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Help - Startup question mark
- Thread starter Onslaught
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I know it's cruel and unusual, and really just depicts my malevolent nature...
But could you actually be bothered to provide some valuable information? What kind of Mac? What version of the operating system?
But could you actually be bothered to provide some valuable information? What kind of Mac? What version of the operating system?
Try going to System Preferences and the Startup Disk preference pane to make certain that your drive is selected properly.
If that's not it, follow the instructions to start from your Mac OS X install discs and select Disk Utility from the menus to repair the drive.
If that's not it, follow the instructions to start from your Mac OS X install discs and select Disk Utility from the menus to repair the drive.
Here are some things to try:
1) Try to fix the disk from single user mode, if you don't have boot discs.
During boot, hold Apple-S
You should get a text-based interface with a prompt.
At the prompt, type this exactly:
fsck -fy
(and press return)
You should get a bunch of text that may or may not end with a phrase similar to "repair completed successfully." If you get this, you can type reboot to restart the Mac. If you get something that indicates that this failed, then come back with the message you got.
2) Reset non-volatile memory -- see these instructions
3) Reset Power Management Unit -- see these instructions
Try #1 first.
1) Try to fix the disk from single user mode, if you don't have boot discs.
During boot, hold Apple-S
You should get a text-based interface with a prompt.
At the prompt, type this exactly:
fsck -fy
(and press return)
You should get a bunch of text that may or may not end with a phrase similar to "repair completed successfully." If you get this, you can type reboot to restart the Mac. If you get something that indicates that this failed, then come back with the message you got.
2) Reset non-volatile memory -- see these instructions
3) Reset Power Management Unit -- see these instructions
Try #1 first.
Hmmm, you are rapidly running out of options. Here are the ones you have left:
1) Find an install disc that you can boot off of.
2) This is a friend's Mac, right? And you also have one? Turn their computer off. Get a firewire cable (same 6 pin male connectors on both sides) and connect the two computers together. While connected, boot their computer holding the "T" key down on the keyboard. You should get a different onscreen icon (of a disk). After this, you should see their Mac's hard drive mounted on your desktop. You can then try to repair the disk from your Mac.
3) Go to an Apple store and ask the "Genius" for help.
1) Find an install disc that you can boot off of.
2) This is a friend's Mac, right? And you also have one? Turn their computer off. Get a firewire cable (same 6 pin male connectors on both sides) and connect the two computers together. While connected, boot their computer holding the "T" key down on the keyboard. You should get a different onscreen icon (of a disk). After this, you should see their Mac's hard drive mounted on your desktop. You can then try to repair the disk from your Mac.
3) Go to an Apple store and ask the "Genius" for help.
More than likely he put a new hard drive in and reinstalled the system from the disks.
I'm guessing you have no disks? There isn't much you can do without some system disks.... a flashing question mark is never good.
What about maybe Diskwarrior???? Doesn't it have a boot CD maybe??
I had the exact same problem with my 24" iMac (it arrived like that out of the box... DOA). Flashing question mark... can do nothing with it. I spent over an hour on the phone to the Apple Support guys in India and they tried everything, then declared it DOA and gave me a RMA number to return it.
I personally think in the case of my iMac, the IDE cable had managed to detach itself from the HD. This would have happened either in transit or it managed to pass through quality control like that. Your mates' problem sounds very similar. If you're brave enough, you could try to open it up and check the HD and IDE cable are firmly connected. If they are, then it sounds like the HD is fried
I personally think in the case of my iMac, the IDE cable had managed to detach itself from the HD. This would have happened either in transit or it managed to pass through quality control like that. Your mates' problem sounds very similar. If you're brave enough, you could try to open it up and check the HD and IDE cable are firmly connected. If they are, then it sounds like the HD is fried
This sounds like a good idea. I would give that a bash.
Maybe... you could even try it the other way round. Boot your mates' machine from your FW connected HD. I think this should be possible, it would just be like booting from an external FW drive?
Best of Luck Dude