Flashing question mark MacBook Pro late 2011 13"

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Flashing question mark MacBook Pro late 2011 13"

I installed a new, l hybrid hard drive into my late 2011 13" MacBook pro, and it worked great for the first 2 weeks or so, then suddenly it refused to boot and all I get is a flashing question mark inside a folder icon when I try to boot up. What happened? Why would it work for a while, and then stop for no reason? If I recall correctly, it stopped working after I had to power down and power back up again. Until that point, I had only powered up after first installing the new hard drive. It needs to be fixed because my old hard drive is on the verge of dying entirely, and I can't lose the data. Ug! Help!

MacBook Pro, iOS 11, I don't remember which OS it is.

Posted on Oct 5, 2018 1:04 PM

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Answer 1

i_rina

Community Specialist

Oct 7, 2018 11:49 AM in response to LizzyRed555

Hello Lizzy,

Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities. I understand you've had some trouble booting up your Mac, and I have some information that may help.

According to the article below, the flashing question mark you are seeing indicates that the Mac is having trouble locating your startup disc.

About the screens you see when your Mac starts up - Apple Support

Other screens you might see

You might see one of these screens appear during startup if you've changed your startup options, or if there's an issue starting up your Mac.

Folder with a question mark

If you see a folder with a question mark appear instead of the Apple logo, it means your Mac couldn't find a local or network-based startup disk. This can happen if the disk selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences isn't available. Wait a few seconds to see if your Mac is able to locate the startup disk you specified.

If you still see a question mark after waiting a few seconds, use Startup Manager to start up your Mac, then select your startup disk from System Preferences.

If a question mark appears after you install a software update, select your startup disk again using macOS Recovery.

Have a look at the links in the article for steps on what to do next.

If you run into any trouble, please reach out again.
Best Regards.

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Flashing question mark MacBook Pro late 2011 13"

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