PowerPC :: Doesn't Boot Properly - Blinking Folder With Question Mark
Jul 6, 2009
I'm having an issue with my PowerBook G4. It wouldn't turn on at all before, so I installed another motherboard. Now it will power on, but it only shows this folder icon that blinks. I'm a complete n00b to macs. If this were a PC I would of fixed it by now. I need some help. I've tried the installation disk, but when I hold down the C key, it takes longer, but it just shows that folder again. When I hold down the Option key, it only gives me a reload button, and an arrow button, but no boot up options. Do you think it could be a problem with this other used motherboard? Or is it that I just didn't put it in right? I've double checked all the hardware, and it seems to be all connected. The keyboard lights up, and the trackpad works, and it makes the boot-up sound.
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Mar 26, 2012
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....
Info:
iMac
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Feb 16, 2008
I just installed a new hard drive in my mac ibook g4 - but when I turn it on I still get the blinking folder with a question mark.
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Dec 23, 2007
My Mac just made my heart jump. When I rebooted, it just showed a blank grey screen for about 15 seconds. It then showed a folder with a blinking question mark. I had seen this before on iBooks at my school, and knew it wasn't a good sign. I held down the power button, and rebooted. This time, it started up without a hitch.
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Jul 29, 2009
My macbook is about two years old and recently have encountered problems. When I turn on the computer all I see is a blinking folder and question mark. I have tried putting in the install cd but it does not work. I try to reinstall mac os x but it tells me it could not be done. I have tried repairing the disk and numerous other things. I did not have anything truly important on the computer so I am not worried if I lose it.
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May 19, 2008
i held the power button to shut off my computer because it was lagging badly. upon my start up of my computer i received a folder with a question mark in the center blinking icon (after a little delay).
i need to get this sucker up and running. i have some imporrtant information on it.
its basically a brand new macbook 2.0ghz 2 gig rram
osx installed 10.5.1 i think because i remember seeing it somewhere (i have updated) , but i have cd's for 10.4.9
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Feb 4, 2012
My mac won't start, it appears a folder with a ? Inside.
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MacBook, Blincking fold with ? Inside
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Apr 2, 2012
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.
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.
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.
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iMac, Mac OS X (10.5)
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Jun 13, 2012
shut down the computer last night, woke up, turned on, and only get a white screen with a blinking question mark over a folder.
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iMac
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Jun 29, 2012
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.
Info:
iMac
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May 20, 2009
I Don't have a lot of knowledge of computers so I apologize if any of this doesn't make sense. I have an exactly 2 year old White Macbook. To make it short....screen froze....restarted...eventually got blinking folder with question mark. Tried all the various ways/modes (safe,single,etc) to restart the computer and nothing. Read the macbook booklet and it said to enter the Mac OS X disk 1 and I did that. It eventually worked, the disk that is. Went to Disk Utility and tried to repair Mac OS X Install Disc 1 and get ERROR:No valid packages. In the column of choices there are 3 other options for me to click and repair. I don't know if these options are confidential and need to be kept private but I will omit some of the numbers/ letters. These are the other 3 options: GB Hitachi HTS....( this is what I get when I try to repair: Invalid B-tree node size Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit......also.. 1 HFS Volume checked .....Volume needs repair disk0s2 ......this option when I try to repair gives the same exact error as the one above. GB MATSHITA.... this option gives the same response as when I try to repair the Mac OS X Install Disc 1 ......ERROR:No valid packages. Also I tried to reinstall Mac OS X by following the installer and clicked English and then get to Select a destination volume to install the Mac OS X software and there are NO options available for me to click. I am so desperate right now.
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Apr 9, 2012
I'm getting a blinking folder with a question mark on startup. What is it?
Info:
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.4.7)
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Apr 24, 2012
When I try to turn my computer on I get a blinking folder with a question mark on it. How do I fix it?
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MacBook Pro
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Aug 21, 2014
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)?
Info:
MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)
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Apr 25, 2012
On Sunday night I found my macbook pro ("13, mid 2010, refurbished) in a frozen state a few seconds after waking it from sleep. So I did a forced restart and then my macbook wouldn't boot (blinking question mark folder). I troubleshooted with the OSX Install DVD on my own before taking it to the Genius Bar (disk utility & TDM could not find the hard drive), and we both came to the conclusion that I should install a new drive. So yesterday I bought a new drive, did a fresh OSX install and managed to migrate all of my info from my presumed damaged drive to the new one. Everything went smoothly and the computer was in working order all night. That is until this morning when I shut it down before bringing it to work. On my lunch break I decided to fire up my newly upgraded macbook only to find that it once again would not boot, still with the blinking question mark folder. I also tested to see if I have faulty RAM and it doesn't look like it (unless both sticks are fried).
Info:
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010)
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Apr 11, 2012
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?
Info:
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
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Feb 13, 2010
I had only Windows 7 on my HDD for the past few months. I wanted to reinstall mac osx so I restarted it and tried to install it on a partition I made in 7 but to no avail. The disc reformatted the HDD as BOOTCAMP with the old data on it and I lost the extra partition. I placed the HDD in an exernal bay that I have. I backed up what I needed and reformatted. It's being read as G: (NTFS) on my PC and it works. I rebooted witht eh DVD in to reinstall MAC and redo the BOOTCAMP system but the blinking folder comes up.
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Sep 22, 2010
White MB about three years old. Was watching something on Hulu and HDD started making strange noises and screen froze. Forced reboot and only got white screen. Couldn't even get into single user mode. Got a new WD hard drive thinking it would fix the problem. Put in my backup of the Install Disk (lost the original like an idiot) but all it shows when I hold down the C key is a large blinking folder icon with a question mark on it. Still can't get into single user mode. I may have screwed up the backup of the Install Disk or am using the wrong DVD since I forgot to label it.
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Apr 17, 2012
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
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iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
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Jun 20, 2012
My macbook won't boot. A folder with a questionmark keeps flashing...What do I do, so I don't lose my documents?If I send it to reperation, will they see the last thing I did on it? Cause it was quite private...
Info:
MacBook Pro, MacOS X (10.5)
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Jul 19, 2008
I have a problem...my 12" Powerbook G4 doesn't start up properly at the moment. I turn it on, I can hear the chime, and the screen goes grey but then does nothing...I've tried holding down C while starting up too, but still nothing happens, just the grey screen.
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Mar 20, 2010
First , scuse typing asrushing this on iPhone!
Got ?folder on boot on late 2007 21"iMac today. Have tried usual stuff including resettng pram and booting from cd. 1st time I booted from install cd it wouldn't even mountthe HD. Turned off and left for a few hours to cool down. Next time ibooted from cd HD mounted and I ran disk utilty repair bit it said there were no problems. Tried to boot from HD no luck.
So, guessing HD is fried:-(
so, before I take it to the apple store to get it replaced (doubt under warranty) or do it myself I want to see if I can recover the mportant data. While I am sure it's all backed up on cradhplan I have 80gb of photos and I'd rather ecover from USB to ext HD instead of over Internet from cradhplan.
So, I'm thnking... When my TM blew up last year I took the HD out and took it to work and slapped it in a drive bay of my mac pro, recovered the data, put it back in the TM before shipping it back to apple for a replacement (that then went on eBay since I got cradhplan)
so; question 1: can I take the HD out of the iMac and have a go installing it in my mac pro? Will an iMac HD fit in the mac pro case/bay?
Question 2: all my photos are also on the apple tv. Can I copy them from the apple tv to another mac if my backup had failed and doesn't restore or I can't recover from iMac HD? I know I had cradhplan set to backup iphoto library but I upgraded to aperture 3 recently and am worried that I have nit set crashplan up to backup the aperture library
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Apr 14, 2012
I have just upgraded from a Macbook to a Macbook Pro and just swapped my hard drives. My OSX partition still works perfectly but when i now try and boot to my XP installation the laptop hangs and after about 30s i get the grey screen with a folder with a question mark in it which then blinks/flashes on the screen.
Does anyone know why this has happened???? I have googled it but to no avail. I havent tried to re-install windows yet, I hoping there is a quick fix.
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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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May 8, 2007
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.
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Feb 25, 2009
about a week ago my hard drive died. i took it in to be diagnosed... I purchased a new 250GB hard drive and decided to install on my own. I followed the detailed instructions on [URL], it was a breeze... but, now the problem is installing OS X onto my laptop. I can't find the original start up disk for the iBook G4, so I tried using Mac OS X Tiger, V10.4. The installation DVD loads up fine, but when it arrives at the "Select a Destination" step no Icons appear on the screen... my new hard drive seems to be hidden.
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Feb 9, 2012
So, I was on windows, using bootcamp, and I was creating partitions on a pen drive with it, and then it asks me that it needs to restart to apply changes.
But then, while restarting, a blue screen occurred (**** windows).... And I forced the shutdown pressing the power key.
Then, I simply turned the MacBook on, trying to boot on my snow leopard and I got a flashing folder with a question mark on it. Now I can't access any partitions on it, if I press option key on startup I get a blank window!
I tried to reset PRAM, repair the MacOs partition using the snow leopard DVD (it shows up fine, along with windows partition and EFI partition), and I still don't get my startup disk showing up...
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), Snow Leopard with windows7 bootcamp
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May 4, 2012
My imac from 2009 won't boot up. It just keeps flashing a grey file folder with a question mark. Of course now I do not know where my start up cd is.....is there anything that I can do???
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iMac
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Sep 25, 2010
I turned it on today and it gave me a box around a little world, then it gave me the folder with a question mark and gave me the apple logo after that and booted into mac os x. It's really bothering me, is my machine dieing? Or is this just a software issue. A software issue, I can definitely handle if its just a reinstall of mac os x but if its the hard drive connection or logic board then my powerbook is a nice paperweight . Can anyone tell me why it did this and what I should do to fix it? I mean, it works but those symbols at the beginning I know aren't good to see. I recently installed onyx for OS X tiger and ran a few of the operations but I have restarted the computer flawlessly since then.
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Aug 14, 2010
About once a month I have a problem where the machine won't boot and I get the blinking question mark icon on the screen. I've read lots (and lots) of posts about this, all which say that the hard drive is dead or something similar. Disk Utility and Drive Warrior sometimes see no disk and sometimes see a disk that reports a 0 byte capacity. The thing is, it has always come back. The typical pattern is that nothing I do seems to help. Eventually I've tried all the standard things (safe mode, pram reset, etc), rebooted it a bunch and then walk away for a few hours. Nothing seems to work immediately, but if I leave it alone it comes back. What gives? In case it matters I've got an iMac 20" (?), intel duo 2.8 GHz with a 500 GB WD drive. I used to think the problem might be heat related, but I recently had to leave the machine off for a week in this state and when I returned the problem persisted.
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