Gray screen on Macbook Air with folder and question mark flashing

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Gray screen on Macbook Air with folder and question mark flashing

when I am trying to boot up the brey screen and a flashing forlder with question mark appears

I did a bootable flash drive usd but I cant get to the flash drive! I tried with option key with C key but nothing works.

When i press Option key its getting the wifi connection , which i establish but that is all nothing else happens.

With C key you see that reads the flash drive but that is all what it does, after a minute will go to that traffic sign on interdiction.

Anybody could help.

MacBook Air (13-INCH, MID 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Apr 15, 2014 5:22 AM

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Answer 1

dwb

Level 7

32,920 points

Apr 15, 2014 5:29 AM in response to agiamiu

The C key is for the optical drive, I've never tried using it on an Air with a USB flash drive. Do you know that the flash drive contains a bootable OS or installer?

I suggest you restart holding the command, option and R keys. This will reboot in Internet recovery mode. From there you can run Disk Utility and test the drive, reformat or partition as required, and then install the OS.

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Answer 2

agiamiu Author

Level 1

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Apr 15, 2014 3:06 PM in response to dwb

thanks < I was able to boot from flash drive, and guess what my HD is not there! The HD is gone , best buy wants 350 to replace it adn will need to send it to apple. The Air from 2008. I believe that Apple will want about same money for replacement.

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Answer 3

Grazey16

Level 1

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Oct 9, 2014 7:49 PM in response to agiamiu

My macbook OSX10.5 has done this twice. First time I tried all the "fixes" suggested by the gurus. Waste of time but I did not reformat the HD and instead put it aside for a few weeks. I tried it agan and hooray, it booted normally and continued for some months until two days ago with the return of the gray folder of death. The clicking noise sounded like the HD hunting or maybe stuck. In desperation I gave it a thump on my knee and my old macbook booted normally and continues to work normally. I know that eventually I'll have to invest in a new computer but in the mean time I will try to keep "old faithful" going as long as possible. Sometimes Ockhams Razor is the best solution.

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