PDA

View Full Version : Start up error??

MaDDoG
06-16-2008, 10:54 PM
Heres one for the tech types here.

Recently I have seen this twice. First I will tell you I am running a 17" Mac Book Pro core duo 2.16 with Leopard 10.5.3.

Upon startup I have seen a grey screen with a darker grey folder icon with a question mark inside the folder. This only lasts for a very brief time before the grey screen with grey Apple logo comes up and all goes along as normal.

I don't know what I had done the first time but I think it was just the normal daily startup. This time was just after running OnyX with the usual automated scripts.

I'm not sure that I have a problem Houston as I have only seen this twice. It may be normal startup and just normally happens without being observed.

Any ideas?

thanks
your friend

MaDDoG the lunatic from Australia:scared:
Rxx
06-16-2008, 10:56 PM
Sound like an HD problem to me. Make sure you back that thing up while you can. When mine failed, the "?" folder was showing up as well.

BACK IT UP
MaDDoG
06-16-2008, 11:28 PM
Oh nooooooooo. At least if it does fail I have been using time machine to an external drive. Hey that will give me an excuse to get a bigger faster drive at least.
Kilted
06-16-2008, 11:39 PM
Do you get any errors when Verifying your disk with the disk utility ?
if so.
Maybe you should try to repair the disk using the originals Leopard disk.
Rxx
06-16-2008, 11:44 PM
Ya thats a positive at least. Im not sure, cause Im not the expert on this kinda stuff, but thats just what it sounds like based on my experience. An HD is replaceable, the stuff on it isnt. I guess as long as you have it backed up, there isnt too much loss.
MaDDoG
06-16-2008, 11:56 PM
Yes Kilted I did have an error and had to use the original disks recently to fix an error that Onyx couldn't
Seemd fine after that.
Rxx
06-16-2008, 11:57 PM
Another great fix!
dtravis7
06-17-2008, 12:05 AM
Another thing I have ran into is sometimes the OS gets confused as to what is the startup disk. Seen that back in the OS 8-9 days as well as with Panther, Tiger and Leopard. What I do if that ? icon comes up real fast is go into System Preferences and Startup Disk. Click on the startup drive and hit restart. It should then boot right into that HDD and not show that icon.

It could be the other issue Kilted mentioned, but seen this one pop up many times.
MaDDoG
06-17-2008, 12:08 AM
That's good to know DTravis....I'm not overly worried about it but still would like to know of course.
MacHeadCase
06-17-2008, 03:07 AM
And another thing after these excellent tips... Repair disk permissions. Leopard seems to be having issues with disk permissions again while Tiger had solved that problem it seemed like to me.
Sherman Homan
06-17-2008, 03:40 AM
I think dtravis7 has it right. Your Mac is looking for your choice of a startup disk. If Onyx tossed a preference that specifically says 'use the default internal hard drive' then it might take a second for the Mac to rebuild that pref. Of course a current backup in case of total hard drive melt down is always a good idea!:scared:
MaDDoG
06-17-2008, 11:27 AM
Sure did. It was there again this morning.:confused:
Sherman Homan
06-17-2008, 12:12 PM
Did you do the System Preferences, Startup Disk selection deal?
MaDDoG
06-17-2008, 10:27 PM
Did you do the System Preferences, Startup Disk selection deal?

How do you mean Sherman? I did the install disk reboot into utilities bit from memory
Mac0sXuser
06-18-2008, 12:14 AM
I think he means going into system preferences when your running off your hard drive and then going to startup disk and reselecting your boot drive
MaDDoG
06-18-2008, 12:26 AM
When I open system preferences and startup disk all I see is Mac OSX 10.5.3 on MaDDoG HD. Next to that is network startup with a question mark on it?
Sherman Homan
06-18-2008, 02:02 AM
Yup, that's the one! Click once on the MaDDoG HD icon, just once, to highlight it. That's all you need to do to specifically select your internal drive. This might not fix the problem, but it will eliminate one item on the list of possible issues.
dtravis7
06-18-2008, 02:07 AM
That seriously has solved it for hundreds of people I have helped and me many times. Can't hurt to try it.

My Intel Mini did that just the other day. That fixed it.

Either that or you have a larger issue.
MaDDoG
06-18-2008, 11:22 AM
Thanks guy n gals. Didn't see the error this morning so I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Tanner31593
06-18-2008, 06:46 PM
Hey, my PowerMac does that too!
THe whole "?" folder!
Yeah.
It's brief though.
It's been doing that ever since I got it last August.
Didn't come with any disks.
Doesn't have OS9.
Only 1 hard drive.
Running onyx, I get an error when it verifies it (I don't remember what anymore, it's been a while), but I don't have any disks to correct it, so I figure as long as it keeps working oh well.
I just never restart my Mac. lol.

I don't back it up either...
Brown Study
06-18-2008, 07:43 PM
Running onyx, I get an error when it verifies it ...Try a restart while holding down the Command and S key. After the type stops flowing, type

fsck -fy

(including the space), meaning files check force yes, and hit return. This runs the disk repair before the GUI loads, and might fix it. If, after running the repair, it says the disk was modified, and whether it says the disk appears OK or not, run it again and again, until it stops saying the disk was modified.

Then type reboot and hit return.
MaDDoG
06-18-2008, 10:45 PM
Try a restart while holding down the Command and S key. After the type stops flowing, type

fsck -fy

(including the space), meaning files check force yes, and hit return. This runs the disk repair before the GUI loads, and might fix it. If, after running the repair, it says the disk was modified, and whether it says the disk appears OK or not, run it again and again, until it stops saying the disk was modified.

Then type reboot and hit return.

Thank Brown....I do remember that one now and will give it a go next boot.