Flashing Grey Folder with Question Mark: Nothing I’ve Tried Works!

Question

Level 1

5 points

Flashing Grey Folder with Question Mark: Nothing I’ve Tried Works!

Apparently, my old MacBook2,1 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHz, 1GB memory, 149.05 GB drive, Black case running: OS 10.6.8 is not able to recognize the internal drive. It went to “sleep” normally and froze when the user tried to wake it up.

Have tried:

• Unconditional reboot: CTRL-CMD-POWER

• Held down “D” key while starting to force internal hard drive to be the boot drive.

• Zapped PRAM: CMD-OPT-P-R

• Held T key down with Fire wire 400 connected to my MB Pro.

• Cleared NV RAM: CMD-OPT-N-V

• In order to boot from original Leopard CD: 1) Started with “C” key down as well as by 2) pressing: CMD-OPT-SHIFT-DELETE. Also inserted the Snow Leopard CD. Nothing!

All of the above result in the same flashing grey folder with a question mark.

_____

As far as I know, I do not have a firmware password. Yet, when pressing Option key at startup a closed lock appears instead of a volume to choose. Entering my computer password yields a grey screen and nothing more.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

I would like to avoid having to pay some Apple “genius” $100 to get the info off this drive.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Tek

MB Pro 2.33 GHz, IC 2 Duo, 3 GB MHz DDR2 SDRAM, Bus 667 MHz, Drive 185 gigs; 23, Mac OS X (10.6.8), MacBook: 2.16 GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, 160

Posted on Jan 25, 2012 2:09 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jan 25, 2012 2:11 PM in response to Teknomad

You can try:

Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive

Do the following:

1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions

Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears 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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.

If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.

2. Reinstall Snow Leopard

If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.

Download and install the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/.

Reply

Answer 2

Teknomad Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 25, 2012 2:15 PM in response to Kappy

As stated above, I cannot boot from any CD, neither Leopard nor Snow Leopard.

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 13, 2013 2:42 AM in response to Teknomad

I have the same issue on mac pro desktop. also won't recognise keyboard or mouse so I can't access optical drive to use disc to boot from. I've reseated all hardrives but no change by doing this. anyone have any good advice for a mac newbie.

Reply

Answer 4

go amaru

Level 1

0 points

Apr 14, 2014 2:01 PM in response to Teknomad

I also have the same problem with my friends 2009 Macbook Core 2 Duo that he asked me to take a look at. In addition to the above I've tried accessing the drive through an external enclosure with no luck. However, I can access and boot from that same drive on a different laptop. I'm assuming I've got a hardware problem somewhere. Would anyone be able to recommend next steps for me? What components might be the most likely culprits for this scenerio? Are there other tests we might be missing?

Peace,

-go

Reply