upon restart, i get a flashing folder icon and question mark?

[slipper]

upon restart, i get a flashing folder icon and question mark?

i recently deleted a unwanted program, does this have to do with it?

[Darwin]

This simply means that it can't find the System Files to bootup from, perhaps you may want to bootup from the OS CD and make repairs to the drive using the Disk Utility

Then try restarting again

[IJ Reilly]

You should also try rebooting into Single User Mode (cmd-s on reboot) and run fsck (type "fsck -f" at the prompt, then "reboot" when the disk repair is completed). If that doesn't work, you're probably in for an archive and install.

[LeeTom]

slipper -
After the flashing folder w/ question mark, does your machine then continue to boot normally???

Lee Tom

[Thirteenva]

Go into system preferences. Go to startup disk. Select the proper disk to start up from. Then restart and see if you still get the same icon at startup.

[trainguy77]

I had this problem with a Emac. I finally gave up and went to do a archive and install, but it could not find the hard drive. Luckly apple care replaced the hard drive for free!