Came home to find black screen on laptop with white flashing file containing a question mark in the middle of the screen. Beneath it says support.apple.com/mac/startup
WHY has this shown up out of the blue????
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.6
How old is your MacBook?
Do you know the release year?
The folder with question mark indicates the Mac's startup disk is not available or doesn't contain a working Mac OS. This suggests data corruption or a hardware issue.
If your Mac starts up to a question mark - Apple Support
The fix may require reinstalling macOS on that drive, or replacing the drive itself and then install the macOS anew.
Reinstalling macOS does not have to erase your user data. The only time that should happen is if you choose to delete, erase, format or partition your startup drive.
If you simply select Reinstall macOS from the macOS Utilities window, the OS should be reinstalled on top of the current installation, thereby refreshing the macOS version currently running. That is assuming that the drive device and volumes are healthy.
If you have not backed up your Mac, then this may be a hard lesson if things go sideways.
To non-destructively reinstall macOS as a troubleshooting measure - without deleting user files, documents, pics and vids, etc. – boot your Mac in Recovery mode by restarting and when you hear the startup chime press the Command-R (⌘R) keys until you see the Apple logo and progress bar. Use a wired USB keyboard for this.
Follow the onscreen instructions to “Reinstall macOS…”.
How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support
NOTE– You should not have to delete, erase, format, partition or otherwise alter your startup disk for this. If that becomes an option, quit the process and restart your Mac. Then come back here for additional advice.
How old is your MacBook?
Do you know the release year?
The folder with question mark indicates the Mac's startup disk is not available or doesn't contain a working Mac OS. This suggests data corruption or a hardware issue.
If your Mac starts up to a question mark - Apple Support
The fix may require reinstalling macOS on that drive, or replacing the drive itself and then install the macOS anew.
Reinstalling macOS does not have to erase your user data. The only time that should happen is if you choose to delete, erase, format or partition your startup drive.
If you simply select Reinstall macOS from the macOS Utilities window, the OS should be reinstalled on top of the current installation, thereby refreshing the macOS version currently running. That is assuming that the drive device and volumes are healthy.
If you have not backed up your Mac, then this may be a hard lesson if things go sideways.
To non-destructively reinstall macOS as a troubleshooting measure - without deleting user files, documents, pics and vids, etc. – boot your Mac in Recovery mode by restarting and when you hear the startup chime press the Command-R (⌘R) keys until you see the Apple logo and progress bar. Use a wired USB keyboard for this.
Follow the onscreen instructions to “Reinstall macOS…”.
How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support
NOTE– You should not have to delete, erase, format, partition or otherwise alter your startup disk for this. If that becomes an option, quit the process and restart your Mac. Then come back here for additional advice.
I think it’s a 2015 or 16 but last year was forced to have I added memory installed bc I crashed it trying to install High Sierra
Unfortunately I can’t check it to be sure because I’m afraid to do anything until I figure out why it has suddenly done this
Thank you for the advice. I will try and let you know
Black screen with flashing white file
