If your computer starts up normally after a brief delay, you probably  just need to reselect the startup disk in Startup Disk preferences.  It's normal to see the flashing question mark when a startup disk has  not been selected. In most cases, reselecting the startup disk is all  that is required to resolve the issue.

Sometimes, your computer may not start beyond the flashing question mark.

Tip: If your computer has a gray screen (with no flashing question mark) startup issue, see Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup.

Check the mouse and keyboard

This issue might occur if a mouse or trackpad button is pressed during startup. Make sure the button isn't pressed.

If the issue persists, shut down your Mac with its power button,  disconnect any external mouse and keyboard, then turn on your Mac with  its power button. If the flashing question mark issue persists,  reconnect the keyboard and mouse.

Additional steps

If your Mac still starts to a flashing question mark, follow the  steps below. If any step resolves the issue, you don't need to continue  to the next one.

1. Select your Mac OS X startup disk with Startup Manager by restarting and holding the Option key. After your Mac starts up,  restart again to verify that the flashing question mark does not appear.
2. If the issue persists, insert your Mac OS X installation disc.  Be sure to either use the disc that came with your Mac, or, if you  installed a later Mac OS X version from disc, use the newer disc.
   

   MacBook Air note: On a MacBook Air, there are  two options for starting up from Mac OS X media: Either connect a  MacBook Air SuperDrive to  the MacBook Air via the  USB port and restart  the computer, holding down the C key during  startup, or use Remote Install Mac OS X to startup from a system  software  DVD that's located on a partner  computer. Once started up from Mac OS X media, skip to step 3.
   

3. Restart the computer, then hold the C key during startup.
4. From the Utilities menu, choose Disk Utility. Don't click Continue.
5. Select your Mac OS X disk (named "Macintosh HD" by default) in the left side of the Disk Utility window.
6. Click the First Aid tab.
7. Click Repair Disk to verify and repair any issues with your Mac OS X startup disk.
8. After repairing the disk, try to start up normally.
   
   Important: If Disk Utility finds issues it cannot repair, you may need to back up as much of your data as possible (or use Time Machine to back up to a different disk), then erase the disk and reinstall Mac  OS X. You should back up important files and data before erasing a  drive. Erasing deletes everything on the hard disk (including things on  your desktop). Also, you can install Mac OS X onto an external disk,  start from the external disk, and use Migration Assistant to transfer  items from your usual internal Mac OS X startup disk to the external  disk, then erase the internal disk and reinstall Mac OS X.
9. If the issue persists, and Disk Utility didn't find any  irreparable issues, quit Disk Utility, quit the Installer, select your  disk when prompted, and restart.
10. If the issue continues, reset PRAM. Note: After resetting PRAM, if the computer starts up normally, reselect the startup disk in the  Startup Disk preferences.
11. If none of these steps resolve the issue, start up from the Mac OS X Installation disc and reinstall Mac OS X.