White screen with file folder flashing

Question

I was given a MacBook 13" laptop, new to apple computers though. At first I was told the laptop itself did not power on. I charged it overnight, and it will come on, however, only to a white screen with a file folder in the middle with a ? mark in the file folder.  I googled the screen and got several choices, start in save mode, did nothing. I called apple, since it is a 2006 model computer, it is of course out of support, but she emailed me articles to follow directions.  None of them did anything, since it was given to me I do not have the start up disks, just the laptop  and the charger.  I did notice that out of all the steps the only thing that did anything different was the "reset NVRAM/PRAM"  it made speakers make a sound as it was starting up. Thats all it just still went to white screen and file folder. 
Any suggestions is greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Stephanie

Answer 1

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.
You will need to have Operating System install disks, If you don't have a friend with an install disk that you could borrow you can order a Snow Leopard 10.6 install disk for $29 as long as you have at least 1gb of RAM and 5gb of free space on your hard drive. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY
The 2006 MacBook originally came with 10.4 Tiger. I called Apple Customer Support (1- [phone]) to check on how much they charge for the gray restore disks that originally came with the MacBook and was quoted $16 dollars per disk plus S & H. Which would be $32 for the two disks. Just give them the serial number of your MacBook and they'll know which ones you need. With the original disks you also get the iLife that was current when your MacBook was bought included on the #2 disk.
Put your install DVD into the optical drive (CD/DVD drive) and reboot. Be sure to either use the disc that came with your Mac, or, if you installed a later Mac OS X version from disc, use the newer disc. 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) until the apple 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. Choose your language and 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 hand list. 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. After repairing use Startup Disk from the same menu to choose your hard drive for restarting from your hard drive.
If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.