My Macbook Pro frequently gets stuck on "Folder with Question Mark" screen when waking up.
I've tried to fix it twice:
* First time, Disk Utility found no errors on either HD Partition, so I reinstalled macOS.
* Second time, I used Disk Utility in Recovery mode to erased both HD partitions and reinstalled macOS.
Anything else that can be done?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15
Hey Tim! I gotcha. So after erasing then reinstalling, did you set it up as new? Or restore a backup? (Which has the potential to return the corruption).
If it was set up as new, then I’d try installing with a bootable installer, if it worked after that, then there maybe an issue with the recovery partition, (Or whatever installer was used).
If it still doesn’t work after that, It maybe a hardware issue. A good test for that, (Although I know it takes a lot of time), is to reinstall the OS on an external drive, with the same OS version, boot up from that one and set up as new, that’s another good test to determine if it’s the hardware.
Hope it works out!
If it still happened, you can reinstall the OS on an external HD, set that one up as new as well and test.
Hey Tim! I gotcha. So after erasing then reinstalling, did you set it up as new? Or restore a backup? (Which has the potential to return the corruption).
If it was set up as new, then I’d try installing with a bootable installer, if it worked after that, then there maybe an issue with the recovery partition, (Or whatever installer was used).
If it still doesn’t work after that, It maybe a hardware issue. A good test for that, (Although I know it takes a lot of time), is to reinstall the OS on an external drive, with the same OS version, boot up from that one and set up as new, that’s another good test to determine if it’s the hardware.
Hope it works out!
If it still happened, you can reinstall the OS on an external HD, set that one up as new as well and test.
Hi DiZoE - thanks for the quick reply and all the suggestions. :) I tried several of them, and then waited a few days to see how things went. Unfortunately, the Macbook still gets stuck on the “?” Folder often.
To be clear, most of the time it starts ok. However, at least once a day it gets stuck on the “?” Folder screen when waking up (opening the laptop after it's asleep, but not turned off). It's very inconsistent. Sometimes it wakes up just fine, but other times I have to repeatedly turn it off/on until it boots without getting stuck on the “?” Folder screen (usually 10/15 tries).
Regarding your suggestions, I tried:
Sounds like only thing left to try is erase/reinstall from internet recovery or bootable installer. Do you think those would be any more effective at wiping the whole system clean than erasing the Fusion drive was?
Cheers!
Tim
Hi Dialabrain - Apologies - I misspoke w.r.t to the "Fusion" Drive. What I mean is that I erased the APPLE SSD that is the "parent" of the two Macintosh HD partitions. Here's an screenshot of the one I mean.
Hey Tim-Fisher! So the reinstalled finished without error? But still booted to the “?” Folder?
Typically if I do see that, I’d boot to recovery mode like you did, hit the Apple icon > Choose Startup Disk > Macintosh HD > Restart.
On another note, I believe that resetting the pram (nvram) still resets the startup disk preferences to default, but since you’ve already erased, I wouldn’t bother unless another drive is connected.
So since you’ve already removed the partitions.......Can you try erasing the main disk? (Click Macintosh HD, on the top menu View > Show All Devices), then above the twin Macintoshs’ (As I call them), you’ll have a Container Disk and above that, the main SSD/HHD/Fusion Drive, etc?
Id hit that > Erase, and make sure to choose APFS as the format and of course GUID as the partition map? Then erase then reinstall again.
Unless, after erasing its attempting to install Mac OS Sierra or earlier, then I’d choose the format of Mac OS Extended Journaled, then erase/reinstall.
Speaking of erasing then reinstalling, have you tried erasing/reinstalling from internet recovery instead? (Depending on the OS, will install a different version via the Internet)?
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
Could be an issue with the hardware otherwise, hope it’s not, but you can also try erasing/reinstalling from a bootable installer:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
In case there’s an issue with the local recovery partition, that may be the key, otherwise I might try running hardware diagnostics to see if something else is going on:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202731
Hope all works out and this helps!
Can you clarify something? You mentioned "Fusion" drives twice. MacBook Pros are not available with Fusion drives.
Stuck on "Folder with Question Mark" even after Reinstalling OS
