My daughter was gifted an older (2014) iMac from a company that went 100% remote. The iMac came without a mouse or keyboard, I had an extra iMac keyboard laying around and ordered her a mouse from Amazon. I went to turn on the iMac and it simply flashes a file with a question mark. I can’t connect the keyboard to try command R. What else can I try?
Earlier Mac models
The internal drive may have failed. Depending on the age of the Mac you may want to get an external drive to use for it.
First use this article to identify your Mac:
How to find your Mac's model and age? - Apple Community
If it has Firewire or Thunderbolt 1 or 2 http://www.macsales.com/ has external drives that support both.
USB 3 is available more widely than the prior older technologies which were the only faster ones on prior Macs that had USB 2, although it is good to get an external drive with its own source of power that is not dependent on the computer.
You may be able to take the Mac to an authorized serivce provider on http://www.apple.com/buy and have the internal drive replaced.
Flashing question mark
