Till today, the Apple Mac computer is powerful in all ways, but it’s a machine, so sometimes it’s acting up, and Mac slows down due to particular reasons that we don’t know. As an immediate solution, what do we do? Restart is correct. But after restarting, Mac won’t start up successfully. Hence, A Grey folder with a question mark on startup appears on the Mac screen.
Reason for Flashing Folder with Question Mark
- After Restarting Apple Laptop
- Replacing HDD with SSD (flashing folder after installing SSD)
- After Changing display parts
- Problem with the cable
- The logic board is broken and can’t see the drive
- Some OS files are corrupted (reinstall the OS)
- The drive filesystem is corrupted (boot from recovery and run disk utility)
- Before diving into the below, make sure that is you Mac is intel or M1 chip.
What does it mean when my Mac has a folder with a question mark?
This folder on your Mac with a black screen denotes that your Mac’s startup disk is no longer available or the disk (HDD/SSD) doesn’t contain a working MacOS (operating system).
So, in this article, I’ve tried to put maximum solutions to help you eliminate the question mark on your Mac?
Note: There isn’t a specification to attempt these solutions. All users can follow, for instance, Mac flashing folder Mac Ventura, Sonoma, Big Sur, Mac flashing folder Mojave, and Mac flashing folder.
MacBook Pro flashing folder question mark startup is a common issue for old Mac users. Let’s follow my steps;
Method 1: Boot MacBook with Start-Up Manager
For the users using the internal drive, boot the macOS, then troubleshoot the Startup Manager to prevent the question mark folder on Mac.
- Power off the MacBook like you always do.
- For Apple Silicon Mac: Hold Down the Power button until the Volumes Appear on the screen with the Options (settings gear icon).
- For intel Mac: Hold down the Alt or Option key and wait for the Apple logo to appear.
- The MacBook Startup Manager should prompt up, and from there, choose the Start Disk. Use the Left/Right arrow to navigate and hit Return to select.
- This would restart the Mac without question mark Folder, and by this, the problem is resolved.
Suppose this way can work for your Mac, don’t worry; try below for more solutions to start your mac like before.
Method 2: Repair Startup Disk with Disk Utility
Steps For M1 Mac Users
- Turn Off your Mac, and wait for 10 seconds
- Now press and hold the Power button until you see the Apple logo with loading and startup option;
- Next Choose Options, you will get a macOS recovery screen. in them, go with Disk utility and click on Continue.
- Choose Macintosh HD, which is the startup disk of Mac.
- Click on First Aid and then Repair to start repairing the disk.
- It’ll take some time to complete the process. Click on the Apple logo and select Startup Disk, and then reboot the Mac.
Steps for Intel-mac Users
Your MacBook has an inbuilt Repairing set up to find and automatically fix the issues themselves. If you can’t manage to fix the problem, then use the Repair Startup Disk.
- Please turn off the Mac, press the Power button to power it off.
- Press the Power button to turn on the Mac, and then immediately hold the Command+R keys.
- Within few seconds, you’ll see the Apple logo or a spinning wheel. If asked to enter the administrator, follow the on-screen procedure until you see the Utilities window.
- Select the Disk Utility option when the Utilities window appears.
- Choose Macintosh HD, which is the startup disk of Mac.
- Click on First Aid and then Repair to start repairing the disk.
- It’ll take some time to complete the process. Click on the Apple logo and select Startup Disk, and then reboot the Mac.
Easy Steps to Follow that answer you – what do you do when a folder with a question mark blinks on your Mac computer?
Solution #1. Attempt Reset NVRAM
Solution #2. Ensure that the preferred startup disk is selected on the system to check in Startup Disk preferences.
If above, both suggestions are ok for you. However, your mac question mark folder of death persists. Please attempt some hard troubleshooting:
Let’s Press and hold the power button on your Mac (Macbook, MBP, MBA, iMac, Mac Mini) for up to 10 seconds until your Macintosh computer turns off.
Switch on your Apple Mac and immediately press and hold on Command (⌘) and R switch to start up from macOS Recovery. Here’ Fix Flashing folder with question mark Command R not working
While in macOS Recovery, use Disk Utility to repair your startup disk.
If Disk Utility found no errors or repaired all errors, You should reinstall macOS on your Apple machine.
Note: After pressing the alt key, your computer opened up internet recovery instead of the partition on Mac. it means Your Apple computer startup volume and recovery partition have become corrupted or physically damaged, that’s why the Apple computer will automatically enter Internet Recovery Mode. Or (flashing folder with question mark command r not working).
You can get here the solution for Error -2100 F end of the recovery.
Apple Care– Final Resort
If you have an Apple Care plan for your Mac notebook or iMac desktop so, without wait of time, you should visit the nearby Apple Store. Let’s say in brief, what is Apple Care? It is an Apple brand program, user can extend warranty and technical support plans for their Apple device. According to Wikipedia, warranty Device gets a one-year limited warranty and 90 days of technical support. It also includes two instances of accidental damage repair at discounted prices every 12 months.
Most of the hardware issue (dicky hard drive cable) is a major reason for the folder with a question mark issue on Mac. According to our other reader said that they charged $50 to fix the problem.
If you Don’t have an Apple Care plan
In such case, you will have to pay some dollars that they charge for parts and labor at an Apple store to fix your Mac Grey folder with a question mark on startup. Learn here how to book a Genius Bar reservation, hence you don’t need to sit and wait in a long queue at Apple service center or Apple Authorized Service Provider.
If you still need help fix the folder with question mark MacBook startup, I suggest you take a trip to Apple Support.
Jaysukh Patel is the founder of howtoisolve. Also self Professional Developer, Techno lover mainly for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and iOS, Jaysukh is one of responsible person in his family. Contact On: jaysukh.pharma@gmail.com [OR] admin@howtoisolve.com
