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My Mac showing this symbols and I follow the steps here dose not works

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Mar 6, 2021 8:31 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 6, 2021 2:03 PM

What exact steps were you trying to follow to resolve the issue? You did not provide any links or details. Plus it would help to know at what point in those mysterious steps you had problems.


The blinking folder with a question mark means the laptop is unable to find a valid bootable macOS volume which means either the file system is corrupt on the SSD, macOS is either damaged or completely missing on the SSD, or the SSD has failed. You need to boot into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to access the latest version of the online macOS installer.


Then you need to launch Disk Utility and attempt to run First Aid on the volumes. If you don't see any internal volumes, then you need to click on "View" within Disk Utility and selected "Show All Devices" so that the physical SSD appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Run First Aid on the physical SSD. If the physical SSD does not appear on the left pane of Disk Utility, then it means the SSD has failed and you will need to have the laptop repaired (I hope you have a backup).


If repairing the volumes and Container doesn't allow the laptop to boot to the internal drive, then you will need to try using Internet Recovery Mode to reinstall macOS over top of itself. If this fails to make the laptop bootable, then you will need to perform a clean install of macOS by first erasing the whole physical SSD using Disk Utility (see earlier mention of how to reveal the physical SSD) before reinstalling macOS. Erasing the whole SSD will destroy all data on the SSD so I hope you have a good backup.


If you have problems, then please let us know what exactly you were doing and at exactly what point you had the problem along with the exact error message (take a picture and post it here).


How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support


If your Mac starts up to a question mark - Apple Support


Good luck.


2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 6, 2021 2:03 PM in response to sheikah65

What exact steps were you trying to follow to resolve the issue? You did not provide any links or details. Plus it would help to know at what point in those mysterious steps you had problems.


The blinking folder with a question mark means the laptop is unable to find a valid bootable macOS volume which means either the file system is corrupt on the SSD, macOS is either damaged or completely missing on the SSD, or the SSD has failed. You need to boot into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to access the latest version of the online macOS installer.


Then you need to launch Disk Utility and attempt to run First Aid on the volumes. If you don't see any internal volumes, then you need to click on "View" within Disk Utility and selected "Show All Devices" so that the physical SSD appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Run First Aid on the physical SSD. If the physical SSD does not appear on the left pane of Disk Utility, then it means the SSD has failed and you will need to have the laptop repaired (I hope you have a backup).


If repairing the volumes and Container doesn't allow the laptop to boot to the internal drive, then you will need to try using Internet Recovery Mode to reinstall macOS over top of itself. If this fails to make the laptop bootable, then you will need to perform a clean install of macOS by first erasing the whole physical SSD using Disk Utility (see earlier mention of how to reveal the physical SSD) before reinstalling macOS. Erasing the whole SSD will destroy all data on the SSD so I hope you have a good backup.


If you have problems, then please let us know what exactly you were doing and at exactly what point you had the problem along with the exact error message (take a picture and post it here).


How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support


If your Mac starts up to a question mark - Apple Support


Good luck.


Mar 7, 2021 6:35 PM in response to HWTech

I have the same issue. Last shot was to boot in Disk Recovery and partition a new disk but when I try to re install Big Sur I get a message saying Not compatible with Volume. It’s very strange because Mac mini was working flawlessly before going to the mall. When I got back, boom Question mark folder.


Was on the phone with apple support but didn’t go no where. Tried every step in the troubleshooting article. Currently scheduled for service tomorrow. Luckily I have a Time Machine back up from not too long ago.

My Mac showing this symbols and I follow the steps here dose not works

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