My Mac Book will only go as far as a blue screen with a folder flashing a question mark. What does this mean?(also there's a ticking sound near the DVD drive when i first start up)

Short answer -> If the flashing icon is a question mark on a folder, it means that your MacBook cannot find a bootable drive.

Longer answer-> If you have an Apple store near you, they can diagnose it more thoroughly. If you have been doing periodic backups to a Time Capsule or other device, take that with you.

Sounds like your computer needs to be looked at by a tech. Usually the flashing question mark means it doesn't recognize the hard drive or is unable to locate an operating system.

Hi ,
take out the battery for 5 minutes , this resets the computer , , if this does'nt work , put in a bootable disk and try to recover the system ...........let me know if this works , i can advise futher
Goodluck Roy

Normally if you reinstall the Mac the files wont be erased and you are just repairing it.

If you dont find the HDD option while reinstallation, it would mean that the Hard Disk is Crashed.

Here is the Answer to the Problem - A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac by Apple

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440?viewlocale=en_US

Hope it helps you!

That message means that it can't find the start up folder and or your hard drive has crashed.

If you insert your OS disk or a copy of Disk Warrior you can boot to the cd / dvd by holding down the "C" key and then powering up the Macbook.

Let me know if you have that OS cd and then we'll go from there.

Hello, It looks like a dead hard drive... To check your hard drive and see if you can repair it yourself, reboot your computer press simultaneously the "cmd" and "s" keys at startup if you see a black screen with white text, type: fsck -f and hit enter this does a "file system check", when finnished, type "reboot" and press enter. If nothing better happens, you'll certainly have to brinng it to an Apple Authorized Center Best regards

The flashing folder means that the computer can't find the boot system on the hard drive. If your girlfriend's step-dad has removed some parts of the OS, then the system will not start giving the 'flashing folder' result. You will need to re-install the OS from the system disk.
Insert the disk into the computer and it will boot from that and take you through the install procedure.

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

you are having main-board issues and possible harddrive issue.
but the mainboard can cause drive failures your info might be fine,The blue screen indicates a board error(memory usually)

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.