Apple iMac G3 (1999) Logo
Chris Landers Posted on Feb 28, 2007
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Weird Folder Thing

My computer was working and than i was trying to install a different OS when the CD got stuck in the drive. i got the CD out and now it just has a folder with the apple smile face on it and a question mark flashing on it and i cannot get any of the disks to work on it.

  • mac_owner Nov 27, 2007

    i swicthed my os from 9.2 to X. when i restarted it, that dumb apple showed up and it just sits there. i cant get passed it and i want to change it back to 9.2 or something. I have restarted it since and no results. i have 128 ram and i have friends with the same mac and it runs os x just fine. how can i get it to either run os x or back to the 9.2 without wiping out the whole computer?

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  • Posted on Dec 23, 2008
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Zap the PRAM. Hold down (P) (R) (OPTION) (MacLogokey) on keyboard and press the Power Button. Hold these keys down until you hear the chimes 6 times. Also take the battery out for an hour. If this does not help, put the Mac OS (9 or X) and hold down the (C) key as you power up. This will usually get the unit to boot from the CD. Go on and re-install the OS. WARNING! You may loose all of your data doing an OS install. I don't know what kind of Mac you have but I've had problems sometimes installing OSX on the old beige G3s but it is possible. I think I had to update to 9.1 then 9.2 to make it work.

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  • Posted on Mar 06, 2007
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1) select a new boot drive/folder holding down the "alt" key during the boot sequence, it'll show you a grey screen with one icon for each bootable drive on your Mac; 2) choose one icon to boot from that drive; 3) after desktop appears, open the "Startup Disk" system preference pane and select the right boot disk/folder; That's all. If you are lucky you have only one boot disk/folder, and you can't make choose from drivers. This solution works with new Apple computers, if you have an old Mac with MacOS 8 or early you need a boot/install MacOS CD to start your Mac, then open the "Startup Disk" system preference pane and select the right boot disk/folder. Enjoy, Fabrizio.

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The cd changed your startup disk in the prefs so it can't find a startup drive. I've seen this a few times. Try zapping the P-ram or rebuilding the desktop, both require holding down two or three keys, right after pushing the start button I forget which keys do what at the moment but usually that gets it to look for the system folder.

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  • Posted on Mar 03, 2007
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It may be just a desktop folder which you would use to continue an installation, you should delete and start again.

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