Blinking folder w/ ? mark on startup--please help!

[BJB Productions]

Sorry to post ANOTHER thread, but when I started up my Macbook Pro just about 20 minutes ago, I got a blinking folder with a ? mark. I had to hard boot it and I tried again. After some time, it started up with no problem.

I backed up all my stuff from my main HD to another HD just incase, so now I just would like to know, if I should be scared, and maybe go to apple? Or was it just a random coincidence.

Thanks

 

[Sun Baked]

Go to System Preferences/Startup Disk and reselect the drive you wish to boot from.

Use Disk Utility on the Hard Drive to repair the permissions.

Run Disk Utility from the DVD or fsck in single user mode to repair the drive.

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If you are running Disk Utility, also check the SMART status of the drive.

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Also Apple has most of that again here...

A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac

Just means it cannot find a boot volume, if it flashes a few times and goes away, it lost the startup disk in PRAM (reselect it) ... if it takes a couple tries turning machine on and off, the drive is getting corrupted or the drive is dying.

 

[dukebound85]

try resetting the pram

if that doesnt work, insert your install disc and see when booting up from the dvd, is the hd recognized by disc utility?

if not, its a bad hd. if so, simply reinstall osx and restore from time machine

 

[BJB Productions]

Did what Sun Baked said to do. I restarted it, and for now, it's working. I'll still keep my back ups.