Blinking Question Mark

[e.panduro]

I have a Mac tower running Mac OS X 10.7.5 and when I turn on tower it boots into blinking question mark. I then enter Mac OS X utilities and choose Disk Utility and when I choose Mac OS X Base System I click on First Aide Tab and nothing appears. I click on Erase tab and the Erase tab is not highlighted, therefore I think the OS is wiped out? When I choose Restore tab I don't have the option to select destination in order to restore system. I do have Maverick installer CD inserted into tower and I see Maverick installer.dmg file but I can't restore do to all tabs not being highlighted. What can I do to install OS?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

-Which exact model Mac?
-It sounds like the OS partition is failing or corrupted, and is not showing in Disk Utility.
-Do you have a Time Machine or other backup of the data on the drive?
-Do you need to save any data from it?

You could try some of the steps here: If a flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac

C

 

[e.panduro]

Hi Cory,
-The model is A1312, iMac Core i5 2.7 27-inch.
-I don't have a backup from Time Machine or other backup sources.
-I don't need to save any data.

I've already tried the link you provided and wasn't able to reinstall. Isn't their a way to manually boot the system into CD drive and install the OS?

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK, thanks.

-How was the Mavericks installer CD created, as it never came on disc?
-When you startup from the Recovery Partition and launch Disk Utility, can you list all the disks you see, other than Mac OS X Base System.

C

 

[e.panduro]

-That's why I receive 'Unable to create 'Maverick Installer.dmg. (Invalid argument)'
-When I launch Disk Utility I only see Disk0 and below that I see Mac OS X Base System

 

[Cory Cooper]

It sounds like you are seeing a failed install on Disk0...thus the Mac OS X Base System.

-How was the Mavericks installer disc created? This is an actual DVD, correct?

C

 

[e.panduro]

The OS X Mavericks is a DVD. I would like to upgrade this tower to OS X Lion. Can I purchase online and perform the install through the Internet?

 

[honestone]

The Mavericks OS, OS 10.9.x, is newer than Lion (OS 10.7.x) or Mountain Lion (10.8.x). Yosemite, OS 10.10.x, is newer than Mavericks, and the newest one is El Capitan, currently at version 10.11.3.

So, do you really want to downgrade the OS?

 

[e.panduro]

I'm not an apple PC user. I'm more familiar with Linux Operating Systems. Where or how can I purchase Mavericks OS?

 

[honestone]

First of all, you cannot purchase Mavericks. Given that you have OS 10.7 already on your iMac, you can upgrade to Mavericks through the App store.

Secondly, how exactly are you getting to Disk Utility? If you are doing it via your "normaL' startup, you will not be able to use Disk Utility from there to have it do repairs. For your situation, there are 2 ways to do that:

1. If you have a Mac OS on a DVD, then you can start up your iMac from your DVD drive. To do that, you would:

1. Insert the Mac OS X Install DVD into the DVD drive. ...
2. Shut down or restart your Mac. ...
3. Press and hold down the C key immediately, and keep it pressed until your Mac either boots from the DVD or doesn't.

It sounds like, though, you dod not have such a DVD (you don't happen to have the original Lion DVD, do you?)

2. Based on that link Cory provided above, you should be able to get to Disk Utility via "recovery Mode", so that it can repair your internal drive. If that is not the case, you can boot directly to that hidden Recovery partition. Here is a link that tells you how, along with describing other software there:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

If that still does not work, then unless you have access to another Mac to have it try and fix your drive, you need a more robust disk maintenance/repair program like TechTool Pro or Disk Warrior.