Folder with ?, Bad HD, New HD, New Install, Folder with ? AGAIN!

[avrilc]

Hi there,

Would love if anyone can help me. Two weeks ago my intel mac would not startup. The folder with question mark would appear. A few times I was able to start it after by doing random things like removing and replacing the battery. It would work intermittently, but then one day it wouldn't start after numerous attempts. I took it to the mac genius and he said it was a dead hard drive. I got the hard drive replaced with a WDC 500 GB hard drive. I reinstalled Leopard. It worked for a while, then started freezing. When I would restart it, I would get the flashing folder and question mark again.

Now I'm back to square one as it is intermittently starting. I reinstalled Leopard, but the same thing keeps happening.

Has anyone got any ideas?

I really appreciate any help,
thanks so much,
Avril
Ireland

 

[Hellhammer]

http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_doesn't_boot

Might be that the new drive is a lemon. Hard drives are known to fail.

 

[avrilc]

Thank you so much Hellhammer. Would it be a lemon even if it works on and off? Its just such a coincidence that both hard drives had the same problem?? Even though the genius told me my old HD was bad, I am now starting up from either my old or new HD. They are both working intermittently. Its the weirdest thing. I'm now working off the new hard drive, but I know the next time I start up, the folder with question mark will show up and I will have to work off the old hard drive! Could it be a problem with something within the computer besides the HD? I ran Tech Tools, and also Apple Hardware test, along with the Disk permissions etc. However, none of them show up any problems at all. Its like there is a problem with the problem recognizing the hard drive or drives? Some times it recognizes its there, other times it doesn't. Any thoughts gratefully appreciated!

Thanks so much,
Avril