White screen flashing question mark

My internet froze for a long time so i turned my mac pro off but when i turned the laptop back on i got a white screen with a flashing box with a question mark on it. computer won't start up, how do i fix this?

Restart with the Option key held down, tab to the recovery drive, and either use the Disk Utility to repair the hard disk or the Installer to install a new OS. If the Option-key method doesn't show the recovery partition, the drive needs to be plugged in or replaced.
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    See this on the question mark when you start up: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440?viewlocale=en_US
    See this on the spinning beach ball: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/sbbod.html

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    Besides checking out the possible solutions over in the "More Like This" thread over here----------------------->
    Check out KB Article: 
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  • White screen with question mark

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  • Grey screen/ flashing question mark folder help!

    my macbook starts up into the grey screen (no logo or indicator) and will eventually go into the flashing folder with the question mark. After hours of scouring forums I have tried the following things:
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  • IN DESPERATE NEED FOR HELP flashing question mark appears MacBook

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    It means certain system files needed for startup are corrupted. You will have to reinstall OS X. If your hard drive is unaffected you can try the following:
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    Boot from your OS X 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 Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) 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, then quit DU and return to the installer.
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  • My macpro has white screen wit ? Mark on folder wot does this mean

    Hav a white screen wit question mark on it screen wont open can anyone help plez or is it a warranty repair as its only 10 months old  thk you

    The Macbook cannot find a bootable volume (hard drive).
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  • Why won't my MacBook Pro start up? White screen and flashing question mark.

    Hi,
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    Connor

    The support article linked below is somewhat outdated. Where it refers to starting up from an installation disc, you should instead start up in Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at the chime. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
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    So, I've had two MacBooks with similar problems (I am a Mac consultant). The first one would intermittently boot to a white screen, often enough to be annoying. This current one is occasionally booting to a flashing question mark. My first thought is, of course, the hard drive, but in both cases the hard drive tests fine using SMART Utility, which is usually great at giving advance warning when a drive starts experiencing hardware errors.
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    Thanks for the reply. Aside from finding that holding the mouse button down at boot might cause a flashing question mark, I already knew all that. I will ask the owner if she is leaning on the trackpad button when she starts up her computer in the morning.
    I've already reset the power manager and the PRAM; we'll see if that makes any difference. The puzzling thing here is that the problem is intermittent.
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