I have a lamp style iMac and when I boot it up I get the flashing folder from the mac face to the question mark. I booted it up with the OS X DVD, but a padlock comes up. I have never set a password for this computer, except to login, and that password isn't working. Is there a way around this? I've tried everything I can think of.
View 8 RepliesI had this previously and did a complete erase and reinstall. This time I have reset my NPRAM and used disc utility, but no issues found. On console I have this message recurring  com.apple.launchd[1]         (com.apple.SystemStarter) Failed to count the number of files in "/System/Library/StartupItems": No such file or directory?
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iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
I can't start up my laptop, it has a flashing picture of a folder with a qustion mark inside,
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Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4)
I have a 13" unibody MacBook running 10.5.8
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.
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MacBook Pro
my macbook won't start, instead a picture of a file folder with a ? on it keeps flashing
View 2 Replies View RelatedI have not been able to startup my iMac for 3 days. When I turn it on all I get it is a white screen. After about 10 minutes a folder with Question mark inside apears in the middle of the screen and it just stays like this. I unplugged everything from the computer except for the mouse and keyboard. I had this computer since 2008 and never had a problem until now.Please help
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IMAC 24 2.8, Mac OS X (10.5.2), 2 GB RAM
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.
I replaced my hard drive after it crashed. I formatted the new drive and installed mavericks from a bootable flash drive. I first tried installing lion over the internet, it took over 40 hours to load on an ethernet cable and quit when it was 98% done saying it could not download additional components. I then tried the flash drive thing, which was just as painful as a process. It would not install on my hard drive, saying the partition was damaged and needed to be repaired, however disk utility could not repair it.
I recreated the partition about 50 times and it never worked. Then I erased the hard drive and started over, and mavericks was able to install. I used my computer for about an hour, setting everything up and what not. I then opened my computer for the first time since, and nothing would work. It wouldn't even restart or shut down. So I forced the power off and when I turned it back on I saw the flashing file with a question mark again.
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MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012)
I have an iMac G5 iSight. When the power button is pressed there is no sound and a white light flashes, but nothing else happens. I tried the power reset method and replaced the power supply, but the same thing happens. The white light just keeps flashing.
View 6 Replies View RelatedI just bought a 17'' lamp-style G4 iMac with a dead logic board for the screen, with the intent of doing some fun modifications, just because I have some spare time. There are 2 things I would like to ask you all about. If you reply (and all constructive or humorous replies are much appreciated!), keep in mind that I am fairly knowledgeable about electronics and am good at soldering/wiring. Anything I don't know how to do, I have friends that are professional electrical engineers (my day job is working on the ATLAS experiment for the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva).
1) I have a perfect, working iMac G4 that has served me well for many years in the same lamp style with a 15'' monitor. Is it possible to gut the 15'' and put it in the 17''? The fit of the components doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to work and be more or less as functional as the current machine. I might be able to build some spacers or something if the fit is not perfect.
2) What do you think the chances are of me stuffing the innards of a Mac Mini inside the 15'' or 17'' chassis? My main concern is the screen connection. I might be able to jury-rig something so that the wires coming from the neck go to a DVI or whatever port is on the Mac Mini to do it that way, I wonder if there isn't a better solution?
Have at it. If I go through with this, I plan to post pictures and a step-by-step account of the process.
and to the people who will undoubtedly bring up copyright/legal infringements. this will not be for sale.
Saturday, my Macbook was working ok and I left it for a few minutes. When I returned, it instructed me to press and hold the power button to restart it. I did, but the only thing that came up (and still does) is the gray folder with a ? flashing. I took it to the Apple store and they said the hard drive was dead and wanted to sell me another hard drive. A different computer repair person (not at Apple) told me that he could re-install the operating system but that all the files would have to be wiped from the hard drive.. Now, I'm just a bit confused and think this hard drive might be salvagable. The Apple store said the hard drive is not even visible with the test they ran. However, Apple.com gives me an option to insert the installation disc and try rebooting. I bought this remanufactured and it did not come with a disc. I do NOT have those discs.Â
Question: is there anything that I can do to recover the hard drive, or, at least, the files I stored there? I just restarted it, held down Cntrl C and the screen is gray with no flashing ?.Â
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MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.3)
So I went to sleep and my computer was just fine, just sitting there being normal as normal gets. I wake up and the cursor is beachballing, no response from anything, holding power button doesn't do anything, so I unplug it. Now when I turn it on it goes to the gray screen with a folder with a question mark blinking. Google told me that this means it can not find the startup disk, and my hard drive is probably toast. Upon advice of forums I grabbed my snow leopard install disk and am going to attempt a boot from disc after work today. If this does not work is it safe to assume I need to replace the hard drive? Computer is out of apple care so this will be a DIY operation.
Computer: 24" iMac, 2.8GHz core 2 duo, 4gb RAM.
Questions:
- What risks are involved with taking apart the iMac? What tools would I need?
- After I install a new hardrive, is it as simple as simply popping Snow Leopard into the disc drive and going from there?
- While I have it open, does anyone know if this model iMac has room for more RAM?
I have a 24inch aluminum iMac running the latest versions of Snow leopard. It's a little over 2 years old. I can turn my computer on and all is fine, I can keep it running for hours on end and nothing is a problem. However, the moment I turn it off or perform a restart I get the flashing folder icon? It takes about 2 hours before I can boot the computer up again.
I've tried the following:Resetting PRAM and VRAM
Resetting the start up disk information through system preferences
Pulling an individual RAM module, booting up then trying the same with other RAM module (to check to see whether I have some dodgy RAM)
At first I thought it must be the hard drive, but why can I run my computer with no problems at all. I had it running for 2 days, and not a problem! But, the minute I turn it off, that's it, you can forget booting it up for at least another hour.
I'm trying to find a desk lamp for the 24" iMac. My Dad uses one for work and his eyesight isn't what it used to be, so I'm looking for something that will sit on top of the iMac and give light to the whole desk.
Unfortunately, a Google search finds only the old classic G4 'desk lamp' iMac, but I'm actually after an iMac desk lamp, if that makes sense.
Function over aesthetics, but preferably nothing too hideous that detracts from the natural beauty of the Mac. Any suggestions would be great
Ive had my Imac for about 9 months and havnt had any issues with it until the past 2 months. The first issue was that i would leave it running for the day and i would restart and get the flashing folder issue. I would then go through all the appropriate steps- unplugging from the power source for 45 seconds +, try booting it with the OSX cd in, ect. At first these steps worked. The next issue i had was a power outage. I followed the same procedure when i went to start my imac up again (mind you it was within 10-15 minutes of it being turned off) and these steps did nothing and the flashing question marked folder appeared every time. I called Apple support and after 2 hours they insisted that it was a faulty hard drive. I let the imac sit for the rest of the day and before i went to bed i decided to give it one more shot. It booted up just fine.
Ive come to the conclusion that im only getting the boot error when it has been running for long periods of time and that the casing feels hot when i try restart. I was wondering if you guys could let me know if my theory of over heating causing the boot error is correct, and if so is there anything i can do myself to help correct the problem? I really want to avoid going to a mac store because its so far away from my location.
I want to do a data recovery of my 15" MBP that has the flashing folder w/ ? mark in it, to an iMac 21.4"; how can i go about that?
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MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.6)
when I turn on iMac I got white screen with grey coloured flashing folder sign,a question mark on it, that's it.
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iMac, 2006 model
I just bought a new Macbook Pro about three weeks ago and am loving it. I've been customizing a lot of my icons with no problems. Well, I Found a site that lets you upload a picture and it generates an iphone style glossy icon. I was able to download the .png file fine but when I paste it over the folder icon in the get info window, The icon completely disappears from the top left corner. The large icon in the bottom of "get info" is a black document looking icon. I believe that the generator uses transparent layers to create the generated icon and I wonder if this is why I'm having issue. BTW the iphone style icon generator is at this address:
http://www.midnightmobility.com/iphone-icon/
I know it has been discussed previously in terms of desire to see it happen. But my question is how hard would it be for Apple to accomplish this?
The optical drive takes up a lot of space, and also connects through Sata, right?
OptiBay and others have hack solutions, do surely Apple could make an elegant one for us.
The mini has dual disks. The iMac also has dual disks.
Any reasons as to why we're still waiting to see this in a MBP?
I'm having the same problem, which I start-up my mac with the flashing question mark, but when I open the disk utility I don't have the Mac OS disk. I've only dvd-rom and "media" to choose. What can I do..
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iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.3)
Today I turned on my Macbook Pro and all that was displayed what a flashing question mark, what does it mean?
View 2 Replies View RelatedAfter trying to fix the flashing question mark folder problem, I took my iMac to the Apple store and, naturally and a little embarrassingly, the iMac booted up just fine and everything seem to be intact.However, when I brought it home it reverted but to same problem i.e. question mark in flashing folder. I read and tried most suggestions I could find but still cannot get the iMac to startup. I tried holding down the "C" key, then the Option key, then PRAMed it and even attached the separate back up disk I use as a Time Machine for my new iMac. IThe problem Mac is a 2008 iMac though I don't exactly know which OS came with it, in any case, I cannot find the original disk. The iMac is networked with my latest iMac.
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iMac, Mac OS X (10.7)
I have a Mac Pro dual quad 3 ghz and had it for almost 2 years with no problems. Today when I went to work on it, it had a grey screen with the flashing apple folder question mark appear. I've tried everything, from Pram reset, to rebooting from Snow Leopard install disc but it just wont recognise the main HD. Is there anything else you can recommend me doing? Is my HD dead?
If I was to reinstall the OS from Snow leopard will I lose all the information I had on my HD. Is there a way to save some of the files?
Oh gawd I hope this is not the end of my HD as I had some files I forgot to backup lately
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Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6)
It appears that our iMac has died!! The first two options haven't revived it so the next option is using the installation disk but I'm concerned about loosing all our files on the computer. How can we save and hopefully retrieve our files? Will we need to take it into Apple?
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iMac
I tried holding the option key for 20 sec during startup then i got a blank grey screen with no flashing question mark but still cant get my laptop startup..
Info:MacBookPro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)
i just move to dominican republic and here you guys dont have apple store i have macbook pro and A flashing question mark appears when start my Mac i have lion cd and everything is any way i can do to fix my computer
Info:Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
I have tried to repair the disk using disk utility but I am getting Filesystem verify or repair failed message. When trying to reinstall OS X, my hard drive never shows up. I cannot boot in safe mode.
This all happened after I came back from a week vacation. I shut the computer down before I left and when I came back, I got the flashing folder with the ? mark in it.
i have recently bought a macbook white late 2009 from amazon,the macbook came without a hardrive and when i bought one all that came up is a flashing folder with a '?' following the guides online i bought a mac osx snow leopard disc to try and fix the problem but when i insert the disk on a reboot it just ejects, iv tried holding c on the reeboot but it still does the same thing,
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MacBook
My computer started getting really slow all of the time and then it froze with the spinning rainbow. Normally if I simply press and hold the power button to restart it, the computer is fine. This time when I turned t back of I got a grey screen with the flashing question mark.
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MacBook
