HT204323: If a flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Learn about If a flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
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Helpful answers
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Jun 26, 2015 12:48 AM in response to Teddygraham731by SkFire,It's must be black screen with a lot of text
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Jun 26, 2015 1:11 AM in response to Teddygraham731by lllaass,-Do you have another Mac?
Does this Mac have a FireWire (FW) or Thunderbolt port?
If so the connect the two Macs via FW, using Thunderbolt to FW adopter if necessary. Boot the problem one in Target Disk Mode by depressing and holding the T key during bootup. Then you will be able to see the problem Mac's HD in Finder on the other Mac. Try recovering files that you want.
- Then disconnect the two and boot the problem one to Recovery like you did before. Then reinstall the OS. Nothing shold be lost. The following applies to all OS versions that can be booted to Recovery
OS X Mavericks: Reinstall OS X
- If you are really concerned about the file that contact a data recovery company.
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Jun 26, 2015 9:03 AM in response to lllaassby Teddygraham731,Command + S still doesn't seem to be doing anything.
And unfortunately, I do not have another Mac.
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Jun 26, 2015 9:47 AM in response to Teddygraham731by lllaass,Command+S is single user mode..
Recovery mode is Command+R
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Jun 26, 2015 9:55 AM in response to lllaassby Teddygraham731,I've tried holding Command+S down immediately after the start up chime, but it only goes to the flashing folder.
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Jun 26, 2015 10:00 AM in response to Teddygraham731by lllaass,Why are yo trying to boot to Single User mode?
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Jun 26, 2015 10:19 AM in response to lllaassby SkFire,He goes in Single User mode because of the Disk Utility problem.
The repair button is disabled, when trying to repair the Hard Drive
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Jun 26, 2015 10:24 AM in response to Teddygraham731by OGELTHORPE,Take out the HDD and install it in an enclosure. Connect it to your MBP via USB and boot your MBP via startup manager:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201255
Click on the HDD icon and if it boots your MBP, the internal SATA cable probably needs to be replaced.
If it does not boot the MBP or is not detected, the the HDD probably is dead.
Ciao.
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Oct 21, 2015 10:05 AM in response to SkFireby Heff33,Hi there: I tried just holding down the option but it did not work. I still get the gray screen with a question mark in the folder. I noticed in your response to an earlier question that you said to hit the option key, but you also inserted an unusual symbol to the right of the word "option." See above. Are you saying that I need to hit some symbol in addition to having the option key?
If not, do you have any other ideas?
I have tried Booting up while holding down the:
1. Command + Option + P + R
2. Command + R
3. Option key
thanks for any help you can provide.
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Oct 21, 2015 10:13 AM in response to Heff33by lllaass,Are you using a wired USB KB plugged directly into a pport on the Mac?