White screen with folder

So i turn on my computer and the screen goes white. The only showing is a blinking folder with a question mark in it? Virus?

chadillac444444 wrote:
Am i able to attempt to save or atleast locate the hard drive if i use the Mac OS X Install dvd? I've found a similar discussion on here with steps as to how to "attempt" a a first aid recover. Basically if you go through, and the hard drive is recognized, it may be salvagable.
If you boot the system from the system install DVD and use Disk Utility the drive will either show up or not. If it doesn't show then one of the first 2 things I mentioned is the problem. Failed drive or failed drive cable. With either you will need to replace the part that has failed.
You can remove the hard drive and connect it to the system with a SATA to USB adapter, or a SATA to USB drive enclosure, ad try booting the system from that drive connected to one of the USB ports. If it boots then you know it is the cable that has failed. If it doesn't then it is the drive that has failed.

Similar Messages

My macbook was stolen last month from my car. It would not power, it showed a white screen with folder with question mark in the middle? I don't have my serial number, is there a way to possibly track my computer?

My car was broken into in Uptown, MN last month and my Macbook was stolen along with my Wifi device. Although my computer would no longer power, it showed a white screen with a folder and question in the middle and then shut down. I hadn't had a chance to take it to have it checked, but is there a way to track my computer if I do not have the serial number? And if I purchase another computer is there a way to get the music that I purchased in iTunes back?
Thanks

Regarding your music, yes you can download it again at no cost. Launch iTunes on the new computer, and sign in to your account using the same Apple ID you used previously. Go to the iTunes Store. On the right side under Quick Links select Purchased. Click on All Songs in the upper left.You'll see a list of the music you purchased from iTunes. In the lower right corner click the Download All link. Note that this may take a long time, particularly if you have a lot of songs. Use the fastest Internet connection that you can.
About the computer, unless tracking software was already installed on it and turned on there is no way to track it.
I would suggest changing passwords of any accounts that you have on the computer, such as email. If you have any credit card information stored on the computer, have them cancelled and replaced immediately.
Sorry to hear about your loss. It is very distressing, I know.
Best of luck.

White Screen with folder question mark

We have a basically brand new iMac. Intel core 2 duo- Mac OS X v 10.6 Snow Leopard.
The machine will not start up- we get a white screen with a flashing folder in the middle with a question mark. We tried all the force quit type directions including resetting. Nothing works.
Is there some other way to restart this machine?

Welcome to Apple Discussions.
Here is what Apple says regarding that:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
If the machine is less than 1 year old it's covered by the warranty, if you need to contact Apple to get additional help. Here is a link on how to contact them.
Regards,
Roger

White screen with Folder with ?

Whit screen with file ?

It appears when your computer couldn't find any bootable volume. In most of the cases, it shows a hard disk problem.
If you are using a Mid 2010 or newer MacBook Pro, hold Command, Option (Alt) and R keys while your computer is starting to start into Internet Recovery. It may ask you for a network. Then, after starting, open Disk Utility, select "Macintosh HD" in the sidebar, and verify it. If it shows a problem, repair it.
If it couldn't be repaired, the hard drive is damaged, so it must be replaced. You can replace it yourself or you can take it to an Apple Store or reseller

White Screen With Folder Question Mark At Startup

Last night I was downloading some pictures and posting a status on facebook. Firefox locked up so I forced quit it. When I tried to reopen it the icon in the dock would bounce a couple of times but not open. I went ahead and used Safari, finished what I was doing and went to bed. When I woke up the screen was black. I tried to wake it but to no avail. I shut it down by holding power button down and restarted. When it came on it dinged and a white screen came up but no apple icon or spinning circle. After a few minutes a folder popped up with a ? in it. I booted from my DVD and ran disk utility. The hard drive shows up but the partition underneath now says disk0s2 rather than untitled. When I try to repair it I get an error:
Verify and Repair volume "disk0s2"
Catalog file entry not found for extent.
The volume could not be verified completely.
Volume repair complete.
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
Error: Disk Utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
I am going to try and connect it to my mini via firewire to see if I can copy some files. My questions are (1) What do you recommend I do? (2) When it tells me to back up as many files as I can, what does that mean? How do I do this? Can this be done from Disk Utilities?
Thanks for your help.
Danny

(1) What do you recommend I do?
You could try repairing it with [DiskWarrior|http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html] or [TechTool Pro|http://www.micromat.com>. Either of those will cost money, but if you don't have a backup, that's your best shot at getting your data back. If repair fails, you have two options: 1) reformat the hard drive with Disk Utility or 2) replace it. If #1 doesn't work, #2 becomes your only option. If you have data that wasn't backed up, you'll need a file recovery tool like [Data Rescue|http://www.prosofteng.com>, [File Salvage|http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?mainpage=product_info&productsid=1] or Stellar Phoenix. None of those will guarantee success, and I suspect you won't get back anything close to all your data.
(2) When it tells me to back up as many files as I can, what does that mean?
Just what it says, but the how is your choice. Disk Utility can do backups from the Restore tab, but I suspect that won't work with such a badly-damaged disk. Connecting to another machine via Firewire is a good idea, but may not work if the disk is too badly damaged to mount, which I suspect might be the case since Disk Utility doesn't show you the normal volume name. First step would be to repair if you can't access the drive.
Ultimately, from the sounds of it, your drive may be too badly damaged to recover much, or any, data from it. In which case, you will have learned a hard lesson on the necessity of backups.

TS1440 iMac freezes, no choice but to hard shutdown, turn back on, white screen with folder and question mark appears

Hi,
so my iMac (it's not the most recent iMac if it makes any difference, and I'm running mountain lion 10.8.3) often freezes and I do a hard shutdown as I cannot force quit the applications or click on the apple in the top left to shut it down. When I come to turn it back on, I'm greeted with a white screen, in the middle of which is the dreaded folder with the flashing question mark in it. I've noticed that just before a freeze occurs, it starts running slowly and if I try going onto Facebook for example, it says that it cannot connect to facebook.com despite the internet connection being fine as I can browse things on Google. I have also noticed that before a freeze, in Finder, in All My Files, no files show. I went through this http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440 and the problem still persists. Sometimes it does load fine if I shut it down again but when I eventually open up safari, if I had been on youtube for example, it will reload the page from a few videos before and not the one I was on when it actually froze.
Any help would be hugely appreciated,
Thanks
Side note: When it says I must choose a community in order to post this, it only gives me a choice of 3 which are Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger, v10.5 Leopard, v10.6 Snow leopard, so apologies if this is posted in the wrong place - is there any way to get it moved to the correct place?

Yes,easy fix but difficult to buy,think you can get them from the states (off the top of my head about £15).When you go to the apple store,tell yhem what you suspect and they will test if it is the cable or if its the hard drive,dosn't take that long and it's free.If you know what to do you can take the back off and with strong magnifying glass you might be able to see the fray look at the bend of the cable.

HT1199 my MAC has white screen with folder and question mark anyone have the same issue?

My mac has a white screen and a file folder with a question mark...anyone else have this issue before?

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.
(79884)

Macbook stuck on white screen with folder and question mark

My macbook is stuck at the screen with the folder with a question mark on it. I have tried a few things like the ones I found on google and so far no go. I tried pressing the command + p +r keys and it didn't work. I also tried to eject a cd and nothing. finally i tried pressing the command + option + p + r and nothing. Guys please help me. I really need this laptop.
I even tried just the command + r. I would like to reinstall OS. What are the steps please?

What version of OS X are you running? When you hold down the Command and R keys whilst booting, do you get to the Recovery partition?
Clinton

Freeze white screen with folder with question mark after updates?

I have updated always my macbook when i have time.Im presently on board the ship trading worlwide.My problem is that i havent back up my files coz i was so confident that it wont happen on Macbook.I sell my Vaio for it.
After reading all the discussions which are similar to my problem.I'm in doubt of what to do either I re-install the whole OS-X or I will have to wait for a Apple specialist to solve this problem?I'm really just a plain user.
After i've done whats stated in the manual this are the messages that pops up:
- need to be repaired ( my hard disk )
- error: the underlying task reported failure on exit.
- 1 HFS volume checked , volume needs repair.
have tried to repair but no success to it.
please help me to save my files.what isa the best thing to do.
I'm in the middle of the ocean.
thanks

Hi albertspeed_66, and a warm welcome to the forums!
You have your install disks with you and used that I guess?
Without a Tiger Disk, try fsck...
To use fsck, you must run it from the command line. Unlike using your mouse to open an application to do something, you'll need to type a text command at the prompt (#) to tell fsck what to do. The Terminal application (/Applications/Utilities) and single-user mode are two examples of command-line interfaces in which you can type such commands. To use fsck:
1. Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line. Hold CMD+s keys down at bootup. Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
2. At the command-line prompt, type /sbin/fsck -fy
3. Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found: ** The volume (nameofvolume) appears to be OK  If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message: *** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED ***   Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
4. When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), off the HD & use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, reboot once more.

White Screen with ? in folder

I have a 2010 MBPro running Yosemite- when in sleep mode, I get white screen with folder blinking. There is no screen control, no way to shut down other than holding the power button down. I am using an external monitor with the MB cover down. This just started a week ago. How can I fix this?

Try disconnecting the monitor and letting the computer sleep to see what you get on the built-in screen.

I get a white screen with a grey flashing folder icon with a question mark in it when i try to start up my i mac, what's happening?

A few days ago my i mac when into grey screen; there were a few options for starting up, restoring etc i tried all of them to the extent possible but didn't work. Then i decided to unplug my external backup drive in case it may be erased or info lost in this process and now all i get when i turn it on is a white screen with a flashing folder and question mark. Any ideas?

That indicates the computer is having difficulty finding the startup volume. Your internal HD may have failed or the system may have "forgotten" where it is. If you are using Lion or later (10.7.x or later) then restart in the Recovery Partition and choose the startup disk. Before doing anything carefully read and follow Apple's instructions in:
A flashing question mark or globe appears when you start your Mac

HT1553 I did the back up as instructed... Installed a larger hard drive and followed the restore instructions... Now I get a white screen with a folder icon and blinking question mark. When trying to set startup with new drive I get a bless tool error...

I did the back up as instructed... Installed a larger hard drive and followed the restore instructions... Now I get a white screen with a folder icon and blinking question mark. When trying to set startup with new drive I get a bless tool error... Help!!

If you have installed a new hard drive , you will need to have formatted it in Disk Utility correctly. This may explain your problem.
Boot into your 10.6 Install disk again at the top menubar > Utilities > select Disk utility and in there select your new hard drive, and select the tab Erase and choose to make the format as Mac OS Extended Journaled. When that is finished look in the main window to make sure that the partition map scheme says GUID Partition Table.
Now go to the Restore tab and reinstall from your backup.

My PC won't startup normally or in safe mode . I have a white screen with a flashing folder icon which has a ? on it. How do I get it to start?

My PC will not start normally or in safe mode. I have tried several times in safe mode. All I have now is a white screen with a folder icon containing a ? questiomark. This icon is flashing. No cursor available.

The blinking question mark means the startup drive can't be found.
It could be that it has failed or needs major repair. Boot from the Snow Leopard DVD and run Disk Utility.

My MacBookPro has a white screen with a grey file folder in the center of the screen with a white question mark blinking in it. What does this mean? And how can I get my computer back up and running normal?

My MacBookPro has a white screen with a grey file folder in the center of the screen with a white question mark blinking in it. What does this mean? And how can I get my computer back up and running normal?

Start up in Safe Mode.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14204?viewlocale=en_US
Repair Disk.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
Reset PRAM.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14222

MacBook Pro won't boot at start. I get a white screen with a blinking folder with a question mark in the middle. Any ideas?

MacBook Pro won't boot at start. I get a white screen with a blinking folder with a question mark in the middle. Any ideas?

Read this article...
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

White screen with folder

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