Question Mark Folder Fix in Detail – Why? And How to fix on any Apple Mac!

This video guide explains in rich detail how to fix the question mark folder on any Mac. This fix will work on any Macbook, iMac, Mac Mini or Mac Pro.

Transcript:

Hi guys, if you are facing a question mark folder like this on your Mac, then you came to the right place:

So just a little background on this… apple uses UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) to connect the internal parts of the Mac with the Operating System. The very beginning of this process is stored inside of what Apple calls NVRAM non volatile random access memory.

So what does that mean?

In short, the question mark folder is a default animation for a Missing Operating System. The mac has looked at the last used boot up record and can’t find it. The mac then has looked in all places and has found nothing that is bootable by the UEFI.

Why does this happen? For three main reasons.

· A failed update or corrupt NVRAM settings file that points to the drive

· Hard Drive Cable is loose or is bad (Very common in Older Macbook Pros)

· The hard Drive is bad or is on it’s way out (common with mechanical drives)

Now how do we fix it?

The first thing you can do to determine if this can be a quick fix is to shut down the Mac, and as soon as you press the power button, press and hold the Option key. Keep holding it until you see the mouse and some drives. If you don’t see any drives but you see the mouse that means the drive cable or the drive it self is bad and needs replacement.

If you see two drives click the drive that is labeled Macintosh HD/SSD or Untitiled, not the drive labeled Recovery.

If the unit boots up, great! You can now restart the unit and perform a NVRAM reset, and everything should be back to normal.

If the unit is stuck on the loading screen for longer then 5 minutes and will not boot, restart the Mac and select the recovery partition and boot into that.

On newer Macs 2013 to current, press and hold down Option + Command + R keys after pressing the power button to launch the hidden APFS recovery partition. Once in the recovery gui, open disk utility, select your main drive and perform Permission Repair, and Disk repair, one after the other.

Restart the unit and try to boot into your main drive again.

If this doesn’t work and you can’t get any drive to boot, it’s time to replace the drive.

If it’s an older macbook then replace the hard drive cable at the same time.

When replacing the drive completely you will need to watch a video on how to restore your mac to an empty drive.

Replacing a failed drive should be the choice to make when fixing the question mark issue. Reformatting the failed drive will cause the same issue to happen over time.

Reinstall a new Operating System onto a New Hard Drive without using the recovery partition from the failed drive.

Our Website:

Support us here:

[skiransk]

OMG! You’re awesome!! I just had this problem and my first instinct was to go on google and follow steps from one of the websites but it was very difficult to understand and I put my MacBook into recovery mode until I came across this video, I ended up pressing the power button again and followed your steps and I got my MacBook working within a minute, thank you so much!

[nigelcallender]

If you have a problem as described WATCH THIS VIDEO it is a life saver with newer and older software. This man knows his stuff!

[judgey]

Thank you so much, I had this display on start up so took it to apple as suggested on there web help and was told it would cost me over £500 to repair which I wasn’t willing to pay. I’ve just found this video tried what you explained and my Mac is back up and running within 30 seconds. I can’t tell you how relieved and thankful I am, you’re a genius and apple should be ashamed of themselves.

[austinhung]

Thank you thank you so much! I got so scared when I got the question mark, I thought my computer straight up broke. You’re video was super clear, which made it super helpful

[satyaexploration]

Many thanks for the valuable advice in this video. It helped me troubleshoot my macbook problem correctly. The question mark folder is gone and my macbook is back to life again. Wonderful! 👍

[swimtothetop]

You are a LIFE SAVER!! I rebooted and followed your instructions, and I fixed my potentially $1000+ burden!

[aswanisrivastava]

This issue occurred a few minutes before my exam. The solution worked like a charm. Thanks a lot.

[joeskowronski]

It worked thank you! I have a 2018 MacBook Air and thought I broke it for good. When you repair your mac HD and reset it the computer will restart with the question mark folder again but when you reset after repairing disk hold down command and “r” again and you will be able to reinstall Mac iOS

[buzzedlunne]

This is such a relief.. thank you so much. I panicked the moment i saw my screen slump as the flashing question mark folder is something I’d never seen before even though I’ve encountered other crashes before on my MacBook. Followed your steps and it was up and running again in minutes.
I do have a question though, do I have to do anything else after the system has rebooted? I ask because it’s only been about a week or two since I first experienced the crash and today again the flashing folder came up. Though the reboot was successful again today, I’m worried that the issue repeated itself so soon and wondering if there’s a further step I should have taken the first time after the system has rebooted from the crash ? :(

[lisaAhairstylist]

This man knows what he is talking about. The most simple and helpful video. Thanks so much!

[lisaa.bissonette]

This BLOWS all other problem solving tutorials away! Thank you SO MUCH for imparting your knowledge! You are impressive with what you know and how you communicate it! Huge shout out to you!🤯

[emiel]

Thank you my friend. I’ve recently encountered this question mark problem and all solutions wouldn’t work. I’ve also been on the phone with Apple Support for an hour last weekend. Thanks to your video, I can conclude that the cable of the SSD in my MacBook needs replacement. Yes! Again, thank you 🙏 so much and have a wonderful day!

[MissSuber]

I HAD to come on here and say how thankful I am for this video! I turned my screen on and nothing happened. I wanted to scream but these instructions were literally perfect and all is well. Thank you!

[jaell]

I have a macbook pro from around 2014, the disk has been changed 2 years ago. Maybe I bought a cheap disk, but this is disappointing. Any recommendation on a disk that won’t fail on me again -_- and might it be that I only have to change the cable and not the disk?

[parttime]

This helpful, I just have one quick question: prior to this my internal WiFi (says no hardware installed) so I can’t use WiFi as shown and I use personal hotspot from my phone through USB so any help regarding that.

[coachmaxarzadon]

Very informative video. I have a question sir. I had problem same as this when i upgraded to SSD. I bought a new SSD I did manage to do it. But after few weeks the disk couldnt be read since it is stated Damaged. I also tried the old HDD so i figured it out that the problem was from the cable. If I manage to replace it will the SSD still be usable?

[allohjean]

in my case, i have a macbook pro 2017 touchbar and the ssd is attached to the board. After getting to the utulity disk, i cant find my ssd? what can i do to restore my ssd? is flashing the bios a good idea or changing the whole board?

[salvocado]

Thank you so much! It’s currently 4:30am and I’m so blind, deaf, and dumb when it comes to technical stuff, I damn near thought my MAC was going to explode when I saw the “?” Folder 🙈 THANK YOU for your clear instructions and calm voice, I was immediately relaxed hearing just your tone and how simple the fix was! 🙏🏼

[Rebecca-ihqh]

Video was helpful I almost had a heart attack when I saw the question mark folder thanks

[Billybobzzz]

Excellent explanation, this is exactly how we perform our troubleshooting in our lab, this video should help out folks that like to DIY. Well done.