Flashing question mark on folder at start up...help,please

I'm having the same problem. Just last night, I was watching a DVD and it suddenly froze. I powered down, turned it back on, and I got the question mark. I booted off the CD and tried to do a disk repair but it doesn't show up! Then I tried to reinstall the OS, and my HDD doesn't show up as an availble option. This royally *****. You don't see this in the mac ads, I thought my days of startup failures were over when I made the switch. Oh, I'm not using 10.5 by the way, so most likely this is a problem with the hardware rather than the OS. Apple really needs to come out and say something about this.

Just went out and spent $100 on DiskWarrior, didn't work. My HD doesn't even show up! I don't understand. Even on my windows computers, when they crashed, at least the HDs still existed.

Just talked to an Apple guy over the phone. We did some resets, and interastingly now I DO hear the startup chimes when I turn it on. I still get the question mark after a few minutes, but progress? Maybe? I'm going down to the Apple store on wednesday, but based on the other comments I seriously doubt that they'll be able to do anything.

I had the same problem yesterday, I connected my new ipod, and my computer froze. I switched off but the question mark came up. I stumbled across a site that suggested removing the hard drive (take off the battery, unscrew the l-bar and remove the hard-drive) then tap the HD once firmly on the bottom, then replace it and re-start. My computer is now working. I saw that my hd is toshiba not seagate, if they are different (i'm not an expert!) so it could have been a different problem, but I am considering it only a temporary solution nevertheless. Try it, even if it means only time to back-up files before you replace the HD. Hope this is helpful!

I stumbled across a site that suggested removing the hard drive (take off the battery, unscrew the l-bar and remove the hard-drive) then tap the HD once firmly on the bottom, then replace it and re-start. My computer is now working.

Could you please post the url of the site where you found this information. Thank you.

Before tossing the baby out with the bathwater I called a local, reputable computer firm for assistance. I just spoke with him and here is what he diagnosed:

The HD is NOT fried and the data is retrievable - that is the good news.

He firmly believes this issue is due to the software upgrade generated by Apple - this is really really bad news for Apple... and me.

Apple's software upgrade will have cost me a lot of valuable time and money - probably several hundred dollars. While Apple is not responsible for my lack of backing up my files however Apple techs are responsible for sending out a corrupted update which in turn corrupted my computer's HD functionality. This hurts their credibility big time.

Apparently some other information regarding this issue is contained on an additional Apple forum/site but I have not been able to find anything else but this string regarding the issue.

My humble advice: do not do ANY upgrades before a thorough backup of your system.

There is a cost to Apple as well - the system upgrade I was planning on doing with a new G5 and new notebook will now have to wait indefinitely. The trust is broken until a mea culpa is forthcoming as well as a guarantee that this issue will not occur again. I have yet to hear or read anything else warning other Apple customers about this issue.

Good luck gang and as additional information becomes available I will share it with those suffering with me.

Peace.

Patrick

Toddy, I did exactly what you said on the post, however,I am not sure if what I am seeing is the hard drive sign. On the left hand side, it says 4.7 GB MATSHITADVD and underneath, it says MAC OS X install Disc one.
Does this mean that I lost all my hard drive?
secondly, it wouldn't let me even click on the repair disk permissions,
it only allows me to click on verify disk permission, when i click on it, it gives me an error saying, error: no valid packages.
and underneath, it says, permissions verification complete.

I really hope that I didn't lose all my data, these are over 3 hours worth of music I've been working on for more than a year.

Sorry, i am posting this to all of you guys who may know an answer to this problem. I am in tears as I didn't do any back up on this computer.
When I went to disk utility to find out if i can recover my hard drive, it shows this sign. on the left hand side: it says 4.7 GB MATSHITADVD and underneath, it says MAC OS X install Disc one.
Does this mean that I lost all my hard drive?
secondly, it wouldn't let me even click on the repair disk permissions,
it only allows me to click on verify disk permission, when i click on it, it gives me an error saying, error: no valid packages.
and underneath, it says, permissions verification complete.

like everyone here, im really desperate and in utter shock and loss of words.
Please any answer would be very helpful. Im using my pc lap top right now, in case anyone wonders how im able to post here.

I hear ya man ... same thing happened to me on 2 days ago. Came home with my comp asleep all day and it was slow as **** when i woke it .. so i restarted .. and got that **** folder with question mark icon. Got a new hard drive put in today and sadly, I lost all my stuff off my old HD aswell. I think I litterally cried yesterday as i am a musician that has allot of lyrics typed out in text edit and about 15 songs recorded in garageband ... and i didnt ... back .. anything ... up, im such a fool! It's just ive had this macbook since june 06 without a SINGLE problem! .. ugh, still bringing a tear to my eye ... all my photots and vids gone aswell. Is there anyone out there that can recover or salvage some stuff off my old HD by any chance??? If i could at least get the lyrics from textedit . .that would be enough as my finished products out of garageband were sent to itunes and we saved on my ipod so .. ya. What a last couple days :*o(

Hi
I've just joined the club. It happened to me yesterday, totally out of the blue. I've tried more or less everything. I wouldn't mind but I'd just completed designing a suite of spreadsheets to make my accounts simpler and entered a load of data, took me about 3 days including a full VAT return. I suppose I've now lost everything. I'll get back if there is any positive news.
Mike Read

Hello Everyone,

Its a heck of a way to start the new year.

I just spoke to a private tech in Monterey, CA and they are conducting a successful data retrieval.

My suggestion is you take your computer to a reputable tech person, get a quote for the hard drive removal and data retrieval - be SURE not to pay by time but a fee for the complete job.

All may not be lost - do not reformat your hard drive until you speak to a professional tech person.

Expect to pay around $200.00 - $400.00
A deal if you are a creative person and need your files...

Good luck gang.

Patrick

Hi all,
I have posted a couple messages on other forums re this topic. This seems to be the most comprehensive trail of this problem -- which I suffered just before Christmas.

My question mark folder also appeared while running Mail but occured with the battery running a bit low and the computer just suddenly went black. I have noticed this a couple times since doing a Superdrive firmware update back in October or November. The computer would give no warning at all about being low on battery power -- just quit. This time -- it obviously did not come back to life. Starting from the original install disk allowed me to run disk utility -- which originally DID recognize my hard drive but could not repair it. However, now -- DU does not even see the HD and I no longer hear the nice little clicking noises. I tried Data Rescue II from ProSoft (you can get a trial version with a bootable CD for $5) but it also could not find the HD. Hardware test utility does not indicate any problems - -but it did not even see the HD so it could not report an error! My HD is not a Seagate and I was running OS 10.4.11 but no recent updaters had been installed.

I am also suspicious of a software incompatibility issue from an updater. I suspect the firmware update but any number of security or battery updaters could have also been the problem. I have been a die-hard Apple loyalist for 20 years but THEY NEED TO OWN UP TO THIS PROBLEM.

Is it my imagination or does the MacBook Pro seem to have less of a problem with this?

One other item -- for the folks with the CD stuck in the MacBook. Try starting up while holding down the "option" key. Hold it down until you see a cursor appear. You should be able to move it around. Then just hit the "eject" button on the keyboard and the CD should eject. I believe there is a manual eject after opening the case but I don't recall how to do that one.

Mike

I NEED HELP!!!!!
i have macbook
my hard drvie crashed i bought new hard drive that sum guy recomended at apple i put it in
wen i started it up ther was a folder with the question mark on it ( i knew it was going to be ther)
i called and they told me to hold down the option key while booting up this did not do anything i also tried holding the c key down this was also no help to make it worse the dvd is stuck in ther now!

If you bought a new hard drive, it wont have Mac OS X installed on it.

So I assume you put the Mac OS X DVD in the drive and it got stuck.

Try Turning on the computer and holding down the option key (alt) until a list of options appear.

One of those options should be the Mac OS X installation disc. If it's not, you should also be able to eject any other disc.

Once you boot from that disc, you'll need to install Mac OS X.

My hard drive died on December 23. I hadn't backed up files since April of last year. The computer was only a year and a half old. Very sad. Very sad. It was a Seagate.