What does it mean when a file with a question mark on it thats blinking mean

I need help

Like this, when you first startup?
It means it can't find a proper System folder to boot from.  Is it possible your hard drive has been damaged? failed? disconnected? corrupted?
Can you insert your (grey) Recovery DVD that came with your Mac and startup with that in?

Similar Messages

  • What does a picture of a file with a question mark on it displayed on the screen mean?

    Hello out there,
    Does anyone know what a file with a question mark displayed on screen means?
    And how to get to start up, I am not able to exit the page.
    Help would be much appreciated.

    Follow these support documents
    https://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
    https://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
    https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509
    If you have OS X Lion you can hold option and select the Recovery Partition to boot off of or download the recovery
    https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
    https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1433
    If you can hold c and boot off a 10.5 or 10.6 OS X installer disk, you can install OS X onto a external drive and reboot holding option key to select the external drive to boot off of to retrieve files too.
    If that doesn't resolve the issue, use another Mac, a Firewire cable and Target Disk Mode to recover your files off the internal drive before taking it in to Apple for service.
    https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1661
    Do what you think you can handle above, just don't erase or reformat your drive unless you have gotten a copy of your files off first.
    Most programs can be simply reinstalled from fresh sources, make sure you have any license keys handy.
    You have one year warranty and another two more years with AppleCare.
    It's possbile to take a computers internal hard drive and place it in a external drive enclosure to access your files on another machine, so if the computer is going to be replaced, ask for the internal hard drive.

  • What do I do about the file with a question mark when it starts up?

    I have a MacBook Pro, had it for 2 years now. It has been good, up until just now... It was on, perfect as normal until I plugged in my iPad mini and my iPod touch. It started freezing up, and so I turned it off, but when I turned it back on, the file with the question mark just shows up. What am I supposed to do now?  I have never had this problem before, and I don't wanna lose everything inside it as I have 2 years worth of pictures and videos. Any suggestions? Is there any steps I can take?
    P.s I'm not sure which operating system it is, so I just chose one that might be close to it, as I updated my Mac just a couples weeks ago.

    A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac

  • What does the icon of a folder with a question mark inside mean?

    After an overnight power outage I tried to turn on my iMac this morning, but all I got was clicking sounds and a gray full screen with the icon of a folder with a question mark inside it, blinking. (There's no tool bar that appears anywhere). What does that mean?
    I've tried unplugging the system and waiting a while before attempting another boot. Same screen.
    I recently (a month ago) upgraded to Snow Leopard from my original OS X software. Never had this sort of a problem before.The iMac was purchased around 2005 or 2006. Intel Dual Core processor.
    Thanks for any help on this.

    Thanks, Paul, for the prompt reply.Obviously, your answer isn't what I wanted to hear, but feared. When I get home tonight I'll try finding the install disk and booting from that. Fortunately, I still have a MacBook Pro that is running fine.  Incidentally, I have a Western Digital external Hard Drive that has very little, if anything on it. But since I can't open anything on the iMac, I guess I'll have to see if the install disk works before I try to figure out IF I can use that WD-External drive temporarily rather than replace the HD on the iMac. Any clues on what a replacement drive and labor runs for that sort of iMac repair?
    j

  • What does it mean when I see the file with the question mark on my screen?

    What does it mean when I see a file with a question mark on the screen?

    Means no bootable system can be found or required system files are missing or damaged. Reinstall OS X.
    Reinstall OS X 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.

  • What does a blinking file with a question mark mean?

    Hey guys! i have a mid 2008 macbook pro and it recently turned off and whenever i try to turn it back on, a blinking file with a question mark pops up? any thoughts or ideas? Maybe the hardrive is broken or something?

    Solution may be found if you search in the "More Like This" section over in the right column. 

  • Hi I installed a new hard drive in my Mac mini osx lion an when I turn it on I get a flashing file with a question mark. I tried holding command and R keys when turning it on but the recovery fails to work. Does any one know how I can get it to recover?

    Hi I installed a new hard drive in my Mac mini osx lion an when I turn it on I get a flashing file with a question mark. I tried holding command and R keys when turning it on but the recovery fails to work. I can hold the option key at start up and choose my network, then Internet recovery shows up with an arrow pointing up. When I click on the arrow Internet recovery fails and all I get is a globe with a triangle on it with an exclamation mark on it, and under that it says
    apple.com/support
          -6002F
    Does any one know how I can fix this without a recovery disc? Thanks

    I just want to add to this, in case someone else searches for this error on Apple Support (google doesnt cover apple support.. how clever is that?)
    I had the same error. And i had a Computer that had worked, with a SSD drive and 16GB upgrade done by the owner himself.
    I tried swapping with a Mechinal Harddrive, no luck.
    Kept the Mechanical drive in, and tried with some other Ram, it worked..
    So for me this error and after reading the other responses can be boiled down to a Harddrive problem or Ram issue.
    It was Ram for me..

  • I've got a 15" white macbook which I bought about 2 years ago. It froze the other day and wouldn't respond so I shut it down. When I turn it on now it comes up with a flashing file with a question mark on it. How can I fix it?

    I've got a 15" white macbook which I bought about 2 years ago. It froze the other day and wouldn't respond so I shut it down. When I turn it on now it comes up with a flashing file with a question mark on it. How can I fix it? I've tried a few things i've seen online but the futhest ive got is to put the start up disk in when you makes it go to a grey screen with an apple logo and the spinning wheel which then stops spinning. Can anybody help?

    That folder with the question mark icon means that the MacBook can't find the boot directory. That can either mean it can't find the hard drive or the Operating System data on the hard drive is somehow corrupted.
    Put your install DVD into the optical drive and reboot. As soon as you hear the boot chime, hold down the "c" key on your keyboard (or the Option key until the Install Disk shows up). That will force your MacBook to boot from the install DVD in the optical drive.
    When it does start up, you'll see a panel asking you to choose your language. Just press the Return key on your keyboard once.It will then present you with an Installation window. Completely ignore this window and click on Utilities in the top menu and scroll down to Disk Utility and click it. When it comes up is your Hard Drive in the list on the left?
    If it is then click on the Mac OS partition of your hard drive in the left handlist. Then select the First Aid Tab and run Repair Disk. The Repair Disk button won't be available until you've clicked on the Mac OS partition on your hard drive. If that repairs any problems run it again until the green OK appears and then run Repair Permissions.
    If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

  • HT4718 I have nothing on my Mcintosh HD after trying to install Mavericks. I did save a recovery copy of files however this was also lost. All I now have is a file with a question mark with nothing else happening. What should I do?

    Apple recently sent a message asking me if I would like to upgrade to Mavericks which was free. I considered installing after saving a copy of my HD to a WD external drive. I proceeded with the instalation however when it was time to reboot the programme the computer displayed a message that it could not process the request due to errors with the hard drive. The computer then requested that i save a copy and the verify disk and repair disk which i followed and the computer would not repair due to an error. At which pioint I did some research and was told by the IMac to push shift when it starts to enter disk utility and repair the Mcintosh HD. I did as asked however the computer would still not install with Mavericks.
    So after many attempts of trying to start over, I was prompted to erase the Mcintosh HD and reboot using the saved copy. At this point all data was lost and all that is left on my computer is a file with a question mark with no way of restoring the HD drive. Could anyone help please?

    It sounds like your HD may have died.
    If you could answer a few questions it may help figure out what you should do next:
    What OS did you have on your computer before you tried to upgrade to mavericks?
    Did your computer originally come with installer disks?

  • I have a white intel i mac and when i boot up a file with a question mark shows up

    i installed wnow leopard and then attempted to use boot camp to install windows (thats a whole other story though) after i got windows on it and then got it back to the mac side i found i could not get back to the windows side so i attemted to delete the windows partition and recreate my full mac partition (thats not as easy as i thought it would be, anyway i ended up with a partition that said it was the alloted mac partition space and another one, that apperead smaller in disk utility, that said it was 160 gb (my total disk size) while i was trying to fix that i hit the power strip switch with my foot and the whole thing shut down when it booted back up the only thing on the screen was a file with a question mark on it, i think it is just booting from the misconfigured parition but im not sure ive tried inserting my snow leopard and xp system disks but it doesnt seem to be booting from them.

    At startup hold down the Option/Alt key t bring up the One time Boot Selection, Startup Manager, screen and then select the OS X install DVD. Give it about 30+ second for the DVD drive to read and display the OS X install DVD.
    Then use Disk Utility to Repartition the drive as one partition and then try installing OS X.
    Could be you simply killed that drive with all the new installs of OS X and then Windows and then using Disk Utility to erase the Windows partition. If that is the case you'll need to replace the drive before you'll be able to reinstall any OS on it.
    In any event Never use Disk Utility to erase a Windows install. Use the Boot Camp Assistant a second tim to Remove Windows and the partition it is installed on.

  • I can't restart my mac , I get a file with a question mark? Help

    Need help, what to do when I cannot restart my mac. I get a file with a question mark?

    That indicates that your Mac is unable to find a system to boot from
    This is usually caused be either a corrupt system file, corrupt ot dead disk drive
    Allan

  • How do I get rid of the flashing file with a question mark in it?

    I wanted to start clean on my MacBook Pro osx 10.9.4. So I did the command r and erased what I thought was the right one. I restarted my computer and did the command r again and what came up was internet recovery. It can't find my internet because it's WEP and I don't know to change it to wpa. So I restarted my computer again and I didn't do the command r but just let it load itself to see what would happen and all I get is a flashing file with a question mark. I don't know what to do. Someone please help me.

    Do you get this display?
    If so, you have to select an Internet connection.  Do not expect quick response time in this mode.  All activities in this mode will be lengthy.
    Ciao.

  • Hi can anyone help with a mac that had magnet put on it. I turned it on and then off but a white screen appears with a file with a question mark on it?

    Hi can anyone help with a mac that had magnet put on it. I turned it on and then off but a white screen appears with a file with a question mark on it?

    File icon with ? mark on it means it can't read from the hard drive. The hard drive is now wiped or bad. If just wiped then you will need to reinstall your operating system, OS X. If bad you will need to replace the drive.
    Start with booting the computer from the OS X install DVD that came with your system. If the Mac came with Lion Pre-Installed then you use the Lion internet recovery system to reinstall (Hold down Command+r keys or Command+Option+r keys to boot the computer from over the internet to the Lion recovery HD system).
    Good Luck.

  • HT3964 I just opened up my MacBook Pro after a few days of not using it and it was frozen. I turned it off and back on and all I see is a white screen, there was a file with a question mark flashing for a bit but I can't do anything, please help me!!

    I just opened up my MacBook Pro after a few days of not using it and it was frozen. I turned it off and back on and all I see is a white screen, there was a file with a question mark flashing for a bit but I can't do anything, please help me!!

    Jerricayoung,
    you have a 13-inch Mid 2012 MacBook Pro. It’s modern enough that it supports booting into Recovery mode. To do so, hold down a Command key and the R key as you start up. It should eventually show a Mac OS X Utilities menu. Select Disk Utility from that menu; when the Disk Utility window appears, select the bootable volume from the left-hand side of the window. (It’s typically called “Macintosh HD”.) When the volume is selected, some buttons will appear on the right-hand side. If it’s not greyed out, press the Verify Disk button; if it is greyed out, or if it reports on errors that it found, press the Repair Disk button. Once the verification/repair is completed, exit Disk Utility and select Restart from the Apple menu; that will restart your MacBook Pro in its normal mode. With luck, that will be enough to get you to your normal login screen, rather than the white screen.

  • File with a question mark

    During start up I get a file with a question mark.  I ran Disk Utility and it said Hard Drive is fine.  Any suggestions?

    This Apple support article might be of assistance:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
    Ciao.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Problem with Custom Tcode.

    Hi, I have a report and when I run it it is working fine and I gave a Tcode to it. Now when I give the Tcode in the Trasaction code window and execute it, it is going to the selection screen properly, but after giving the input values and executing i

  • MacBook losing battery charge over night

    Hi there, I've had my new MacBook for about a week and a half and when I first removed it from the box, the battery wasn't full. 6 out of 8 lights indicated this on the side of the machine. And last night I was using it while I had it plugged into th

  • Date selection in background

    Hi, i have to run a repot on 15th of every month in a part in the report i want to select the data from table bkdf with the foolwinf condition      The field is BKDF-DBEDT  All items with a date in the next 4 month should be       included on the rep

  • How can I make the text insertion caret/cursor easier to see in InDesign?

    I'm using InDesign CS5, and it doesn't comply with Windows 7 Ease of Access settings regarding the text insertion caret/cursor thickness. Is there a fix for this? P.S. QuarkXPress has the same problem, so whichever software resolves it first wins!

  • Size on file attachments

    I've made a form that must go to a external partner by email submit... the problem is that there is multiple attachments in the form - and the size limit is only 3 mb... how do I adjust this to e.g 20-30 mb? ? - (the forms server is not in play here)