We were playing a movie for our son on the laptop and when I came in the spinning beachball was up. I waited for a while and then manually shut it down. This morning I turned it on and all I get is the blinking file folder with the question mark. Our DVD is still in the computer and it won't move past the file folder to do anything.
Hello, The blinking file folder with the question mark can happen when the computer doesn't "see" your System. It can be caused by a faulty hard drive, or by a damaged operating system. You can try to reboot the mac, hold the mouse button during 20 seconds to eject the CD, then insert you installation DVD (leopard). Reboot the Mac again, and hold the "C" key. Select english, the go to the tools menu, and Disk Utility. Go to the SOS tab, select your drive and click "repair". If something red appears, it means that it has found something wrong on your hard drive. Best regards
I had this same problem. It turned out to be a bad keyboard. I had taken my MacBook Pro for replacement of my keyboard because some keys were loose and others were not responding as they should. Apple said they would have to order the part. I took my MacBook home and used it that night and had to double tap some keys to get them to respond. Then I shut the computer down. The next day, I got the gray screen with the folder and question mark. Different sources online said this is a hard drive crash and malfunction. The system could not find the OS. I tried booting from the Snow Leopard disk but it would still not recognize my hard disk. When Apple called to say my keyboard was in, I took my MacBook to Apple. Apple replaced the keyboard within about 1 hour, the computer booted perfectly, and everything is back to normal. Best thing, no charge from Apple even though I do not have Apple Care and my computer was over 2 years old. Great job!
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