Boot problem

My MacPro shows a flashing ?folder on start-up. I solved this issue before by holding the option (alt) key on boot up, but that does not seem to work this time. Any suggestions?

Welcome to Mac-Forums

How old of a Mac Pro? What version of OS X? When did this problem occur? How long has it been occurring? What did you do, if anything, to make it happen?

Raz0rEdge said:

Welcome to Mac-Forums

How old of a Mac Pro? What version of OS X? When did this problem occur? How long has it been occurring? What did you do, if anything, to make it happen?

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Tower MacPro Dec. 2008/ Jan. 2009; SL; occasionally for the last 4 month'; always solved spontaneously or by holding the opt/alt key on boot up; this afternoon however this does not work; I have a bootable DVD but my drive won't open. Thanks for reacting and for any help.

Try booting from the SL disc and running Repair Disk in Disk Utility there. Sounds like a hard drive may be failing. If all is well, boot from the original system install discs and run Apple Hardware Test Extended Mode.

Try opening the optical drive door using a straightened paper clip and /or install an eject button on the Menu Bar.

Wouldn't know where to insert the clip and need a working computer to install an eject button. Would connecting my MacBook Pro through Firewire and booting up from that work?