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User profile for user: CC_Aquino
CC_Aquino Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Blinking Folder with Question Mark even after reinstalling MacOs

Hi,


My laptop has been crashing after a few minutes of inactivity and just shows this flashing folder with question mark. I have followed the steps outlined in the apple support website and reinstalled the MacOs but it just keeps crashing with that flashing folder with question mark. That can happen like 20x in a day and I cannot get any work done as I just keep getting that error. It's a vicious cycle.


If your Mac starts up to a question mark - Apple Support


Then if ever the reinstallation pushes through and it boots up -- it will at times, shut down by itself with an error report citing "panic (cpu 0 caller), fatal error occured, kernel extensions in backtrace, etc"


I hope someone can provide some insights on what is going on and how to best solve this. As my city is on lockdown, I cannot drive to the next town where the verified apple support center is to get this fixed.


Thanks in advance for your help! :)

MacBook Pro 13″, 11.2

Posted on Apr 21, 2021 8:17 AM

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User profile for user: Limnos
Limnos
User level: Level 10
411,265 points

Posted on Apr 21, 2021 12:45 PM

Run this analyzer and post the results here:


Etrecheck - http://www.etrecheck.com/


See http://www.etrecheck.com/faq for information about the basic version which is free and how to upgrade this to a power user version.


Using Etrecheck - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6174


Extra tips about settings to have it check all parts of your computer, and how to post long reports to the Apple Support Communities window: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250599211?answerId=251149996022#251149996022


Also having the first part to the kernel panic log from the Console app would help (unless the Etrecheck report catches it). KPs can be hardware or software related. You don't specify the year of your Mac so it is hard to tell if it could be a failing component or some old software you have on there that Big Sur doesn't like. Sometimes running in Safe Mode can help narrow it down but then it's no fun using a computer for a long time in Safe Mode. See:


If your Mac spontaneously restarts or displays a message that it restarted or shut down because of a problem - https://support.apple.com/HT200553


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Question marked as Best reply
User profile for user: Limnos
Limnos
User level: Level 10
411,265 points

Apr 21, 2021 12:45 PM in response to CC_Aquino

Run this analyzer and post the results here:


Etrecheck - http://www.etrecheck.com/


See http://www.etrecheck.com/faq for information about the basic version which is free and how to upgrade this to a power user version.


Using Etrecheck - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6174


Extra tips about settings to have it check all parts of your computer, and how to post long reports to the Apple Support Communities window: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250599211?answerId=251149996022#251149996022


Also having the first part to the kernel panic log from the Console app would help (unless the Etrecheck report catches it). KPs can be hardware or software related. You don't specify the year of your Mac so it is hard to tell if it could be a failing component or some old software you have on there that Big Sur doesn't like. Sometimes running in Safe Mode can help narrow it down but then it's no fun using a computer for a long time in Safe Mode. See:


If your Mac spontaneously restarts or displays a message that it restarted or shut down because of a problem - https://support.apple.com/HT200553


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Blinking Folder with Question Mark even after reinstalling MacOs

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