Question Mark folder icon on startup

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Level 4

1,303 points

Question Mark folder icon on startup

Hello - When I startup I'm getting the Question Mark folder icon. I can't get past this to do anything else at all.

A little background, Three days I got the Spinning Beachball couldn't do anything and Cmd-Opt-Esc did nothing; I had to use the power button to turn off. Restarted and all was fine. But then it happened again. And each time the "PC Connection" light on my cable modem was not lit. Last night I left the machine to sleep on its own but it would not wake up this morning. I held the power button and nothing happened; held it again and it started up but just displayed the Question Mark. (TimeWarnerCable recently upgraded their speed this week but that wouldn't cause this would it?)

Please help!

You should see below that I'm still on Tiger; my iMac is about four and a half years old.

iMac7,1 2.4 GHz; 2GB, Mac OS X (10.4.11), Tiger iLife '08 Alesis IO|14 FW Interface

Posted on Mar 21, 2012 5:02 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Carolyn Samit

Level 10

165,615 points

Mar 21, 2012 5:07 AM in response to poflynn

Hi ...

The question mark folder can mean several thiings. One the hard disk is failing or has failed, or, you Mac can't find a System Folder to boot from. Try starting up while holding down the Option key. That should prompt the Startup Manager window where you can select the startup disk. If that doesn't help, check out this support link > A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac

(TimeWarnerCable recently upgraded their speed this week but that wouldn't cause this would it?)

Not related.

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Answer 2

poflynn Author

Level 4

1,303 points

Mar 21, 2012 11:25 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Thank you, I'll try that.

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Answer 3

Mar 21, 2012 2:22 PM in response to poflynn

Ok ...

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Answer 4

poflynn Author

Level 4

1,303 points

Mar 21, 2012 2:25 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Okay, so got home and checked the mouse and keyboard, un and re plugged them in; unplugged the GarageBand controller I had connected and my printer, which has been troublesome lately. Started up and... fine, no problem. Now I just have to hope it doesn't happen again.

I will be updating shortly to Lion (after first updating to SnowLeopard). But if their is a hard disk problem that wouldn't help, would it?

Here's the quite lengthy error report that appeared after I started up and logged in. Perhaps someone can decipher it?

panic(cpu 0 caller 0x001A49CB): Unresolved kernel trap (CPU 0, Type 14=page fault), registers:

CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x00000000, CR3: 0x00fa1000, CR4: 0x000006e0

EAX: 0x00000000, EBX: 0x039b1500, ECX: 0x00000000, EDX: 0x00000000

CR2: 0x00000000, EBP: 0x25133ef8, ESI: 0x039b1500, EDI: 0x00000000

EFL: 0x00010246, EIP: 0x00848ca6, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x00000010

Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)

0x25133ce8 : 0x128d0d (0x3cc65c 0x25133d0c 0x131f95 0x0)

0x25133d28 : 0x1a49cb (0x3d2a94 0x0 0xe 0x3d22b8)

0x25133e38 : 0x19b3a4 (0x25133e50 0x39c6ef0 0x25133e98 0x13597b)

0x25133ef8 : 0x9064e1 (0x39b1500 0x297 0x25133f28 0x907564)

0x25133f28 : 0x909e92 (0x39c0b00 0x39c0ba4 0xaa 0x0)

0x25133f58 : 0x90a268 (0x39c0b00 0x0 0x25133f78 0x19e23a)

0x25133f78 : 0x13d989 (0x39c0b00 0x0 0x19e23a 0x385df5c)

0x25133fc8 : 0x19b21c (0x0 0x0 0x19e0b5 0x385f3b4) Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0x0

Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage(1.0.7)@0x905000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(1.5.1)@0x51b000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily(1.0.3)@0x845000

Kernel version:

Darwin Kernel Version 8.11.1: Wed Oct 10 18:23:28 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.25.20~1/RELEASE_I386

Model: iMac7,1, BootROM IM71.007A.B03, 2 processors, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.4 GHz, 2 GB

Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro, ATI,RadeonHD2600, PCIe, 256 MB

Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 1 GB, DDR2 SDRAM, 667 MHz

Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM1, 1 GB, DDR2 SDRAM, 667 MHz

AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x88), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (4.170.46.9)

Bluetooth: Version 1.9.5f4, 2 service, 0 devices, 1 incoming serial ports

Network Service: Built-in Ethernet, Ethernet, en0

Serial ATA Device: WDC WD3200AAJS-40RYA0, 298.09 GB

Parallel ATA Device: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-85J

USB Device: Built-in iSight, Apple Inc., Up to 480 Mb/sec, 500 mA

USB Device: Keyboard Hub, Apple, Inc., Up to 480 Mb/sec, 500 mA

USB Device: Apple Optical USB Mouse, Primax Electronics, Up to 1.5 Mb/sec, 100 mA

USB Device: Apple Keyboard, Apple, Inc, Up to 1.5 Mb/sec, 100 mA

USB Device: IR Receiver, Apple Computer, Inc., Up to 1.5 Mb/sec, 500 mA

USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller, Apple, Inc., Up to 12 Mb/sec, 500 mA

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

239,435 points

Mar 22, 2012 9:53 AM in response to poflynn

But if their is a hard disk problem that wouldn't help, would it?

Correct. it would likely be worse.

Boot off your *original* Install Disk while holding down the *d key*, (not c key), then run the extended Apple Hardware Test. Some disks require you to use the Option key at bootup to select AHT.

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Answer 6

poflynn Author

Level 4

1,303 points

Apr 11, 2012 6:35 PM in response to poflynn

Here's what finally happened, if anyone's interested.

Doing the Apple Hardware Test didn't work, it kept stalling partway thru.

Was FINALLY able to startup from the install disk holding C key (it kept ejecting the disk several times) and did a Repair to the Hard Disk using the Disk Utility, and that seemed to do the trick.

YAY!!!

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