OS X Mountain Lion :: Flashing Question Mark On Screen?
Aug 27, 2014
yesterday evening, I received a message from my teacher that I had to redo one of my papers because a program she used detected some copy paste information that was about 39% more than what she accepts and asked me to reword some of the information. When I started working on my paper to resubmit it to her, My laptop was freezing a lot in the middle of me working on my school paper. After a while, it completely froze to the point where I could no longer do anything and stayed frozen for hours on end. I couldn't even save my work which was very frustrating considering I wanted to get that done and out of the way. I felt that I had no choice but to force it to turn off and turn it back on. In the process of me doing so, a flashing file with a question mark came on in which I took the time to look up to see what it meant and how can I fix it. However, after many reading, I realized that if I reboot the system I will lose everything I have that's important to me (which technically is my school work, some photos, and licensing application). I never used the Time Machine when my laptop was up and running because I never understood it or knew how to use it. One of the things I read is that I am able to restore my laptop with Time Machine. But I was curious to know if I can still use Time Machine to backup and restore my laptop?
Below are the basic information of my laptop.
Screen Size13.3 inchesScreen Resolution1280x800Max Screen Resolution1280x800 pixelsProcessor2.5 GHz Intel Core i5RAM4 GB DDR3Hard Drive500 GB HDD 5400 rpmGraphics CoprocessorIntel HD Graphics 4000Chipset BrandIntelCard DescriptionIntel HD 4000Graphics Card Ram Size128 MBWireless Type802.11 a/b/g/nNumber of USB 2.0 Ports2Average Battery Life (in hours)8 hours  ExpandÂ
Other Technical Details Brand NameAppleSeriesMacBook ProItem model numberMD101LL/AHardware PlatformMacOperating SystemMac OS X 10.8 Mountain LionItem Weight4.5 poundsItem Dimensions L x W x H8.94 x 12.78 x 0.95 inchesColorSilverProcessor BrandIntelProcessor Count1Computer Memory TypeDDR3 SDRAMHard Drive InterfaceSerial ATAHard Drive Rotational Speed5400 RPMOptical Drive TypeDVD+R DLAudio-out Ports (#)1Power SourceDCVoltage100 voltsÂ
Info:
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)
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Jun 3, 2014
My almost new macbook pro was showing a white screen with a flashing folder with a question mark. I was able to do the internet recovery, installing OS X on my external harddrive, but how do I use my mac without the harddrive plugged in?
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Jun 29, 2009
2.0GHz MacBook running 10.5. My friend's computer which he brought to me thinking I might be able to get it booted.
My buddy went to bed last night, running a video on his hard drive with the computer hooked up to his flat screen TV, he fell asleep while it was playing. This morning he woke up to a frozen screen. He did a manual shutdown. Upon restart he got a gray screen with nothing showing.
I have tried the original installation disk and restart while holding down "C" with no result.
I tried a copy of Tech Tools 5 in the DVD drive... with no result.
I have tried booting off of my own external firewire HD upon which I keep a bootable clone of os10.4.11... with no result.
I tried booting off that same external HD while holding down "C" and got the flashing folder with question mark.
I tried using a firewire cable and starting the bad macbook in target mode while hooked up to my old iBook. This caused the macbook screen to show a firewire symbol and nothing showed up on my iBook screen but an archive... Tech Tools on my iBook recognized the archive but could not Unmount the archive when I tried to use any of the tools to explore or fix the target disk.
I know that the flashing question mark indicates there is no start up software to be found, but I have to question whether this might not be something more than a bad HD. Anyone have any suggestions?
BTW... the macbook is out of warranty. My friend just went ahead and ordered a new macbook pro so there is no pressing need to get this fixed in a hurry, but he would like to get the old computer fixed if it is just a matter of replacing an HD.
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Mar 9, 2012
I have a MacBook Model # A1181, I'm getting a grey screen with a flashing question mark inside a folder and the drive doesn't work ither....
Info:
SAFARI download, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
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Apr 17, 2012
Mac book air has a flashing question mark. How do I reset computer?
Info:
MacBook Air, iOS 5.1
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May 9, 2012
I can't turn on my computer. The screen has a flashing question mark.
Info:
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010), iOS 5.0.1
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Sep 8, 2008
On the screen of my powerbook is a flashing question mark alternating with a face.my powerbook is unusable. In disk utility on my installation disk my hard drive does not appear in the window there and the repair disk tab is dimmed.
Would that indicate that my hard drive is kaput?
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Mar 29, 2012
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.
Info:
MacBook
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Jun 17, 2014
My computer froze on me and the rainbow cursor appeared. I forced my Macbook Pro to shut down and when I restarted it, a grey screen appeared with a flashing folder that has a question mark inside. Â
I tried the following:
1) restarting it holding down the "shift" button and nothing changed
2) restarting while holding down opting+command+p+r until I hear it ding 3-6 times - nothing changedÂ
AND what causes this? This is not the first time I have heard of a Macbook Pro doing this...Â
Info:
MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion
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Jun 21, 2014
I get is white screen with flashing question mark. I've inserted OS disc but it won't run.Â
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Jun 17, 2012
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.
Info:
iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.4)
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Mar 12, 2012
I have a macbook pro I bought last week I turn it on there is only a blue folder flashing with a ? in it.
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
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Apr 15, 2012
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)
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Apr 28, 2008
i just upgraded my ibook g3 hd to 20gb. i put in my tiger install disc 1 and i let it go while i was out of the room. i heard the startup chime from another room, later i went to see it with a blue screen and mouse cursor. it wouldn't do anything. then i restarted it with the install disc again, holding C down, and it booted to a grey screen which after about a minute went to the flashing folder with the ? mark.
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Dec 10, 2014
I'm selling my old iMac and while cleaning the hard drive it froze. I forced shut down and when I turned it back on a circle with a diagonal came up initially, followed by flashes of that, a question mark and the apple symbol. Now it won't get past the grey screen and the flashing symbols. Â
Info:
iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.11)
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Apr 6, 2012
We are getting a white screen with flashing file icon with question mark inside the file.Â
Info:
iMac
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Jun 21, 2012
This is unnerving. At random intervals, my screen flashes. It more like "winks" - as though a screen capture was being made. Actually, when you make a real screen capture, the screen doesn't wink, but that's the impression I get. The screen doesn't flicker or flash like it's a hardware bad connection, but goes through a fast, but continuous normal-white-normal cycle. I'm looking at my activity monitor to see if something is unusual, but I can't tell. Everything I look up seems to be real.
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6)
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Mar 4, 2009
I recently purchased a Quicksilver machine from the original buyer. It came equipped with Panther. After getting it online I contracted a virus (should have loaded an antivirus program first). So I did a hard shutdown, since I couldn't close anything. When I restarted I went to options and made a bonehead move in selecting something that doesn't let me restart any farther than a "flashing folder with a Mac icon and question mark on it. How to rectify this?
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Jun 3, 2009
I am getting the flashing mac folder with the question mark when trying to boot up. It started the reboot after I (unsuccessfully) tried to remove iTunes 8.2 so I could go back to 8.1. I was following some instructions from another site, but interpreted the code to be segmented and not to be entered as one large command. So I entered this into terminal while iTunes was still running. "sudo rm -rf /Applications/iTunes.app /System/Library". I think the system was hanging, so rebooted the computer and that's when this started. I can't enter single user mode, diskwarrior has rebuilt the directory successfully, but no luck. I'm on a 12" Powerbook 1.5GHz with 1.25 GB RAM, Leopard 10.5.7.
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Nov 2, 2009
Basically, I hadn't used my MBP in a couple of days and it was sitting there in sleep mode and I thought nothing was wrong but I came to use it today and it had frozen so I restarted it only to have a flashing folder with a question mark appear.
I Googled around a bit and I thought that a quick repair disk in Disk Utility would fix it as it has for others but when I tried that I get this error:
Code:
Invalid B-tree node size.
Volume check failed.
Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.
This is a mid '09 Macbook Pro (specs in sig) so something going wrong with it was the last thing I expected, especially the hard drive.
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Jun 14, 2012
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..
Info:
iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.3)
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Dec 2, 2007
I searched the entire internet for this solution. I realize it has been posted but the symptoms were note entirely the same. I have a 1.6 g5. One night it was running awfully slow. I shut it down and didn't touch it for the weekend. When I came home the finder/? Thing flashes. Unlike some of the others, mine never boots and I don't have my discs to run the utility. Does this seem like a hard drive problem or am I looking at apples infamous logic board failure?
Information:
g5 powermac
Mac OS X (10.4.10)
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Jan 2, 2010
I have a 13" Macbook that I bought when they first came out and upgraded to OSX a couple years ago. It's been running fine until a couple days ago when I turned it on and it was displaying a folder with a flashing question mark. I immediately went online to get suggestions for rememdies, but so far none of them seem to be working. When I insert the installation disc it gets recognized, but pretty much all options for reinstalling are grayed out. I hooked up my external hard drive that has my backups on it, but don't know what to do from there. Like many people, I haven't backed up my files for a few months, and there are docs in there that I'd prefer not to have to lose. I've noted that this seems to be a rather common problem.
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Sep 2, 2010
I have a Macbook OS X. This just happened when I turn on my Mac it goes to a folder with a flashing question mark. I don't know how to fix this so I just want to restore it. I have my Mac OS X disk in automatically tries to upgrade to v10.5 and when I put it in it asks what language and I click English and then after a minute it says Mac OS X v10.4 or later cannot be found on your computer. So how do I restore it to factory settings?
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Sep 28, 2010
I have a 13" macbook purchased 2007 just out of the extended protection plan this summer. Last night while watching a video in full screen it froze with the beach ball for over 20 minutes with no sign of stopping. I had my external WD drive hooked up which is my iTunes drive (only). I had to manually shutdown the computer (with external still hooked up) After trying to reboot I got the flashing question mark and continue to get it no matter what I do.
I've removed the external drive, reset the PRAM, tried booting in safe mode, tried booting from installation disc but my hard drive doesn't even appear in disk utility. Not sure what else I can try as nothing has worked.
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Nov 15, 2010
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?
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Dec 7, 2010
I bought it refurbished almost two years ago. For several months it has been occasionally showing the flashing question mark on start up. Usually I will restart it in safeboot and then restart and it's fine. This has gone on for a while. I wasn't sure what that was about and have not been successful in finding information about if that was common and what to do about it. (I have two babies so not a lot of time to spend searching for answers when things aren't dire) It usually seemed that if a disc was left in the notebook and/or the top shut without being properly shutdown before hand, this would happen.
Well just a bit ago it was froze on a spinning wheel and I force quit the program it was stuck on and not long after shut it down. Now it won't get past the flashing question mark. I thought it was a startup issue. Now I'm worried it might be a hard-drive issue. My second child's birth video is on there! I know, I should have backed up. I tried Shift on start up and that didn't work. I tried Command+V on start up and that did nothing. I don't have another Mac to hook it up to, just my old trusty PC
My main concern is the files like photos, music, and videos on the hard drive. My husband is not working at the moment so we can't spend a lot of money on it and the nearest Mac Genius bar is over an hour away. Looking for some good advice!
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Dec 5, 2006
My Macbook wont start up. A folder with a question pop up. Tried C Key and TDM.
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Dec 20, 2008
So for the first time ever I power on my iMac and get a flashing folder indicating the system cannot find the boot disk. I reset it a few times and it eventually boots up. A few days later the same thing happens only this time I can't get it to boot up after many attempts.
I try all the usual suspects, reset PRAM, attempt to select boot device (can't find any) Finally I boot from the install CD and when I get to select a destination volume for the OS there are no volumes to select.
I shut it off for a few days assuming I'd need to take it to an Apple store for some kind of repair or hdd swap. However it just started up tonight when I passed it and decided to hit the power button. Should I do anything to it while I have it running? Would a fresh OS install do anything for me? I have everything backed up with Time Machine.
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May 24, 2010
Today I turned on my Macbook Pro and all that was displayed what a flashing question mark, what does it mean?
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