Intel Mac :: Start The Computer And Only Show A Folder With Question Mark
Apr 12, 2012
A few day ago I startup up my iMac and only a folder with a question mark was shown in the screen.Â
I boot from the Lion DVD, run disk utility but the only drive I get was the DVD and disk1/Mac OS X Base System.Â
I turned off the computer and next morning I turned on agian and this time with no problems, I use it for a few days with no problems but yesterday it happens again...Â
I do run disk utility again onlu turn it off, and this morning I tried to turn it on again, but the same foder appears...I run disk utility (get the DVD and disk1) and turn it off for a few hours.Â
What I should do ? Is there any 3rd party tools that I can try do use to solve this issue ? Â
PS: when the iMac started up with no problems I run disk utility and made a repair disk to the mac HD...
My iMac at start up has a blinking folder with a question mark on it. Iv done the option, command, p,r 2xs but it doesn't fix it.  Also I lost the loud up disc to reset the computer altogether.
My computer is stating up very slow it take over five minutes to get the menu to show and over ten to start safari i have already cleaned out the history, cookies, caches and random files I no longer need what do I do next?
at the first time i did not operate my mac mini for 3 months.when i want operate they like as usually but maybe on 5 minutes my mac mini off power.now power is on again but when power on my mac mini loading to desktop suddenly appear question mark folder on monitor.
When I start it up I get the Apple "chime" then the flashing folder with a question mark. Have tried all the standard procedures, ie. reset PRam, try to reboot i safe mode, single use mode etc... to no avail.
I can reboot from the install drive.
When I go to disk utilities my System Hard Drive shows up, passes Repair Disk Permissions as well as Repair Disk.
I can even go into Images>Scan Image for Restore and see all the files on my HD are still there - Documents, Photos, Apps, Desktop, Music. It shows how many folders and files there are. I can aslo go into System Profiler from the startup disk and the HD structure seems fine. So, I don't believe I have a catastrophic HD failure, but something else with hardware etc... Is there a ROM chip on a Mac that holds boot info similar to a Windows machine that has a BIOS chip? IF so, has anyone heard of these going bad?
I am not a hardware guru, but it seems it is not reading the startup files. So, I reinstalled the system using Archive my data and it still will not boot. I really need to save the data off this HD. It is under warranty.
Today my I had used my macbook like normal and all of the sudden it was frozen for an extended period of time and would not respond so I had to hit the power button. When I turned it back on a folder with a question mark flashed on the screen. I did some troubleshooting and tried "safe booting" but it took forever and it didn't fix anything. I don't have my original installation DVD because I am a college student at home for spring break and it is at my house back at school.
When i turned on my iMac I was surprised to see a folder icon blinking as it was running fine before this. I didn't delete or install anything. Â
My DVD drive does not read properly so i am unable to boot from the installation disk, tried to boot using BootCD from Charles Soft that didnt work either. Even tried resetting PRAM/NVRAM, unplugged keyboard and LAN cable as well but still no luck. Â
Read many articles online regarding this issue and it seems that my hard disk must have crashed. I don't have backup of any files.Â
Just rec'd a new(er) to me Mac Pro 1.1 w/no HD & possibly bad video card 8GB memory and very dirty inside. To test this mac, I put in a new seagate barracuda SATA 1TB HD, hooked up display and tried to fire it up. Got to chime in and then the display showed a grey screen w/file folder with a question mark on it. Only had a mouse last night when trying this and my G5 has a bluetooth keyboard and the mac pro isn't bluetooth, so where do I go from here?
I'm thinking a wired keybrd would allow me to open drive bay to receive Leopard Install disc that I already own and proceed from there? I figure, once I can get this up and running and know there is no problems, I'll dismantel and clean. Also all 8 GB memory was installed on the top riser card? I reset the memory banks to 2 on the top card and 2 on the bottom card as this is what the downloaded manual shows, am I reading that right?
my Macbook wont start-up. When I switch it on it comes up with a flashing folder with a question mark in. I have been advised to start from my Mac OS X installation disk.
However, the website says "Insert your Mac OS X installation disc (if you have discs with both versions, use whichever is closest to the Mac OS X version installed on your Mac; do not use a startup disc which came with a different Mac or which contains an earlier version of Mac OS X)."
My original installation disks are Mac OS X 10.4. But I have been upgrading my system. My last upgrade was to Mac OS X 10.6.
Which disk do I use? Do I use the 10.6, as this is the one with the current operating system or do I use 10.4 as this was the original disk that was bought with the macbook.
My macbook pro, upon start-up, shows the apple logo for a short amount of time then either a prohibited sign or a folder with a question mark gets shown and the computer does not start-up. I have re-installed the OS but it did not seem to work. Any ideas?
disk utility is unable to repair the "Macintosh HD" disk. Re-installing mountain lion is not an option due to the computer's inability to detect the HDD disk. How do I differentiate between a corrupted (dead) hard drive or a broken SATA cable (in which acts as a medium)?Â
The only thing that showed up in disk utility were the DVD drive (Matshita DVD...) and the actual Mac OS X installation disc. I realize I could try and simply re-install Mac OS X, but I have a research paper (as well as lots of songs and photos) that hasn't been backed up and I will lose it if I reinstall. What can I do?!
boot my iBook from the OS X install CD. I put the CD in and then rebooted while holding C but nothing happens. The computer just shows a folder with a question mark.
I just replaced my SATA drive. When I went to restart my computer I got a flashing folder with a question mark in it. What is happening and what to do now?
Just came back from the Genius Bar at Apple Amsterdam. Both iTunes and iPhoto had problems launching and libraries were not loading. Ruled out hardware problems so they tried installing OS Snow Leopard over my 10.5.8 in a way to keep my documents safe. All went well until halfway it said it couldn't install succesfully. Made a new appointment for in 3 days from now. They would then overwrite the current OS with the new one so i should go home and make sure to back up all my files in the meantime. Problem is that when i came home and started my laptop i got a blank/white screen with a blinking documents folder symbol with a question mark in it! Does anybody know what it means and will i be able to ever make a back up of my documents?
When I search for a file in my computer (command + f) the results appear in a window. If I click on a FILE among the results, the detailed location of that file is shown at the bottom of the window. If I click on a FOLDER, however, no such location information appears. Before Mavericks, locations of folders was also given. Is this a Mavericks bug? Can it be fixed?
I installed Lion on my Intel iMac (about 3 years old) several months ago and it was working fine. Then yesterday it stopped booting up. It loads a grey screen and then just shows an icon of a folder with a question mark in it. I tried the following:Holding Shift to start safe mode - no response, loaded question mark screenHolding Command Option P R - no response, loaded question mark screenRepair Disk from Disk Utility - says "the volume Bernard 1 appears to be OK"Verify Disk from Disk Utility - no response, loaded question mark screen I created a Lion recovery disk on a USB drive
I sometimes receive a flashing folder with a question mark when I reboot. If I wait a little while and reboot again, my IMac will reboot successfully. My instincts tell me that my hard drive may be failing.
My Friend gave me his Old IMac G5 and when I boot it a question mark and the finder folder blinks. My friend says to install OS X because its running on nothing and I have been trying to install. OS X 10.6 but it wont respond to the Disk it just keeps blinking after a while it starts making this. Loud noise as if its running something, the furthest I've got it to a blue screen with a replay icon button. Towards the left and an arrow button pointing right but cant do anything after that, I don't know what to do. My other problem is the I have the latest wireless keyboard and wireless magic mouse so I cant connect them thru wifi until I have my imac running so im using a normal Dell Keyboard....
I just bought a new iMac. I have been trying all week (with no success) to transfer files and apps from my previous iMac. The last time I tried to transfer, I used target mode on the old computer. It looked as if it was finally working, so I left with 2+ hours remaining on the transfer. When I returned, the computer was frozen and nothing would work. So I held the power button to turn it off. When I tried to turn it back on, there was only a gray screen with a flashing folder with a question mark. I feel like I have tried everything listed in other discussions. The only thing I am not able to try is to reinstall Lion because the new computer did NOT come with an OSX disc of any type.
