of a startup problem on my Mac. If this was Windows... which I don't use...).

Not start automatically my application when the computer starts

Hello sir,
I create a desktop application for Mac x. My requirements is to start application when system starts.The execution file is **.command. create plist file on ~/Library/LaunchAgents/**.plist. But they won't start automatically.
This my script
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>Printapp</string>
<key>OnDemand</key>
<true/>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/bin/bash</string>
<string>/Users/apple/printapp/bin/print.command</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</plist>
anything wrong in this script?...i don't have permission for run as root user.

You're running a 'postscript' file in the Installer ?
If I understand you correctly I think this page will help:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5449135/how-can-a-cocoa-application-add-itsel f-as-a-global-login-item

My desktop disappeared. When the computer starts, it opens in finder. Also, it acts like something is running. The spinning circle is spinning, will stop for a minute then starts again. What is wrong? Help please.

My Mac g5 starts and goes to finder. The desktop has disappeared. Also the circle keeps spinning. It will stop for a minute, then start again. It acts like something is running. I have restarted multiple times. Can anyone help please? Thank you.

Spinning Beach Ball
Spinning Beach ball (2)

My Mac got hacked. I was working on a word document when the computer suddenly started typing meaningful sentences on its own that describes how the hacker is skillful. At the that time I was on a password protected wifi and file sharing was off.

This is the first time I get hacked this bad. I was working on a microsoft word document when the computer suddenly started typing meaningful sentences on its own that describes how skillfull the hacker is. At the that time I was on a friends wifi network that is password protected (not sure about the encyrption), the Os X Firewall was on. I was using the admin profile, however, file sharing was off. I'm very careful not to install any suspecious 3rd party software.
So far I have verified permissions and fixed some errors there, and changed passwords.
Do I have to erase/format my computer and reinstall the Os? If so is it adequte to use the internet recovery tool or will it use old and possibly infected EFI/Root files?
Would appreciate the advice of all the Mac experts out there. Thanks

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software — potentially for the worse. The following procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed. Don’t be alarmed by the complexity of these instructions — they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.
These steps are to be taken while booted in “normal” mode, not in safe mode. If you’re now running in safe mode, reboot as usual before continuing.
Below are instructions to enter some UNIX shell commands. The commands are harmless, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of the procedure suggested here, search this site for other discussions in which it’s been followed without any report of ill effects.
Some of the commands will line-wrap or scroll in your browser, but each one is really just a single line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then copy it. The headings “Step 1” and so on are not part of the commands.
Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. The other steps should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
When you launch Terminal, a text window will open with a line already in it, ending either in a dollar sign (“$”) or a percent sign (“%”). If you get the percent sign, enter “sh” and press return. You should then get a new line ending in a dollar sign.
Step 1
Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:
kextstat -kl | awk '!/com\.apple/{printf "%s %s\n", $6, $7}' | open -ef
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Then click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste (command-V). I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting. A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. If the command produced no output, the window will be empty. Post the contents of the TextEdit window (not the Terminal window), if any — the text, please, not a screenshot. You can then close the TextEdit window. The title of the window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that. No typing is involved in this step.
Step 2
Repeat with this line:
{ sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix\.cron)|org\.(amav|apac|cups|isc|ntp|postf|x)/{print $3}'; echo; sudo launchctl getenv DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES; echo; sudo defaults read com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook; echo; sudo crontab -l; } 2> /dev/null | open -ef
This time you'll be prompted for your login password, which you do have to type. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. Type it carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. Heed that warning, but don't post it. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
Note: If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before taking this step. If that’s not possible, skip to the next step.
Step 3
{ launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple|org\.(x|openbsd)/{print $3}'; echo; launchctl getenv DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES; echo; crontab -l 2> /dev/null; } | open -ef
Step 4
ls -A /e*/{cr,la,mach}* {,/}Lib*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,Keyb,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo,Sta}* L*/Fonts .la* 2> /dev/null | open -ef
Important: If you formerly synchronized with a MobileMe account, your me.com email address may appear in the output of the above command. If so, anonymize it before posting.
Step 5
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of login items' | open -ef
Remember, steps 1-5 are all copy-and-paste — no typing, except your password. Also remember to post the output.
You can then quit Terminal.

What happens when the computer get too full of e-mails? Will it automatically start deleting ... or give you some kind of warning?? I never delete personal mail right away since I might want to refer back to it, and then the first thing I know, I've got

What happens when the computer get too full of e-mails? Will it automatically start deleting ... or give you some kind of warning?? I never delete personal mail right away since I might want to refer back to it, and then the first thing I know, I've got a big backlog.

It will not automatically delete any emails; you will need to do that. You may suffer performance issues in Mail if you let your mailboxes become too bloated. And, aside from Mail, the files take up a lot of room are photos, videos, and music, so you might want to watch those - every once in a while, check how much hard drive space you have and make sure you empty the trash regularly. Checking your hard drive space: highlight your Macintosh HD icon on the desktop; hit Command + I and check the total capacity, and how much is left.

I was surfing the net when my computer started emitting double beeps. I shut it down with no problem but I can't find any info on double beeps that did not occur at startup (haven't tried starting it back up yet though). What happened?

Quite the trial to sign in to freaking Apple support. I apparently made an account with my primary e-mail, but damned if I can recover the password, apparently I don't know my own birthday. So I had to make a new account with another e-mail, and even when I thought it was done, no, I had to fill out more information before I could get to this screen. You won't let me ask for tech support from your message board without my mailing address? Then my completely inoccuous user name was rejected for containing banned words. Lemurs and cats are profane now, what? This is why I hate computers.
Anyway, I've got Mac OS X 4.something, can't check because it is shut down, and I already described my problem in the subject there before I got dragged back into account creation. I searched several places for answers but all I can find are discussions about double beeping at startup (even when excluding the word "startup" from search results), while my double beeping started all of a sudden when the computer was in use. The beeps were certainly less than a minute apart. What happened? What do I need to do about it? Is it safe to start the computer up again? Fortunately my files are pretty much all backed up.

I don't know if we are experiencing the same problem, but this is what I did and it seemed to work for me so far.
Before anything I had to hard restart my laptop. hold power button until off then turn back on.
In Finder click on Go, then click Go to Folder. in the dialogue box type
/var/db/crls
In that folder there are two files that you need to move to the trash
crlcache.db
ocspcache.db
You will need to type in your password to move these to the trash.
Restart your computer and then Empty the Trash. It is very important that you empty the trash afterwards. I forgot to do this the first time and I had to restart the whole process. It has been a few days and I have been without any problems.
I am not claiming this process to be my own, I found it on another discussion thread and it worked for me. I don't have a link to it because I had to use someone else's computer and had no luck trying to find it again. This is the procedure I followed, I do remember it well and I wrote down the steps because I had to do it twice and got tired of combing through all of the websites I have searched looking for a fix to my problem. Hopefully this helps, and try it at your own risk of course.
Let me know if you try it and it works or not, good luck.

What does a file folder with a question mark in it mean when the computer won't start?

What does a file folder with a question mark in it mean when the computer won't start?

There are four general causes of this issue:
1. The computer's PRAM no longer contains a valid startup disk setting when there aren't any problems with the disk itself. This can be checked for by pressing the Option key and seeing if the drive appears.
2. The internal drive's directory structure has become damaged. This requires usage of an alternate bootable system to perform the repair.
3. Critical system files have been deleted. This requires usage of an alternate bootable system to reinstall them.
4. The internal drive has died or become unplugged. This is the most likely case if the computer took a sharp impact or there are unusual sounds coming from the hard drive's location.
(68976)

I have been dealing with crashing and freezing issues on my iMac for 6 months. A supervisor has been assisting me but the issue is not getting fixed. The computer was under when the issues started. He wants to get us a new computer but is not allowed.

Our iMac was under warranty when it began freezing and or crashing. I have spent several hours on the phone with a supervisor and had the machine in 2x. We have also had a repair done in our home. The problems persist. We feel apple owes us a new computer. Help!!!

Do you have a written record of your attempts to get it repaired? When you took the machine "in" for repairs, did you take it to an Apple Store or to an Apple Authorized Reseller or Repair Facility, and do you have copies of invoices or statements showing what repairs were made? If the answers are yes, you need to be persistent in attempting to get a new computer. Ask to talk to the supervisor's supervisor to "escalate" the complaint to a higher level. Get copies of all your repair information and send a letter to the Apple Customer Service people in California and ask them for help.
If your iMac was under warranty when the problems started and the problems have not been resolved, your position should be that the problems should still be fixed or the computer replaced even though the warranty may have expired in the interim. Do you live in the US? If yes, your home state has a Consumer Protection agency. File a complaint with them and ask for their assistance in mediating and/or resolving the matter.

My mac wont turn on. It is charging and the on light is on when the computer is shut but once I open it the light turns off and the screen is black. I turn it off and then on again and the start up noise goes but it is still black - Help!?

My mac wont turn on. It is charging and the on light is on when the computer is shut but once I open it the light turns off and the screen is black. I turn it off and then on again and the start up noise goes but it is still black - Help!?

Claire, please post your machine specs as requested. There are some variants of the MBP with specific hardware issues. Example: the older "silver key" MBPs with 2.2Ghz and faster processors can have a defective video chipset that produces a black screen or distorted video. That problem is covered under an Apple program that will fix this at no cost to you if you computer is that model.
Do "About this Mac" from your Apple menu and, in the resulting window, click the "More Info..." button. That launches System Profiler for you. The first screen looks like this:
The second line, "Model Identifier" (or "Machine Model" if you are running OS10.4) precisely identifies your MBP variant. Post that, and include it in your equipment info in your profile for future posts. That means people don't have to ask, and you get faster help that is targeted to your specific model. Saves everybody a bunch of keystrokes and you get better advice.

MacBook Pro's fans start running at high speed when the computer is asleep. Normal?

The other night, my MacBook Pro's fans started running at high speed when the computer was asleep. Loud enough to wake me up. And this just kept on going until I finally decided to turn the computer off. Is this normal? Is this anything to worry about?

This is not normal. See if a SMC reset solves the problem:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
Ciao.

Strange icon when the computer start up

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