I'm having problem with macbook have the flashing ?mark, need help
1.) You posted this in the wrong place, I have moved it to its own thread for you.
2.) You need to provide a lot more info before anyone can help you. For example, which model MacBook? What operating system? Did you make any changes to your setup before this happened? When do you see the "flashing ?" (presumably when you start up the machine you are seeing the "?" and the computer doesn't boot?).
Assuming my guess is correct, you need to boot from the install disks that came with the machine (turn on the computer and put the DVD in the drive; if it doesn't automatically find the DVD and boot from it, leave the DVD in, restart the machine and hold down the "c" key).
Once booted to the DVD, you can check the hard drive for problems by going to the "Utilities" menu and choosing "Disk Utility". I suspect there's a problem with the HDD, hopefully it's minor and will be something that Disk Utility can repair. If not, the HDD may need replacing or you may need to re-install the OS.
Hopefully the above gets you started. There's always a real-life Apple Genius Bar (free) for face-to-face assistance with this if you need it.
1.) You posted this in the wrong place, I have moved it to its own thread for you.
2.) You need to provide a lot more info before anyone can help you. For example, which model MacBook? What operating system? Did you make any changes to your setup before this happened? When do you see the "flashing ?" (presumably when you start up the machine you are seeing the "?" and the computer doesn't boot?).
Assuming my guess is correct, you need to boot from the install disks that came with the machine (turn on the computer and put the DVD in the drive; if it doesn't automatically find the DVD and boot from it, leave the DVD in, restart the machine and hold down the "c" key).
Once booted to the DVD, you can check the hard drive for problems by going to the "Utilities" menu and choosing "Disk Utility". I suspect there's a problem with the HDD, hopefully it's minor and will be something that Disk Utility can repair. If not, the HDD may need replacing or you may need to re-install the OS.
Hopefully the above gets you started. There's always a real-life Apple Genius Bar (free) for face-to-face assistance with this if you need it.
Mr. H is exactly right. This usually means that your Mac cannot find its operating system. This can be caused by a corrupt or deleted OS, or if it suddenly stopped working, a bad or failing hard drive.
1. Use the procedure Mr. H described to boot to your installation disks and start Disk Utility.
2. See if your hard drive is even visible in the left pane of Disk Utility. If it is not, you may want to put your ear to the MacBook where you left palm sits when typing. Listen for any faint clicking noises. These would be more audible when you first turn on your Mac. Some of the hard drives installed in MacBooks tended to click loudly three times on power up after they had failed. If this is the case, it sounds like you need a new hard drive.
3. If you see the hard drive (it would say something like "80GB Seagate Momentus") in the left pane of Disk Utility, see if the partition is visible. This would be below the name of the hard drive and slightly indented. It is called "Macintosh HD" by default. This is the space "carved out" of your hard drive to actually store the operating system and the data.
4. If so, select the partition, then click "First Aid" from the buttons on the right. Click the "Verify Disk" button on the bottom right. If errors are found, click the "Repair Disk" button.
Do not "Erase" or "Partition" the drive, or reinstall the operating system, without backing up your data first, as you may loose all of the data on the drive if you do so.
Comments
I'm having problem with macbook have the flashing ?mark, need help
1.) You posted this in the wrong place, I have moved it to its own thread for you.
2.) You need to provide a lot more info before anyone can help you. For example, which model MacBook? What operating system? Did you make any changes to your setup before this happened? When do you see the "flashing ?" (presumably when you start up the machine you are seeing the "?" and the computer doesn't boot?).
Assuming my guess is correct, you need to boot from the install disks that came with the machine (turn on the computer and put the DVD in the drive; if it doesn't automatically find the DVD and boot from it, leave the DVD in, restart the machine and hold down the "c" key).
Once booted to the DVD, you can check the hard drive for problems by going to the "Utilities" menu and choosing "Disk Utility". I suspect there's a problem with the HDD, hopefully it's minor and will be something that Disk Utility can repair. If not, the HDD may need replacing or you may need to re-install the OS.
Hopefully the above gets you started. There's always a real-life Apple Genius Bar (free) for face-to-face assistance with this if you need it.
1.) You posted this in the wrong place, I have moved it to its own thread for you.
2.) You need to provide a lot more info before anyone can help you. For example, which model MacBook? What operating system? Did you make any changes to your setup before this happened? When do you see the "flashing ?" (presumably when you start up the machine you are seeing the "?" and the computer doesn't boot?).
Assuming my guess is correct, you need to boot from the install disks that came with the machine (turn on the computer and put the DVD in the drive; if it doesn't automatically find the DVD and boot from it, leave the DVD in, restart the machine and hold down the "c" key).
Once booted to the DVD, you can check the hard drive for problems by going to the "Utilities" menu and choosing "Disk Utility". I suspect there's a problem with the HDD, hopefully it's minor and will be something that Disk Utility can repair. If not, the HDD may need replacing or you may need to re-install the OS.
Hopefully the above gets you started. There's always a real-life Apple Genius Bar (free) for face-to-face assistance with this if you need it.
Mr. H is exactly right. This usually means that your Mac cannot find its operating system. This can be caused by a corrupt or deleted OS, or if it suddenly stopped working, a bad or failing hard drive.
1. Use the procedure Mr. H described to boot to your installation disks and start Disk Utility.
2. See if your hard drive is even visible in the left pane of Disk Utility. If it is not, you may want to put your ear to the MacBook where you left palm sits when typing. Listen for any faint clicking noises. These would be more audible when you first turn on your Mac. Some of the hard drives installed in MacBooks tended to click loudly three times on power up after they had failed. If this is the case, it sounds like you need a new hard drive.
3. If you see the hard drive (it would say something like "80GB Seagate Momentus") in the left pane of Disk Utility, see if the partition is visible. This would be below the name of the hard drive and slightly indented. It is called "Macintosh HD" by default. This is the space "carved out" of your hard drive to actually store the operating system and the data.
4. If so, select the partition, then click "First Aid" from the buttons on the right. Click the "Verify Disk" button on the bottom right. If errors are found, click the "Repair Disk" button.
Do not "Erase" or "Partition" the drive, or reinstall the operating system, without backing up your data first, as you may loose all of the data on the drive if you do so.
Jeff