Here’s a guide on how to troubleshoot your Mac when it starts up with a computer: flashing folder and question mark.
There’s nothing worse than starting your workday by turning on your Mac, hearing the welcome bell, and then staring at a man’s face. flashing file Together question signyour desktop is nowhere on the site.
The first instinct is to turn off the computer, believing that everything is gone and the computer is no longer working. That may be the case, but there are many avenues to explore before reaching that conclusion.
Before going for hardware repair at an Apple Store, there are several ways to test a Mac to see what’s failing.
How to Troubleshoot a Flashing Folder with a Question Mark
Here is a guide on the steps to take when you encounter a flashing folder with a question mark on startup.
Watch the video above to learn more about the flashing folder issue.
Trying to Use the Startup Manager
When the Mac starts, it runs a behind-the-scenes application called. Startup Manager. This application tells the computer to choose which disk to boot from. A flashing and question mark folder is an indication that the specified disk is not found.
This does not immediately reflect a hard drive failure, but good first test booting the Mac to see if the disk is there holding down the Option key.
If the Startup Manager is running, it will show the available information. boot options. You will usually see Macintosh HD and Recovery HD If you are running any new Mac OS software. If the hard drive is experiencing any type of failure, may not be never appears.
A failing hard drive can cause features of the boot process to become very slow or freeze all together; so this is a good first step to see what you’re dealing with. if no cursor appears on the screen, you can forced shutdown computer by holding down the power button until the screen goes black.
Use the Recovery Partition
If you’ve had any success with the Startup Manager, you can see this: Recovery HD as a bootable option. This is actually a good sign, as recovery is a very small partition of your physical hard drive and is an indication that at least part of the disk is working.
Recovery HD has several useful tools such as: Disk Utility, SafariA Download Link OS X and option Restore from Time Machine Backup.
Disk Utility It is the best first tool to use to determine if there are any problems with the hard drive itself. Running First aid should reveal any serious problems with the disk, but it can fix simple file system errors, so it’s always worth a try.
If the disk appears to be working in Disk Utility, restore or reinstallation may be necessary and this is one of the tools included in the Recovery HD. When you click the link, a download between OS Install it from the App Store and make it available for you to try the installation.
Recovery HD can be a very useful tool when available, so if you see it in Startup Manager, feel free to use it.
Boot Using Target Disk Mode
If your computer is using fire wire or LightningThe Mac has the ability to boot its hard drive as a target. This means that if it’s working and connected with a cable, its hard drive will show up on another computer. if any another Match available, this is a great troubleshooting step.
By plugging the appropriate cable into each computer, leave your broken mac turned off and have the other computer turned on and ready on the Desktop.
When booting the broken computer holding down the T key If the hard drive can be targeted, your cable’s logo will be displayed on the keyboard.
If your hard drive is visible on the other Mac, try this this time: support if you haven’t made the files yet the driver may fail. Having another Mac available will make this a very easy option, but you can use the second computer as a portal to an external hard drive and not worry about storage issues.
there is always a possibility to spread there really is defective however, I hope you have learned more about the nature of your blinking question mark folder.
make sure you always keep existing data backup to avoid costly data recovery in the event of a failed drive. Using Apple Time Machine It’s a good mind backup as it runs in the background and shouldn’t disrupt your daily use.
