I have an early 2009 mini 3.1- I erased the drive (an OWC SSD) and now I can see only the file with ? icon. how do I boot up from the original instal dvd?
Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion
That's correct. Shutdown by holding power button for 5 seconds and then boot from the original install disk.
First you'll need to reformat the disk by choosing Utilities > Disk Utility > Partition choose OS X Extended (Journaled).
thanks. I erased my drive in disk utility, planning to reinstall El Cap, but now all I see is this file icon (?) flashing, no matter what key combo I restart with. I tried restarting with the 10.5.6 DVD (and key “C” pressed) as well as trying the recovery modes. I did not erase the recovery partition, at least not intentionally…
What I'm saying is to use Disk Utility from the install disk to format the HDD.
Troubleshooting Mac OS X installation from CD or DVD - Apple Support
I seem to have posted this question twice, sorry
I did try to boot from the instal DVD, that is where I am stuck. I put the DVD in, started up with "c" pressed and .... nothing.
I tried a few other key combos at start up, nothing but the "question mark folder icon" - I could not get back to the rescue partition or an online rescue partition either.. I have an Apple USB DVD reader, I will try that in case the DVD slot is the problem.
What else might I be doing wrong?
Thanks
Tom
Likely the optical drive in the Mini has died. I had a late 2009 Mini and the optical drive failed about 3 years ago.
The Apple USB SuperDrive will not work on your Mini (and other Macs which came with an intern optical drive). See the following for more information. there is a way to use the SuperDrive but not for booting I think
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20111107064435227
Are you using a USB keyboard? Sometimes you can't use the special bootups with a wireless keyboard.
You are saying that yo can't boot to Recovery?
OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support
You needed Lion or later on the Mac
Do you have another Mac?
I don't think the issue is the dvd drive as I tried with a usb peripheral apple Superdrive with no luck
I am using a USB keyboard and mouse, startup key combos seem ineffective. The icon of a an empty folder emblazoned with a question mark flashes at me no matter what I do.
Have I bricked this for good?
This machine was running El Capitan, I reinstalled the OS with the rescue partition but that did not resolve my issue so I wanted to erase and install. somehow I lost the rescue partition to, I guess.
I have other Macs, If I could get this into target disc mode life would be divine, I think it has firewire 8oo.....
Any way to force target mode ?
What do you mean by "force" doesn't it boot in Target Disk?
OS X Mountain Lion: Transfer files between two computers using target disk mode
It does not boot at all.
I see a flashing icon, a pictogram of a folder with a ? on it.
I have tried every key combo at power-up, and tried to get it to boot from the instal disc via both the built-in DVD slot and also via a "superdrive"
You'll need to take it in for service. Either an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Reseller can do the repair.
You really need to use a USB keyboard, as wireless keyboards will not work correctly. You can even use a PC keyboard. Just hold down the Option key, or, on a PC keyboard: the Alt key. This should let you select the boot drive. Then you can boot from CD or any internal or external drive.
If you have an external HDD with Mac OS X on it, you should also be able to boot from it with this method, provided it is connected via FireWire to the Mac. I don’t know if USB also works, but maybe you’re lucky and it does… From there you can try to install Mac OS X as well. Just select the internal volume as target. Naturally you will need to use Disk Utility first to partition the internal drive.
Good luck!
“?” Folder icon flashing
