It works! I don't know why it took me 3 years to do this. My Mac desktop sat on my desk for three years. I didn't want to touch it so I bought a new laptop. My laptop started to age so I thought I should check my mac and followed your instruction. Bingo! It works!! Thanks! What really helped was that one of the comments below saying hit the control and R as you hear the sound. I am deaf so I missed the video . After the comment I read, I touch my monitor and feel for the sound. It did it! Thank you! My Reno 911 was stuck in there for three years! god!
Haha. I did that when my laptop "died" I was so upset I stuck it in the corner and left it. Especially as I hadn't backed it up.... Alwaysbackupyourharddrivewillfaileventually
I literally watched 50 videos and nobody said anything about holding down the option key to see my hard pop up :/ Thank you so much man you just saved my life
I work for a school district and we have seen this issue on several laptops. It can also be a bad hard drive cable. We saw a big jump in this issue with the 2012 model laptops. They were notorious for just randomly going to the flashing folder screen while they were in use. It is a fairly simple replacement, so it's worth considering.
dude i cannot thank you ENOUGH. Ugh. i was just about to format my entire computer without a back up but stumbled upon this vid in a last search in despair. it was the 'hold option key on start up' that helped. i searched high and low on apple site for solutions but i never saw that. so thanks again, life saver.
a year ago i was dumber and tried to restart my Mac thinking nothing would happen .. i was wrong 💀 , I went to a lot of websites even Apple’s website and a lot of UA-cam videos and nothing would work, i gave up after a lot of research and never touched it. Until literally today at 11:13 p.m, I’m about to start my first year at college in 2 weeks and desperately needed my laptop to work and came upon this video and IM ALREADY INSTALLING THE OS X!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
Hi Tim, Thank so much for this video, this allowed me to restore my computer from a flashing folder of gray to a correctly updated Sierra. your step by step instructions were perfect. Holding 9th We option key down while turning it on got me to the right place. Thanks a million, we now have a working Mac again which we desperately needed.
It worked great✌️. The internet installation usually takes about 30min to an hour depending on how fast your link is..Don’t panic just relax and follow the instructions
Man all I did was open up the laptop, unplug the hard drive and then plug it back in securely and my problem was fixed. I’m so glad I did not lose all my projects. Please try this step before wiping everything off :)
So once I do this would I be able to get online I mean I just wanna get on the internet mines not working I don’t know if I’m doing it right mines has 2 faces on the folder with a question mark ?
Thank you - this tut helped me fixed a non-booting Macbook Air, my daughter was delighted she didn't lose any course work! (of course she wouldn't have been worried if she'd backed it up, but that's teenagers for you)
This helped me out so much!!! I though I was going to have to bring it in to apple which would have charged me a fortune!!!! Thank you again so much!!!
This worked to turn it on! Mine ended up being a hard drive cable that was the issue. I’d recommend just taking it your local computer shop so you don’t accidentally erase or delete all your data!
I definitely found this helpful and I just installed a new hard drive and got this indicator. After watching your video I tried holding down the option button and internet recovery was prompted on the screen. I very happy to see this and I am now waiting for the process to finish uploading.
So what should I do if the Macintosh HD file isn't bold? For my case, I had a really bad weekend so I wasn't in the most patient mood. So I was sitting through a mac OS update and me being stupid me, I shut down the MacBook air during an update that was taking forever. So yeah, this is a self inflicted issue. So my question is, what should I do? It seems to be an issue I can fix myself but the problem is how.
Gay is The way did it work for you? I had the exact same issue..following the video I am installing mac OS high Sierra but that too is getting stuck at the 2 minute mark? Any way to fix this?
Sudeep Rohit Try rebooting in internet recovery mode by command + r, go to time machine and try to find a backup before you updated. If you can’t find a backup your only hope is to reformat your Macintosh HD drive (this deletes ALL data). I fucked up big time while trying to install dual boot Kali linux..
If you face this problem don’t just give up try these solutions 1. Restart and got to option alt and see if can boot into Macos hdd if cannot means it’s gone, OS deleted and possible the hdd could be failing or corrupted. 2. If can’t get an external bootable hdd and perform a fresh installation. 3. Once finished kill off the partitions like Bootcamp by deleting that might have overwritten the Macos.
Guys I've figured it out - credits ---cordovaii When I came across this I noticed that I didn't have a volume under the main APPLE SSD SM1024G Media. You need create a partition under it. Click on APPLE SSD SM1024G Media, select partition map scheme is GUID Partition Table. Name the volume Macintosh. Select and make sure it is in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Select Apply. Once you see the volume created. Go back to the macOS utility screen and select install MacOS.
this is simony's computer but Mariya is thanking since my computer was starting then turning white with many flashing folders. your technique solved the problem. thanks again.
I was trying to wipe my laptop clean for my own files etc. Because I have to give it away. I went into the Disk Utillity and I'm pretty sure i pressed erase on Apple disk images... Now im having the problem with the blinking question mark and whenever i press all these buttons that people suggest tapping the only thing I can get up on my screen is the spinning grey globe and then choose a wifi... Nothing else pops up. Please help! Thank you
Sniper Plays No I didn't... but the people I handed it back to (IT people from my school) did I guess. I told them what happened and they just took it and said "oh whatever no problem, we'll just clean it" so yeah I just wasted 5-6 hours in a day on that shit lol. Hope you find a solution though!
I was do the same exact thing on someone's computer and the samething happened to me, plus the wireless mouse and Keyboard don't work. I even tried plugging one into the USB slot and nothing. I'm about to flip out because this is an over priced brick now! I hate you Apple!!!
Have you tried power+option to get it to turn off? Then power button and hold command+r immediately for about 7 seconds, internet recovery should popup.
How did you connect your Bluetooth keyboard I have my keyboard but it disconnected from the Mac so I can’t really press the option button is there anyway I can connect the keyboard back to the Mac while it is like this?
i have a secondhand laptop and it had really bad battery life so I eventually stopped using it. ages ago i leant it to my cousin who was going to use it as a desktop. pretty quick it stopped working and only flashed the folder. months later, (today) he finally returned it and i googled this problem and it working!!
If you do have a hardware issue and you decide to buy a new replacement iMac, can the faulty iMac still function as a secondary monitor linked to the new?
So after I was trying to reset a Mac I bought and wanting to return I was having trouble with the whole process and it wouldn’t download the Mac OS copy so I turned it off and this folder thing came up. I did command r and went through the steps but it wants to install ox Yosemite, and when i click on the disk utility the design/SET UP of it doesn’t show up like it did before . I fixed the problem with no disk showing when downloading it, but what do I do if it downloads the copy of an old operating system? Will it have problems upgrading to the latest Mac OS? PLEASE HELP I NEED TO GIVE THIS BACK TO THE SELLER SOON (it’s a 2015 MacBook Pro 13) ALSO THIS MY FIRST EVER EXPERIENCE ON MAC SO I DON’T KNOW WHAT IM DOING.
@@s.l.okookie8082 Hey i got same problem with you i reset it and it keep turning off after a few minute could you help me please, i just bought it 3 day ago. please sir. i am just a student i got no money to fix and my midterm exam coming next week. Please help me
After upgrading to High Sierra, my Mac Air suddenly went blank then showed this flashing folder with question mark. I went to Apple online support and had a chat with Armina. I told her my problem and she told me a technician would contact me - that didn't materialise so I followed the steps of this video (thank you) but couldnt find my start up disc. I brought my Mc Air (2014) to PowerMac Repair and they're asking me to pay $400 because it is a hardware problem caused by downloading High Sierra (that doesnt have any Caution or Warning)!!!! And all along I thought downloading the latest version would give me a better, smoother and safer surfing/researching experience! Im so disappointed with Apple right now. Careful with downloading High Sierra!
I brought my MacAir to a local Mac Repair Centre where I paid $400 pesos for them to replace the hardware. They finished repair after 2 weeks and advised me not to upgrade any more because upgrading might result in another problem.
yes. so lesson learned: before upgrading, ask Apple if you hard drive won't be damaged. They replaced and upgraded my hard drive and installed High Sierra.
try to contact Apple Support in your country to guide you amirabuie. You'd be able to diagnose the problem - software of hardware. If it's hardware, you'd spend money to replacement. There should have a BOLD CAPS warning: DO NO DOWNLOAD SIERRA FOR MACS 2014 (or whatever year it's not compatible with) or older.
Any tips? I have held down the alt key and the hard drive icon shows up. But when I click it nothing happens. The Command "r" also does nothing when I've tried it. It is also making a louder than Norma sound as its boots up.
I’ve been given a iMac that’s been completely wiped. It has no macOS on it. I have a magic keyboard and mouse (version 1) which I’ve bought so they’ve never never been connected to this iMac before. Is there any way I can connect them in order to try recovery steps?
Here's what you can do if you see no hard drive when doing this. I had this problem. All I did was unplug the cable on the hard drive, and the hard drive itself. Plugged it back, then restarted it. And it worked! If it doesn't work, chances are you have a bad hard drive cable. Odds are its that if nothing works. I've had this issue years ago and was fearful it was that again. You can do two things - one buy a new cable cord and put it in yourself. They're cheap, but they're surprisingly pretty tough to install. I tried a few years ago, couldn't, and finally caved to get a guy to do it. Costs 60 dollars! The tape, tiny screws, you need nifty hands... . Or two, just get a hard drive enclosure. Allows you to bypass the cable. I'd get a hard driver enclosure first regardless if nothing works, to see its the cable and not the hard drive. If you just take it in to get it repaired, they'll likely try to convince you its a hard drive (when it probably is not) and that costs you more money. The hard drive enclosures are dirt cheap. Like 10 bucks on amazon.
Helped a bunch! I was upgrading my system got sleepy because it was taking to long close the top & got the blinking folder. So glad nothing major is wrong rebooted it now its updating again.
hey! i know im a bit late but im trying to fix my brothers computer and he is using a different keyboard because he broke his mac one. and I cant seem to get past the flashing file stage?
I am starting a "fixing computers" business and I have a disk copy of a OSX. When I hold option on this specific computer I bought on eBay, it usually works, but I am greeted with a "password", is there a way to bypass? cmnd+s, and cmnd+r still show flashing folder. I am working on contacting the seller, but am not confident he will trust me. Unless you guys have any other ideas I will probably get a new hd.
Hi, i have the same problem :( maybe coz i erased/formatted the HD using disk utility not knowing that it will delete everythin :(, now my problem is i bought this 2nd hand, so i cant reinstall it using my apple id and i am getting "temporarily unavailable, try again later" :( 2nd, i dont know if i can still recover the files :(( I hope somene can help me fix this :(
Tim everything worked fine until...I found two disk drives listed. One was as described. The other was different. I selected the odd one and got a message indicating the needed to be repaired. I selected that option and midway through got a message it couldn't be repaired. Prior to that the drive icon that looked like the one in your video worked like you described. After trying to repair the odd one nothing works other than i still get the flashing folder with the question mark. Any suggestions? In your video you suggested connecting a certain kind of cable and looking for a drive on another computer. Does the other computer have to be a Mac?
I’ve tried holding down the option key and trying command + R, nothing works for me. I removed and installed a new hard drive, still nothing. It’s for a 2007 IMac 27”
I’m so worried, my MacBook froze so I shut it down and when I restarted it back up it showed the folder with question mark. I really hope this helps me.
I have reset my MacBook air and when it started to reinstall OS x it froze. we were then forced to restart it and that is when I got the question mark folder so I got it to start the internet recovery, but when I wanted to reinstall OS x again it failed. Is there something I can do to fix this?
I need some help, i spent 2 days with Apple support no luck, my Mac Pro 2011 has question mark issue- new hard drive was added-old one had issues, tried to boot MacOS by USB Sierra and even tried El Capitan and it doesn't boot nor it goes to recovery mode-gets stuck to white screen. My friend was able to boot the Mac in Windows 10 version, apart from that no luck at all. Please could anyone recommend me steps i missed, or any way for me to over come this?
My Macbook responded to MVRAM reset (alt+CMD+p+r), but no other combination works (alt or CMD+r after startup). Why they don't work? It's an older model with SSD drive as primary and HDD as secondary. Any tips?
SIR can you solve my problem in macbook air model A1466 i cannot be install mac os sierra...and if i start my macbook show on screen flashing question mark error and after pc turn off...if i press option+power button then show wifi mode to start recovery from internet....and after recovery net then show install mac os mountain lion and after install then several hours to take install...but i will try many times but not install no any mac os...please help me....Thank you...
Macbook pro early 2015 13 inch (16gb ram 256 ssd aftermarket) I am using bigsur in it. Whenever i powers on my machine QUESTION MARK SIGN ON FOLDER starts blinking. Sometimes it appears and sometimes it doesn't. Totally unpredictable. I have done following things as solutions but sign comes again after somedays. Reset SMC and NVRAM, Disk Utility Repair, Factory reset machine, Reinstalled new OS from bootable drive. Still question mark sign appears after working fine for few days. Really tired and irritated from this issue. Need your help guys, what could be the problem?
same here. any solutions guys? i just bought a new ssd and try to boot up via internet recovery, and it didn't work. but if i plugged back in my old hdd it work normally.
Thank you for an Informative & EZ 2 Watch "NON TECKNOID "Video - NO Visual Whiplash CGI w/ Obnoxious Canned Muzak - NO Up Close & Personal in Your Face w /Jump Cuts - NO Pay'd By The Word Rambling Narration - Well Shot / Edited & Bullet Point Narration - was familiar w/ some of the Info BUT Other Insights Helpful -Thanx again
I changed the hard drive after a SMART error and now I get this question mark folder all the time when trying to access recovery mode (it simply never gets there). Do you maybe have an idea why that is?
I'm still really confused. When I start up the mac while holding alt down, I get a screen that says internet recovery. When I go to disk utility, I only see OS X Base System, I don't see any internal drives BUT I don't see any red font showing up. I can't reinstall OS X because it asks to "select the disk where you want to install OS X" but none show up. Does this mean it's a hard drive failure and that I need to go see Apple? Please, could someone clarify. I'm extremely confused and scared.
A friend found this Mac, so it may have been wiped. It didn't show the OS option, but rather asked to connect to the internet. Gave it my hotspot and the wheel keep spinning. How long should I wait before trying something else? if so, now what?
So ive tried at least a dozen differeny videos with this now and nothing has worked for me i just want to know if anyone could tell me if it would be safe to sell my imac with this issue like if the person could fix it and recover any of my previous information off it? Hope that makes sense
i did the off button and option and it did come up with the drive and i clicked on it but when it was in the middle of loading as in the booting thing it would reset and come back up with the folder with the question mark please reply with an answer
Hey mate, I tried to reset my IMac to factory settings to clean it out. I followed all the steps I found online. I got to the last step “IOS reinstall” but it wouldn’t let me continue. So I restarted my computer which lead me to a black screen with flashing question mark folder. I followed your steps but nothing happens except the continuous flashing folder.. any ideas on how I can get back into my system to try reinstall IOS and start fresh?
pls pls help me..I'm in deep shit i was trying to update my MB pro 2015 to High sierra. while instaling the update I got an error message saying i was not connected to a power source, and I was indeed not connected. The system asked to do a diagnostic check, so i followed, after connecting to power supply. this time however, when the laptoop booted up, it showed me screen with a folder with a question mark on it blinking..I then restarted the system using command + r and tried to reinstall the OS..but each time it gets stuck at the 2 minute mark..saying about 2 minutes remaining..I tried online recovery as well, but after the entire process was over, it again took me to the reinstall screen, where as earlier the installation gets stuck at 2 minutes remaining..PLEASE help me..I have to turn in a paper shortly :(
What do I do if my hard drive doesn’t show up on disk utilities? My MacBook Pro mid 2012 got really hot while I was doing homework, then I started talking care of things around the house. I came back, and saw the folder with the question mark. I did the command r and tried installing Mac OS X but it disintegrated show up my where for me to actually install it. I need this laptop to do my work for school :(
I've done all these different options. I have a 07 mac and all mine is doin is a flash of an apple the that bunch of random codes and it acts like it want shut off. It keeps repeating! I do here the disk drive turn on/off too :/ PLS HELP!!
It works! I don't know why it took me 3 years to do this. My Mac desktop sat on my desk for three years. I didn't want to touch it so I bought a new laptop. My laptop started to age so I thought I should check my mac and followed your instruction. Bingo! It works!! Thanks! What really helped was that one of the comments below saying hit the control and R as you hear the sound. I am deaf so I missed the video . After the comment I read, I touch my monitor and feel for the sound. It did it! Thank you! My Reno 911 was stuck in there for three years! god!
Jennifer Furlano wow lol
This comment saved my life thank you
Haha. I did that when my laptop "died" I was so upset I stuck it in the corner and left it. Especially as I hadn't backed it up.... Alwaysbackupyourharddrivewillfaileventually
Didn't work for me
I literally watched 50 videos and nobody said anything about holding down the option key to see my hard pop up :/ Thank you so much man you just saved my life
Even he doesnt mention you dont press option (or alt) key until you hear the start up sound
I work for a school district and we have seen this issue on several laptops. It can also be a bad hard drive cable. We saw a big jump in this issue with the 2012 model laptops. They were notorious for just randomly going to the flashing folder screen while they were in use. It is a fairly simple replacement, so it's worth considering.
dude i cannot thank you ENOUGH. Ugh. i was just about to format my entire computer without a back up but stumbled upon this vid in a last search in despair. it was the 'hold option key on start up' that helped. i searched high and low on apple site for solutions but i never saw that. so thanks again, life saver.
a year ago i was dumber and tried to restart my Mac thinking nothing would happen .. i was wrong 💀 , I went to a lot of websites even Apple’s website and a lot of UA-cam videos and nothing would work, i gave up after a lot of research and never touched it. Until literally today at 11:13 p.m, I’m about to start my first year at college in 2 weeks and desperately needed my laptop to work and came upon this video and IM ALREADY INSTALLING THE OS X!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
I just spent 4 hours on the phone with apples and this just helped me in 1:31 more than they did in four hours. You're a life saver. Thank you!!
Hi Tim,
Thank so much for this video, this allowed me to restore my computer from a flashing folder of gray to a correctly updated Sierra. your step by step instructions were perfect. Holding 9th We option key down while turning it on got me to the right place. Thanks a million, we now have a working Mac again which we desperately needed.
It worked great✌️. The internet installation usually takes about 30min to an hour depending on how fast your link is..Don’t panic just relax and follow the instructions
Kofi Freddie, does the screen turn white, while it’s downloading from internet?
Man all I did was open up the laptop, unplug the hard drive and then plug it back in securely and my problem was fixed. I’m so glad I did not lose all my projects. Please try this step before wiping everything off :)
So once I do this would I be able to get online I mean I just wanna get on the internet mines not working I don’t know if I’m doing it right mines has 2 faces on the folder with a question mark ?
Your voice and background music go well together. So relaxing.
my heart went straight to my ass my heart is still heavy
Thank you - this tut helped me fixed a non-booting Macbook Air, my daughter was delighted she didn't lose any course work! (of course she wouldn't have been worried if she'd backed it up, but that's teenagers for you)
Lol mac crashed during taking my finals...trying to fix xD
Missy Syrena same here. Im suffering. Did u fix it?
Same I am doing my final major project for graphic design diploma and this happened
OOF
That's what mines doing right now
The technician told me not to update to the latest updates as it caused the crash.
Didn't work for me
U can watch this video...and flow step by step 👇
ua-cam.com/video/-n0URmTepGc/v-deo.html
Dude. I litterally love you now.
This is a very helpful tutorial. Definitely the best piece of information is holding down the power and option key for internet recovery
At the same time?
I turn my laptop on just got it uh what does that mean when it has the folder and question mark
I have this issue but I have the MacBookPro 2012 showing me a different scene do you have a video on that ?
Youre instructions were spot on!! Thanks for the clear and concise video!!! Saved me a lot of money and time by not taking it to Apple. 👍
Same, i was deciding to go to Apple the following week but luckily i found this video.
This helped me out so much!!! I though I was going to have to bring it in to apple which would have charged me a fortune!!!! Thank you again so much!!!
I am holding down the command and r keys and or holding down the option key and nothing is happening
You’re god sent! I was trying to completely wipe it and get it to factory reset but I almost lost my cool. Thank you for the help!!
If I have to reinstall my os, does it erase everything I have on my mac
Same here. Anyway I upgraded some stuff $$
This worked to turn it on! Mine ended up being a hard drive cable that was the issue. I’d recommend just taking it your local computer shop so you don’t accidentally erase or delete all your data!
tbh i don’t feel like paying and everything on my mac can be reinstalled so ima erase it haha
I definitely found this helpful and I just installed a new hard drive and got this indicator. After watching your video I tried holding down the option button and internet recovery was prompted on the screen. I very happy to see this and I am now waiting for the process to finish uploading.
So what should I do if the Macintosh HD file isn't bold? For my case, I had a really bad weekend so I wasn't in the most patient mood. So I was sitting through a mac OS update and me being stupid me, I shut down the MacBook air during an update that was taking forever. So yeah, this is a self inflicted issue.
So my question is, what should I do? It seems to be an issue I can fix myself but the problem is how.
I did the same thing
Ughhhh.......
I just did the SAME THING!!! But I looked up online what I should do and I am currently in the middle of installing Mac OS high Sierra on my MB air.
Gay is The way did it work for you? I had the exact same issue..following the video I am installing mac OS high Sierra but that too is getting stuck at the 2 minute mark? Any way to fix this?
Sudeep Rohit Try rebooting in internet recovery mode by command + r, go to time machine and try to find a backup before you updated. If you can’t find a backup your only hope is to reformat your Macintosh HD drive (this deletes ALL data). I fucked up big time while trying to install dual boot Kali linux..
If you face this problem don’t just give up try these solutions
1. Restart and got to option alt and see if can boot into Macos hdd if cannot means it’s gone, OS deleted and possible the hdd could be failing or corrupted.
2. If can’t get an external bootable hdd and perform a fresh installation.
3. Once finished kill off the partitions like Bootcamp by deleting that might have overwritten the Macos.
It shows me only the OS X base and no other disk . What should I do ?
its that the only way? i dont have something like that , but i have another laptop,that helps?
i dont have both...what should i do ? can i use an usb and to download it from internet for free?
Thanks a lot. I will try :)
Belle did you solve it? I’m experiencing the same issue
Guys I've figured it out - credits ---cordovaii
When I came across this I noticed that I didn't have a volume under the main APPLE SSD SM1024G Media. You need create a partition under it. Click on APPLE SSD SM1024G Media, select partition map scheme is GUID Partition Table. Name the volume Macintosh. Select and make sure it is in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Select Apply. Once you see the volume created. Go back to the macOS utility screen and select install MacOS.
this is simony's computer but Mariya is thanking since my computer was starting then turning white with many flashing folders. your technique solved the problem. thanks again.
I was trying to wipe my laptop clean for my own files etc. Because I have to give it away. I went into the Disk Utillity and I'm pretty sure i pressed erase on Apple disk images... Now im having the problem with the blinking question mark and whenever i press all these buttons that people suggest tapping the only thing I can get up on my screen is the spinning grey globe and then choose a wifi... Nothing else pops up. Please help! Thank you
A2J SAME. Did you find a solution?
Sniper Plays No I didn't... but the people I handed it back to (IT people from my school) did I guess. I told them what happened and they just took it and said "oh whatever no problem, we'll just clean it" so yeah I just wasted 5-6 hours in a day on that shit lol. Hope you find a solution though!
A2J Oh ok. I guess I'm taking it to my school IT then cause nothing is working. Thank you.
I was do the same exact thing on someone's computer and the samething happened to me, plus the wireless mouse and Keyboard don't work. I even tried plugging one into the USB slot and nothing. I'm about to flip out because this is an over priced brick now! I hate you Apple!!!
My Mac's done this but I can't get past the white screen with the flashing question mark, Ive tried every combination of buttons
Have you tried power+option to get it to turn off? Then power button and hold command+r immediately for about 7 seconds, internet recovery should popup.
@@NKWTI Ive tried Just about every keyboard combination there is
Ayden Bellz Do you have an iMac or macbook? I have an imac, and i think it’s bc the keyboard isn’t connected, so none of the keys work
it doesn't work @0:58. i need help. running macos catalina, 1 TB HDD.
I may have deleted everything 😢 I tried and it put up a gray spinning globe with 24:00 below it 😭
How did you connect your Bluetooth keyboard I have my keyboard but it disconnected from the Mac so I can’t really press the option button is there anyway I can connect the keyboard back to the Mac while it is like this?
Thank you so much! I HOPE you see this message. You helped me more than a live Apple agent could. Sad asf.
Uh it beeped loudly after holding option, but did Nothing is that bad
Fam.... Same. It's spooky how as soon as I read this comment it happened to me. We need updates
hey man
thank you very much! very helpfull
but i have another issue now
after aolving this problem it started really really slow ! any suggestions?
When I try to recovery it’s not letting me to it says I can’t and I need to try again later
Same with me
i have a secondhand laptop and it had really bad battery life so I eventually stopped using it. ages ago i leant it to my cousin who was going to use it as a desktop. pretty quick it stopped working and only flashed the folder. months later, (today) he finally returned it and i googled this problem and it working!!
If you do have a hardware issue and you decide to buy a new replacement iMac, can the faulty iMac still function as a secondary monitor linked to the new?
I know this is an old video but the recovery mode doesn't open when I hold the keys
Thank you for this. I almost lost my shit. I was trying to reset my laptop and I thought I broke it. Appreciate it all ☺️☺️
Danielle Patrice lol I tried to rest my laptop
Same here thx
Should I reinstall OS X? Or just cancel it? Like what he did
can you help me?? i was trying to reset my computer
Same😅😭
Thank you you saved my 2011 Mac mini I was thinking of buying a new Mac but you saved me money and a Mac
Guys this happened to my laptop and I am super scared. I am starting to cry
TheThreeSisters same here
TheThreeSisters same here
Same here
Same
TheThreeSisters
And I, sdfg
Recovery mode not loading
when i reinstall os x it downloads high sierra but it takes 121 gb and i only have 30 gb left but can i still reinstall?
So after I was trying to reset a Mac I bought and wanting to return I was having trouble with the whole process and it wouldn’t download the Mac OS copy so I turned it off and this folder thing came up. I did command r and went through the steps but it wants to install ox Yosemite, and when i click on the disk utility the design/SET UP of it doesn’t show up like it did before . I fixed the problem with no disk showing when downloading it, but what do I do if it downloads the copy of an old operating system? Will it have problems upgrading to the latest Mac OS? PLEASE HELP I NEED TO GIVE THIS BACK TO THE SELLER SOON (it’s a 2015 MacBook Pro 13) ALSO THIS MY FIRST EVER EXPERIENCE ON MAC SO I DON’T KNOW WHAT IM DOING.
Update: I fixed the problem and downloaded the old version then I updated it to Mojave and did the reset all over and and it worked!
@@s.l.okookie8082 Hey i got same problem with you i reset it and it keep turning off after a few minute could you help me please, i just bought it 3 day ago. please sir. i am just a student i got no money to fix and my midterm exam coming next week. Please help me
sent me the video too sir thank you
After upgrading to High Sierra, my Mac Air suddenly went blank then showed this flashing folder with question mark. I went to Apple online support and had a chat with Armina. I told her my problem and she told me a technician would contact me - that didn't materialise so I followed the steps of this video (thank you) but couldnt find my start up disc. I brought my Mc Air (2014) to PowerMac Repair and they're asking me to pay $400 because it is a hardware problem caused by downloading High Sierra (that doesnt have any Caution or Warning)!!!! And all along I thought downloading the latest version would give me a better, smoother and safer surfing/researching experience! Im so disappointed with Apple right now. Careful with downloading High Sierra!
I brought my MacAir to a local Mac Repair Centre where I paid $400 pesos for them to replace the hardware. They finished repair after 2 weeks and advised me not to upgrade any more because upgrading might result in another problem.
yes. so lesson learned: before upgrading, ask Apple if you hard drive won't be damaged. They replaced and upgraded my hard drive and installed High Sierra.
Same thing happened to me
I did it and it’s breaking my computer and I have school tomorrow can someone please help???
try to contact Apple Support in your country to guide you amirabuie. You'd be able to diagnose the problem - software of hardware. If it's hardware, you'd spend money to replacement. There should have a BOLD CAPS warning: DO NO DOWNLOAD SIERRA FOR MACS 2014 (or whatever year it's not compatible with) or older.
I get a error First aid prices has failed. If possible back up data on this volume. Please help
That means you have no operating system installed.
I have a non Apple keyboard, so what key would be the OPTION key? Thanks a lot.
Alt
Should I press first aid on the OS X Base system? Will that solve the problem? Thank you
finally a person who knows the answer. Thank you sir!
Any tips? I have held down the alt key and the hard drive icon shows up. But when I click it nothing happens. The Command "r" also does nothing when I've tried it. It is also making a louder than Norma sound as its boots up.
I’ve been given a iMac that’s been completely wiped. It has no macOS on it. I have a magic keyboard and mouse (version 1) which I’ve bought so they’ve never never been connected to this iMac before. Is there any way I can connect them in order to try recovery steps?
Do you click the power button and then the options or do you hold the power in
When I click on disk utility the Macintosh HD option is not there at all, what do I do?
same issue
What if I see a 🔒 on it, computer was given to me by my dad. He got from my sister. Can anyone help me? It’s a iMac 09
Here's what you can do if you see no hard drive when doing this. I had this problem. All I did was unplug the cable on the hard drive, and the hard drive itself. Plugged it back, then restarted it. And it worked! If it doesn't work, chances are you have a bad hard drive cable. Odds are its that if nothing works. I've had this issue years ago and was fearful it was that again. You can do two things - one buy a new cable cord and put it in yourself. They're cheap, but they're surprisingly pretty tough to install. I tried a few years ago, couldn't, and finally caved to get a guy to do it. Costs 60 dollars! The tape, tiny screws, you need nifty hands... . Or two, just get a hard drive enclosure. Allows you to bypass the cable. I'd get a hard driver enclosure first regardless if nothing works, to see its the cable and not the hard drive. If you just take it in to get it repaired, they'll likely try to convince you its a hard drive (when it probably is not) and that costs you more money. The hard drive enclosures are dirt cheap. Like 10 bucks on amazon.
I did the option R and I’m doing the internet recovery but it’s stuck on 24:00
Helped a bunch! I was upgrading my system got sleepy because it was taking to long close the top & got the blinking folder. So glad nothing major is wrong rebooted it now its updating again.
hey! i know im a bit late but im trying to fix my brothers computer and he is using a different keyboard because he broke his mac one. and I cant seem to get past the flashing file stage?
i'm trying this on a 2011 macbook air that is running Mac OS Catalina so the steps are slightly different but i hope it will work
You saved thousands and millions of lives.
I am starting a "fixing computers" business and I have a disk copy of a OSX. When I hold option on this specific computer I bought on eBay, it usually works, but I am greeted with a "password", is there a way to bypass? cmnd+s, and cmnd+r still show flashing folder. I am working on contacting the seller, but am not confident he will trust me. Unless you guys have any other ideas I will probably get a new hd.
CalcuNi1256 won’t he need proof of perching
Hi, i have the same problem :( maybe coz i erased/formatted the HD using disk utility not knowing that it will delete everythin :(, now my problem is i bought this 2nd hand, so i cant reinstall it using my apple id and i am getting "temporarily unavailable, try again later" :( 2nd, i dont know if i can still recover the files :((
I hope somene can help me fix this :(
Tim everything worked fine until...I found two disk drives listed. One was as described. The other was different. I selected the odd one and got a message indicating the needed to be repaired. I selected that option and midway through got a message it couldn't be repaired. Prior to that the drive icon that looked like the one in your video worked like you described. After trying to repair the odd one nothing works other than i still get the flashing folder with the question mark. Any suggestions? In your video you suggested connecting a certain kind of cable and looking for a drive on another computer. Does the other computer have to be a Mac?
I’ve tried holding down the option key and trying command + R, nothing works for me. I removed and installed a new hard drive, still nothing. It’s for a 2007 IMac 27”
I am stuck on that page and I tryed already to restart it but it keeps on going to the same ÓS unity thing what do I do I am crying right now
I’m so worried, my MacBook froze so I shut it down and when I restarted it back up it showed the folder with question mark. I really hope this helps me.
Fairy Xox did u find a solution
Probably a hard drive failure if these steps didn't work. Take it to an Apple store.
omg i cried three days a row and then this helped me like a magic thanks u saved me❤
Hi... Can you help me... My boss gave me macbook pro model 2008 a1286... No hard drive and the macbook flashing folder with questionmark.. What i do?
I have reset my MacBook air and when it started to reinstall OS x it froze. we were then forced to restart it and that is when I got the question mark folder so I got it to start the internet recovery, but when I wanted to reinstall OS x again it failed. Is there something I can do to fix this?
Thank you so much, i was not in the mood for having that pop up and hanging over my head all day
I need some help, i spent 2 days with Apple support no luck, my Mac Pro 2011 has question mark issue- new hard drive was added-old one had issues, tried to boot MacOS by USB Sierra and even tried El Capitan and it doesn't boot nor it goes to recovery mode-gets stuck to white screen. My friend was able to boot the Mac in Windows 10 version, apart from that no luck at all. Please could anyone recommend me steps i missed, or any way for me to over come this?
My Macbook responded to MVRAM reset (alt+CMD+p+r), but no other combination works (alt or CMD+r after startup). Why they don't work? It's an older model with SSD drive as primary and HDD as secondary. Any tips?
SIR can you solve my problem in macbook air model A1466 i cannot be install mac os sierra...and if i start my macbook show on screen flashing question mark error and after pc turn off...if i press option+power button then show wifi mode to start recovery from internet....and after recovery net then show install mac os mountain lion and after install then several hours to take install...but i will try many times but not install no any mac os...please help me....Thank you...
Macbook pro early 2015 13 inch (16gb ram 256 ssd aftermarket) I am using bigsur in it.
Whenever i powers on my machine QUESTION MARK SIGN ON FOLDER starts blinking.
Sometimes it appears and sometimes it doesn't. Totally unpredictable.
I have done following things as solutions but sign comes again after somedays.
Reset SMC and NVRAM, Disk Utility Repair, Factory reset machine, Reinstalled new OS from bootable drive.
Still question mark sign appears after working fine for few days. Really tired and irritated from this issue.
Need your help guys, what could be the problem?
didnt work for me ,now its showing the arrow curser and the white screen
same here
same here. any solutions guys? i just bought a new ssd and try to boot up via internet recovery, and it didn't work. but if i plugged back in my old hdd it work normally.
Mic Liebhart 1
Mic Liebhart
Reinstall osx
same issue with me
Quick and simple fix, just what I needed, thanks!
Thank you for an Informative & EZ 2 Watch "NON TECKNOID "Video - NO Visual Whiplash CGI w/ Obnoxious Canned Muzak - NO Up Close & Personal in Your Face w /Jump Cuts - NO Pay'd By The Word Rambling Narration - Well Shot / Edited & Bullet Point Narration - was familiar w/ some of the Info BUT Other Insights Helpful -Thanx again
Saved my life I think u have the cure to the coronavirus
I changed the hard drive after a SMART error and now I get this question mark folder all the time when trying to access recovery mode (it simply never gets there).
Do you maybe have an idea why that is?
My head is like “dude you got one shot, mess this up your fucked”
I have a big problem.... Do you know what to do if there is a blue folder with a question mark and the hdd is doing some noises?
I'm still really confused. When I start up the mac while holding alt down, I get a screen that says internet recovery. When I go to disk utility, I only see OS X Base System, I don't see any internal drives BUT I don't see any red font showing up. I can't reinstall OS X because it asks to "select the disk where you want to install OS X" but none show up. Does this mean it's a hard drive failure and that I need to go see Apple? Please, could someone clarify. I'm extremely confused and scared.
Shawn yes that what I see, not what s easy....
A friend found this Mac, so it may have been wiped. It didn't show the OS option, but rather asked to connect to the internet. Gave it my hotspot and the wheel keep spinning. How long should I wait before trying something else? if so, now what?
So ive tried at least a dozen differeny videos with this now and nothing has worked for me i just want to know if anyone could tell me if it would be safe to sell my imac with this issue like if the person could fix it and recover any of my previous information off it? Hope that makes sense
THANKS BRO !!! Even tho mines ain’t work it got me off the white screen to the options & stuff
What if your computer is half dead and shows folder with question mark when i do that command+R. What do i do now? Please answer
Its not working! I tried doing it and it did go to apple logo, but then it goes right back to the flashing folder. What do I do?
i did the off button and option and it did come up with the drive and i clicked on it but when it was in the middle of loading as in the booting thing it would reset and come back up with the folder with the question mark please reply with an answer
will it work with a windows keyboard ? if yes, wich key replace "command" ?
Mr Woolruch it would be the control key.
Hey mate, I tried to reset my IMac to factory settings to clean it out. I followed all the steps I found online. I got to the last step “IOS reinstall” but it wouldn’t let me continue. So I restarted my computer which lead me to a black screen with flashing question mark folder. I followed your steps but nothing happens except the continuous flashing folder.. any ideas on how I can get back into my system to try reinstall IOS and start fresh?
pls pls help me..I'm in deep shit i was trying to update my MB pro 2015 to High sierra. while instaling the update I got an error message saying i was not connected to a power source, and I was indeed not connected. The system asked to do a diagnostic check, so i followed, after connecting to power supply. this time however, when the laptoop booted up, it showed me screen with a folder with a question mark on it blinking..I then restarted the system using command + r and tried to reinstall the OS..but each time it gets stuck at the 2 minute mark..saying about 2 minutes remaining..I tried online recovery as well, but after the entire process was over, it again took me to the reinstall screen, where as earlier the installation gets stuck at 2 minutes remaining..PLEASE help me..I have to turn in a paper shortly :(
Thank you I was freaking out I thought I broke my mac
What do I do if my hard drive doesn’t show up on disk utilities? My MacBook Pro mid 2012 got really hot while I was doing homework, then I started talking care of things around the house. I came back, and saw the folder with the question mark. I did the command r and tried installing Mac OS X but it disintegrated show up my where for me to actually install it. I need this laptop to do my work for school :(
Same here except it's an IMac 2007
THANK TOU SO MUCH I WATCHED SO MANY VIDS AND I DIDNT UNDERSTAND UNTIL I SAW URS😭
What should I do when after the question mark and pressing option key, it gives an error of no bootable device
I've done all these different options. I have a 07 mac and all mine is doin is a flash of an apple the that bunch of random codes and it acts like it want shut off. It keeps repeating!
I do here the disk drive turn on/off too :/
PLS HELP!!
Lisa Robinson *I’m happy to found such an expert hacker on Ig cyber_network0, my mac was fix in a min*
Whewwwwwww thank you! Easy fix I thought I lost all my work! I was just about to set up time machine too!
how did you recover your files?