Snow Leopard Installation Black Screen or Question Mark Folder

This is most likely a hardware problem. Start by resetting the PMU/SMC: Resetting MacBook and MacBook Pro Power Management Unit (PMU). Next reset the PRAM: Reset PRAM and NVRAM. Now try booting from the installer DVD. If the problem persists take the computer in for service.

the black screen is actually the power management going into screen turn off mode during the install. had this on one of my 5 installs on a 15 mbp. i wound up wiping it clean and doing a clean install. i think the other suggestions here could work. it was odd as the upgrades went flawlessly on the other systems.

Resetting the PRAM worked for my MBP as well. Cured the dark screen! Thanks.

BTW: reset PRAM by shutting down computer, find the command, option, p & r keys, then turn on the computer & quickly press all of those keys & hold until the computer "Start Chime" goes off twice, then release.

Good luck!

Either your hard drive has died or your existing system has been hosed. You will have to reinstall OS X. If you have a regular Snow DVD then you need to insert the disc into the optical drive, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the "C" key until the gray screen with the Apple logo appears. After the installer starts select your language and click on the Continue button. Wait for the menubar to appear. Select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer. Complete the reinstallation.

If you are unable to successfully reinstall Snow, then it may be necessary to erase the hard drive and install Snow from scratch. If this becomes necessary it would be helpful to have backups of your files.

Went through the same issue... Used my Leopard (10.5) disk to restart after PRAM reset and ran DU.. everything came back fine.. Currently trying to reinstall Snow Leopard after starting with disk. will let you know results

Worked like a charm on my 13" MBP. Thanks very much for your help.

Just wanted to confirm. I've been having the same issue, well my was sitting at the gray screen with the ? folder flashing. (Keep in mind, this is an install on a new hard drive) After about 20 different attempts this is what worked: I put the SL DVD in the drive and shut down the computer. I then reset the PRAM settings as mentioned and let the computer continue from there. Before I knew it, it was installing. Hope this helps guys, I know how frustrating this can be!!!!

I just had this problem and was starting to get worried. After reading these replies, I went to press a key on the computer and the screen magically lit up — the display had just gone to sleep during the install from lack of input activity 🙂

Message was edited by: mac789

Yeahhhhhh!!!!!! Works to me too!!!!! Thanks and thanks and thanks!!!! MBP ressurection!!!
And I had called to apple care service in Brazil, and they said to me: The problem is in mac osx install dvd, and they would send a new dvd to me.....

Thanks again!

Message was edited by: mateusp