Chris

[chrishorseman]

My imac went I start up I get a gray screen with a ? in the center of file can anyone help me?:

 

[mac0s9user]

The folder with the flashing question mark implies that your mac cannot find the Operating System Files. Did you do anything recently to move or delete them? It could also be a Hard Disk Failure. What OS are you running?

Welcome to Mac-Forums!

 

[Stacy 051207]

Hi, I'm having the same issue but we haven't moved any files. I woke up this morning and it was frozen. So I turned off the computer and turned it back on to find a white screen with a folder/question mark. Does this mean we've lost all of our files etc.?

 

[NanoBite]

Try booting up holding the Option key as you hear the Chime and see what booting options show up there. If you see the HD then choose it and you should be able to reboot from your internal HD .... hopefully, that is.

 

[Neo]

hey, there have been several people in the last month with this problem (including me, unfortunately). Search the forum for "flashing question folder."
My recommendation: if you've heard clicking from your HD, don't boot your computer, or try to "repair your drive" until you try to backup your data in Target Disk mode (search for that too). Good luck!

 

[Chilbear]

Another trick from the past. If you cannot get the drive to start spinning and you have exhausted everything normal, try sticking the drive into the freezer for a short period. Never had to but I read it did allow the drive to spin up and allow a backup and salvage of data.