restart question mark folder

[ecoc228]

when i turn my computer on the grey screen comes up with a folder icon that has a question mark on it, then it goes to the regular start up with the apple and the spinning wheel, does anyone know what the question mark folder is and if its bad, how to fix it?

[plinden]

Check your start up disk settings in Preferences. It's trying to access an disconnected disk. Did you ever have BootCamp installed or boot from an external drive?

[scburns123]

I had a similar problem to that when I used to be in OS 8.6. The problem became more recurring as time went on. I evenutally found out that the hard drive was failing, I popped in a new one and re-installed the OS and it was as good as new.

[Not-a-cliche]

This happened to me once. To fix it, open up System Preferences and click on 'Startup Disk'. Now set it to Macintosh HD and you're good to go.

The reason its happening is (for some reason, sometimes no reason) your Mac is not being told which hard drive to boot to. It's going 'WOAH! WHAT DO I DO???' when it boots instead of going 'Yo, Macintosh HD!'

[webgoat]

It's going 'WOAH! WHAT DO I DO???' when it boots instead of going 'Yo, Macintosh HD!'

haha i love how eloquently you put that