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?!
Info:
MacBook Pro
I've tried all the "fixes" to this problem, but none of them seem to work.•When I hold option, no hard drives show up.
•When using Disk Utility from the install disk, no hard drives are found. (Shows up just as "Media.")-If I wait long enough, they do show up, but problem still persists after repairs.
•Still doesn't boot after resetting PRAM
•I can't reinstall Mac OS because my computer does not recognize that there's a disk to install it on.Â
What makes this all weirder is that if I wait long enough, it seems to work just fine, but then once I shut it down, it won't restart any time soon.Â
I also seem to have a problem taking it out of sleep. The screen comes back on, but the spinning wheel shows up if I try to do anything before my fans spin up.
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iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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?
Info:
iMac
After 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 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)
What do I do when there is a flashing folder with a question mark? What do I do?
View 5 Replies View RelatedNothing ive done has got my Macbook pro past the flashing question mark... No keyboard button holding down has done anything! ive even replaced the HD.
View 11 Replies View RelatedOver the weekend I install Snow Leopard on my MacBook and all went fine and it rebooted automatically after Snow Leopard was installed. However on Sunday when I turned on the MacBook it booted and all I had was a flashing folder with a question mark. I have read several suggestion and so far have tried:
1)Holding down different keys (C, D & X) to specify the disk but it doesn't seem to find the hard drive at this points
2)Booting from a flash drive & Install DVD and use Disk Utility to verify/repair the disk
3) re-install Snow Leopard
4) re-install Leopard
5) Erase hard drive and re-install Leopard
6) Reset PARM (?) Think that's what it was called...
7) remove hardward and re-install (memory & Hard Drive)
The hard drive appears and shows as verified in DU and repair does not give any errors but if I try to boot using the hard drive, I get the flashing "?" I've tried re-installs of the OS but once it's done and reboots I get the flashing "?" I just can't seem to get by the problem but the hard drive appears "OK" when verified or repaired.
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)
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 RelatedI 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
Info:
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6)
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.
Info:
MacBook Pro
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 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
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?
Info:
MacBook Pro
I had a kernel panic few days ago, and there's no audio on youtube, itunes after the attack......
Info:
MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.3)
this isn't an isolated issue - there are threads about this over at Apple and InsanelyMac: I'm unable to install Snow Leopard. When I run the installer, it'll tell me that "Mac OS X cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD", because this disk cannot be used to start up your computer" (Macintosh HD being my OS X volume, obviously). I'm seeing this issue on a relatively new 1.8ghz Macbook Air with a 128gb SSD - however, as far as I can tell from the other threads, the problem also affects iMacs and Macbooks.
Some people apparently attributed the issue to a PGP installation they had on their harddrive. Others found a file called backup.backupdb in their root - deleting it fixed the problem. However, most people don't have any of that installed on their computers and the upgrade still won't work. - if anyone has found a solution to the issue, please let me know :-( I'm stuck here. I don't have an external drive for the MBA and booting from a network drive has never worked on this particular machine - so I can't do a clean install, either.
In the last few days, when I hit a key to start up the computer, all I will get is a blank screen with the small, multi-colored, rotating disk icon. I can't get out of this unless I hold the power key down for about 5 seconds, which I know is probably not the right way to shut down.
Info:
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)
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...
Info:
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2)
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
Info:
iMac, Mac OS X (10.5)
All I get is gray screen in start up.
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Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4)
Had to force quit a number of applications to shut down computer, restarted it but froze on opening. Shut down with the power button and now it won't get past Gray screen with rotating dial (thingy)...tried the safe boot option but this seemed to get stuck after identifying some issues.
Info:
MacBook (13-inch Late 2009)
I click on the hd hard drive and change the settings to no one can read or write now I had problem to open the computer as soon I start it became gray screen so I re-stall the software and as soon I back up the computer is asking me the password I type it and can't enter after keep asking me the password is wrong
Info:iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.4)
i changed the name of the hard-drive for other reasons, and i guess i must have somehow erased the two which show up in the login box. And, i cannot locate the disks.
Info:
MacBook Pro, Other OS, no start up disk to be found
I have an iMac 21inch, Late 2009. I found after it was runing really slow that my hard drive was failing. It told me there were SMART errors on the drive. The computer is out of warranty and I'm in the middle of no where so i have no Mac store to take it to. I bought a new drive, same model, and installed it into the computer. It turns on fine, but after the Apple logo and spinning coge wheel the screen flashes, shows the blue back ground like its going to load the desktop and then goes black.Â
I've tried connecting an external monitor to it and shows up like an extended display. I've tried connecting it to another Mac, a Mini, and the Mini can boot off the iMacs hard drive just fine. If it Target Disk mode the Mini and boot the iMac I get the same flash of blue desktop then it goes black. Â
This is where it gets weird though, I'm sure your thinking, ok the screen is going bad... BUT, I boot off an Ubuntu CD, or the AHT disk and it loads fine and has no turning black. Its only when booting into the Mac OS or the installation disk. Â
One last note is that when its at the black screen and I'm sure its loaded the desktop, if I hold the power button down for about 3-4 seconds, till I hear a click. I then press the button again right away and the screen flashes on showing me the desktop and everything, for about 2 seconds... Â
Adobe recommends downgrading from Safari 5.1.7 as this version will not open pdfs in Snow Leopard. Where can I find downloads of older (pre 5.1.7) versions of Safari? The apple site keeps forcing me to the download for the most recent 5.1.7 version.
View 1 Replies View RelatedI 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?
View 9 Replies View RelatedI 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.
View 2 Replies View Related