Has anyone else experienced this? I put my iMac to sleep one night and the next day i went to take it off sleep mode and it was frozen yet i was able to move my mouse around. I went to click on an icon and i heard loud clicks coming from the computer. I turned it off manually and turned it back on. When this happened, my computer clicked again and the screen went all white as if it were starting up. after a minute, a question mark with a folder popped up blinking. I read on a site that i should try putting in my install disk. I did this, and the set up screen popped up and i went through the basic steps ( Language , terms and conditions ect) and then it asked me which destination ( i guess harddrive) i should save it to and nothing showed up. I also, without the disk, tried holding the option button on the keyboard, which usually brings up the option of which harddrive to start up and again, nothing showed up Does anyone have a suggestion on what i should do? Thanks
A folder with a question mark indicates essential files to boot the OS are missing. This is usualy because the HDD failed like varnull said. The first thing you should do is boot to the install CD, when it loads you should see an option to choose your language, next in the menu bar go to installer and select Disk Utility. Check to see if your iMacs HDD shows up, if not it is a non readable HDD, if so then Verify the Disk. If all check out ok after verifying the Disk you will need to either reinstall the OS or recover your data from time machine. If the HDD is dead you can either take it into an apple store and have them replace it if you are under warranty or you can do it yourself. There are guides on how to open up an iMac all over on the internet. I wouldnt have apple fix it if you are out of warranty. They will charge an arm and a leg. You should be able to get a good HDD from newegg for under 100 bucks. I would recommend Western Digital. Good luck Domreis
