Mac laptop has a clicking sound and when I turn it on I get the ? folder. This has happened before and I was able to get it to function, but not today!

You do not need Windows 7 - any functioning windows PC or Mac that can accept a USB cable should be able to see your camera's memory folders. Put the camera on and 1- On a PC they appear at Start/My computer/ and in a folder somewhere within E: or D: click on folders within folders to find and copy your photo folder manually. and paste it on your computer hard drive.
2.
On a Mac it appears on the desktop.

Try to download and use picasa to import photos.

I seen a blinking folder with a question mark in the middle in folder, in the middle of a display screen, but not a camera.

Either way, you are not able to access your main desktop so that is where I want to help.

A blinking folder with a ? in middle, is an indication that your bootable Mac OS X volume cannot be found.

If you do, I would first recommend you try this procedure first:
(PRAM Reset)
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} • First, hold in your power button for approximately 10 seconds to do a hard shutdown, if you have not already turned your Mac off.

• Once your Mac is shutdown, you will need to perform what is called a PRAM reset (Parameter RAM)
• Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously .

• Turn on the computer.
• Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
• Now, hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the start up sound for the third time.
• Release the keys and allow the Powerbook G4 to start up.
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If this still returns you to a blinking ? folder, try this process:
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} DISK UTILITYYou can use your Mac OS X install disc to repair your hard drive and Mac OS X volume using Disk Utility. Click the link below to try this procedure.
* Apple Support Link:
Use Disk Utility to Repair Disk

Should neither of these processes work and you still boot up to a flashing ? folder, then your only recourse is to use your Mac OS X installation disc and perform an Archive and Install procedure.
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Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} This procedure also allows you to save your applications, files and folders without the old directory interferring with you then accessing those files and creating a new Mac OS X Directory.

Here is the Apple Support Link for that procedure:
Archive and Install



This should get your Powerbook G4 back to normally functionality without any serious data loss.



Regards,


-Mactechtrainer

This could be an issue where you may have a few Startup items in your StartupItems folder in your System Library which may be affecting your Macbook's startup.

So I recommend you boot your Mac into Safe Mode to see if you can't remove a possible folder(s) that may be affecting your Mac's start up function.

Try these steps:

-SAFE BOOT MODE-
• Reboot your Mac
• Upon restarting your Mac, press the Shift key.

• Hold the Shift key until you see a White Screen with Gray Apple icon and eventually a spinning gear.
• When you see the Spinning gear, release the Shift key.

• Allow the Mac to continue booting up. Also this may take a little while.
(NOTE: this may take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to load to the Safe mode screen depending on the performance of your Mac, but if it exceeds this time, shutdown your Mac and try just once more. It may have just frozen up the first time around for you.)

• You are going to enter the Safe Mode (which looks like your main desktop environment the only difference is certain start up items are disabled.)

• Once within the Desktop in Safe Mode
• From the Finder Menu, click Go> Go to Folder
• Type in this line: /System/Library/StartupItems

• This path, is going to take you to the System Library folder which has all of your Mac OS X Startupitems.

• Remove all of those folders to the Trash.

*Reboot your Mac normally and see if you can access your normal User desktop environment.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let me know if this helps!

Regards,

-Mactechtrainer

I am going to have you take your Mac into Safe Mode to see if we can't remove a possible folder(s) that may be affecting your Mac's start up function.

Try these steps:


-SAFE BOOT MODE-
• Reboot your Mac
• Upon restarting your Mac, press the Shift key.
• Hold the Shift key until you see a White Screen with Gray Apple icon and eventually a spinning gear.
• When you see the Spinning gear, release the Shift key.
• Allow the Powerbook G4 to continue booting up. Also this may take a little while
(NOTE: this may take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to load to the Safe mode screen depending on the performance of your Mac, but if it exceeds this time, shutdown your Powerbook G4 and try just once more. It may have just frozen up the first time around for you.)

• You are going to enter the Safe Mode (which looks like your main desktop environment - the only difference is certain start up items are disabled.)

• Once within the Desktop in Safe Mode
• From the Finder Menu, click Go> Go to Folder
• Type in this line: /System/Library/StartupItems
• This path, is going to take you to the System Library folder which has all of your Mac OS X Startupitems.
• Remove all of those folders to the Trash.

*Reboot your Mac normally and see if you can access your normal User desktop environment.

At times this procedure does help for gray screen issues so give this a try and let me know if this helps.

Thanks!

-Mactechtrainer

Hello,
A flashing folder at startup means that the Mac doesn't recognize your system. This can be either a hardware or software problem. The hardware problem would be the hard drive, and the software the OS.
So these are the steps you should proceed: 1) Check your hard disk by using your install DVD (press the c key at startup), choose your language, go to the utilities menu and hit Disk utility. go to SOS tab and select your hard drive on the left. Click "repair volume" and check what happens.
2) reboot, if it does not recognize the system again, reinstall it using the "archive-install" option

Unfortunately, the clicking sound means that the hard drive is bad. That is why it will not boot. If it is under warranty, call Apple support. 800.275.2273 in the US.
800.263.3394 in Canada

If I could be of further assistance, let me know. If this helps or solves the issue, please rate it.
Thanks, Joe


I’m happy to assist further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/joe_8b8c2cd6ce148309

Double click on the hard drive icon . It will open and her document folder will be on the left side. Click it and the docs should be there. Also, you can go to the toolbar and click "Go". then click on home in the drop down menu. A window will open up and you will see the document folder.
If I could be of further assistance, let me know. If this helps or solves the issue, please rate it.
Thanks, Joe


I’m happy to assist further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/joe_8b8c2cd6ce148309

Apple has a troubleshooting document about this here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1892
Normal procedure is to reset the NVRAM and PRAM then "remind" your Mac where to find the system folder. (This problem sometimes happens when the system folder is moved, renamed or deleted.)
It may be necessary to reinstall the operating system. (Fortunately, if you use the "archive and install" option, you can do this without erasing the hard drive or losing your user data.)

Hi Joe
Sound like a permissions problem.

Make sure you have admin rights on your log in or log in as admin. Check the permissions on the application folder, that you have read and write (single click on the folder press option and 'i' key to get folder info.

With Macromedia it installs folders in quite a few locations so you need to make sure you have 'read/write' permission on the whole mac.

If you still have a problem. Open the apple disk utility (in the utility folder in applications) and check permissions there. You can run fix permissions from the to.

Paul

The flashing folder with hard drive symbol is telling you that the computer cannot find a bootable system folder (operating system). This could be because the hard drive is working properly, or the operating system folder has become corrupted. Try booting up from the system CD or DVD that came with your Mac Book Pro and see if it can repair your hard drive.