MacBook pro showing folder logo with a question mark!

[Melonlink]

Hey. Just like half an hour ago I was doing things on my macbook pro when suddenly it shut down and said it was doing updates. It somewhat makes sense because it was telling me to do updates for about a month or so. So I thought, ok, I'll just wait for it to finish then I'll continue my work. After about 5 minutes a folder sign appears and there is a question mark on it. I go on google to try and find a solution, and saw that I have to go into recovery mode and select the boot drive. I did that, It said that my drave is encrypted (makes sense cause I have a password) I put in my password and clicked 'Restart' It said "Restart from OSX x.x.x (I don't remember the numbers)? I clicked 'Yes'. Next thing I see is another folder with a question mark. I found more solutions online but all they said was to replace the hard drive data cable. Is this really what I have to do? Is there something else I can do? Thanks.

[PeteSeta]

It seems like critical system files are missing or corrupt. I would recommend you bring it to a repair facility and have them take a look at the drive. Does it look like this?

 

Did you lose power during the update? Can you provide system details (What model specifically, how old, system version if you have a record)

 

btw, did you say you saw this screen twice?

[Melonlink]

Just now, PeteSeta said:

It seems like critical system files are missing. I would recommend you bring it to a repair facility and have them take a look at the drive. Does it look like this?

 

Did you lose power during the update? Can you provide system details (What model specifically, how old, system version if you have a record)

Yes. My model is the mid 2012 A1278.

[PeteSeta]

4 minutes ago, Melonlink said:

Yes. My model is the mid 2012 A1278.

Just to clarifly, did you try:

 

1. Turning off your Mac by pressing and holding the power button for a few seconds.
2. Press the power button once to turn your Mac back on. Immediately press and hold the Command and R keys on your keyboard to start your Mac from macOS Recovery. Keep these two keys held down until you see an Apple logo or a globe. 
3. If prompted, select a Wi-Fi network to connect to the Internet as part of startup.
4. After the macOS Utilities window appears, choose Startup Disk from the Apple menu.
5. Select your startup disk, then click Restart.

If you don't see your startup disk in step 5, follow these steps:

1. Open Disk Utility from the macOS Utilities window.
2. In the Disk Utility window, select your startup disk (usually named "Macintosh HD") from the left side of the window.
   
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the Repair Disk button to verify and repair any issues with your startup disk.
5. After your disk is successfully repaired, quit Disk Utility. 
6. Choose Startup Disk from the Apple menu. Select your startup disk, then click Restart. If you still don't see your Startup Disk, try reinstalling macOS on your startup disk.

 

Also, is your model a Core i5 or Core i7?

[Melonlink]

2 minutes ago, PeteSeta said:

Just to clarifly, did you try:

 

1. Turning off your Mac by pressing and holding the power button for a few seconds.
2. Press the power button once to turn your Mac back on. Immediately press and hold the Command and R keys on your keyboard to start your Mac from macOS Recovery. Keep these two keys held down until you see an Apple logo or a globe. 
3. If prompted, select a Wi-Fi network to connect to the Internet as part of startup.
4. After the macOS Utilities window appears, choose Startup Disk from the Apple menu.
5. Select your startup disk, then click Restart.

Also, is your model a Core i5 or Core i7?

Did that already. It's the i7 model. Thanks for the help btw

[PeteSeta]

4 minutes ago, Melonlink said:

Did that already. It's the i7 model. Thanks for the help btw

Glad to be of help. Please read the rest of the edited reply before this one. 

 

Here is what to do if disk utility cannot repair the disk and you want to attempt to fix it:

 

You should back up any important data on your startup disk before erasing it. Erasing your startup disk deletes everything stored on it, including items in your home folder like your documents and items on your desktop.

If you don't have a recent backup of personal data that's stored on your startup disk, you can use these steps to try to back up your data to an external drive:

1. Connect an external USB, Thunderbolt, or FireWire drive to your Mac. The drive needs to be the same size or larger than your current startup disk. It also needs to be a drive that you can erase.
2. Use macOS Recovery to erase the external drive, then install macOS onto the external drive. Make sure that you select the external disk as the one you want to erase. Don't select your built-in startup disk, usually named Macintosh HD.
3. After installation is finished, your Mac automatically restarts from the external drive. When Setup Assistant appears, select the option to migrate your data from another disk. Choose your built-in startup disk as the source to migrate your data from. 
4. When migration is done, complete the steps of the setup assistant. After the desktop appears, confirm that your data is present on the external drive.

Now that you've made a backup to an external drive, follow these steps:

1. Use macOS Recovery to erase your built-in startup disk and reinstall macOS. Select the built-in startup disk as the one you want to erase, not the external drive. When installation is finished, your Mac automatically restarts from your built-in startup disk.
2. After you erase your startup disk and reinstall macOS, your Mac automatically restarts and setup assistant appears. To copy your personal data back to your startup disk, select the option in the setup assistant to migrate your data from an existing Time Machine backup or other disk. Choose the external drive as the source to migrate your data from.

If you're unable to erase your startup disk or reinstall macOS, your Mac might need repair. Make an appointment with an Apple Genius or an Apple Authorized Service Provider for more help.

[Melonlink]

6 hours ago, PeteSeta said:

Glad to be of help. Please read the rest of the edited reply before this one. 

 

Here is what to do if disk utility cannot repair the disk and you want to attempt to fix it:

 

You should back up any important data on your startup disk before erasing it. Erasing your startup disk deletes everything stored on it, including items in your home folder like your documents and items on your desktop.

If you don't have a recent backup of personal data that's stored on your startup disk, you can use these steps to try to back up your data to an external drive:

1. Connect an external USB, Thunderbolt, or FireWire drive to your Mac. The drive needs to be the same size or larger than your current startup disk. It also needs to be a drive that you can erase.
2. Use macOS Recovery to erase the external drive, then install macOS onto the external drive. Make sure that you select the external disk as the one you want to erase. Don't select your built-in startup disk, usually named Macintosh HD.
3. After installation is finished, your Mac automatically restarts from the external drive. When Setup Assistant appears, select the option to migrate your data from another disk. Choose your built-in startup disk as the source to migrate your data from. 
4. When migration is done, complete the steps of the setup assistant. After the desktop appears, confirm that your data is present on the external drive.

Now that you've made a backup to an external drive, follow these steps:

1. Use macOS Recovery to erase your built-in startup disk and reinstall macOS. Select the built-in startup disk as the one you want to erase, not the external drive. When installation is finished, your Mac automatically restarts from your built-in startup disk.
2. After you erase your startup disk and reinstall macOS, your Mac automatically restarts and setup assistant appears. To copy your personal data back to your startup disk, select the option in the setup assistant to migrate your data from an existing Time Machine backup or other disk. Choose the external drive as the source to migrate your data from.

If you're unable to erase your startup disk or reinstall macOS, your Mac might need repair. Make an appointment with an Apple Genius or an Apple Authorized Service Provider for more help.

Hey. I did some more research and found that I can easily reinstall the OS leaving all my files untouched. Does this really not erase anything? If it does, what does it erase and should I even do this? Thanks a LOT for the help.

[PeteSeta]

3 hours ago, Melonlink said:

Hey. I did some more research and found that I can easily reinstall the OS leaving all my files untouched. Does this really not erase anything? If it does, what does it erase and should I even do this? Thanks a LOT for the help.

Yes. Just reinstalling macos shouldn't erase anything, but you should backup your files anyway. There is also always the possibility of a virus, which the reinstall might not erase. It might also not solve the missing folder icon anyways because it's not a clean install.

 

If you have a backup, will do a backup, or willing to risk some of your files, I would maybe try it.

 

So your MacBook does boot to recovery right?

[Melonlink]

5 hours ago, PeteSeta said:

Yes. Just reinstalling macos shouldn't erase anything, but you should backup your files anyway. There is also always the possibility of a virus, which the reinstall might not erase. It might also not solve the missing folder icon anyways because it's not a clean install.

 

If you have a backup, will do a backup, or willing to risk some of your files, I would maybe try it.

 

So your MacBook does boot to recovery right?

Yeah it does. Is it possible to do my backup in the internal drive from the recovery? I don't have an external drive.

[Guest]

The sign means EFi can't find any bootable devices. You will need to reformat and re-install from the recovery screen. You only need to replace the hard drive cable if you can't erase your disk.

If you have Time Machine setup or iCloud you should be able to restore after you have re-installed MacOS. If you don't have an external drive there is no way to backup from recovery unfortunately.

I wouldn't recommend re-installing without erasing the disk.

[Melonlink]

I tried to use the "Reinstall OS X" option in the recovery but it said "You can't upgrade this version of OS X because a newer version is installed." As a workaround, I came up with the idea (I don't have an external drive or any thunderbolts, also no USB male to male for connecting two computers) of trying to install & boot a new version of OS X from a USB flash drive and then see my hard drive from the file system there and then connect to my other Windows computer (somehow, maybe with the network cause, again, I don't have the needed cables) to copy files from the mac to my PC as a backup. Then I will format the Mac's hard drive and install OS X to there and copy all the files from my windows desktop back to the Mac. Just a question: Will Installing OS X on my flash drive while the hard drive is connected do anything to the hard drive? Thanks again.