Question mark means it can't find a bootable OS. On the plus side if it gets that far it's not a hardware problem (well, aside from maybe a dead hard drive.)
If you have the original system disc (or the 'restore' disc will work as well,) put that disc in and restart your Mac while holding down the 'c' key to force it to boot from the CD (DVD) drive. On the first screen select 'Disc Utility' from the Apple menu (i.e., don't click continue.) In Disc Utility select the First Aid tab, then select the internal hard drive and click 'repair'. This might be able to fix it.
If it still doesn't boot shut it down. Press and hold this awkward 4 key combo: command-option-p-r and boot up again. Keep holding these 4 keys down until you've heard the initial startup "bong" sound 3 times. After the 3rd time let those keys go and see if it starts up from there. This is clearing your pram (parameter RAM) where some base settings are held.
If that doesn't work and you still want to keep trying yourself, get a hold of a copy of Disc Warrior and boot off that and let it run it's dark magic. I've seen Disc Warrior fix lots of systems that seemed beyond repair. But you need to have the disc.
On the other hand, the slow down you were experiencing before this does lead one to believe that your disc was failing. Hopefully that isn't the case though.
Good luck. Keep us posted.
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If you have the original system disc (or the 'restore' disc will work as well,) put that disc in and restart your Mac while holding down the 'c' key to force it to boot from the CD (DVD) drive. On the first screen select 'Disc Utility' from the Apple menu (i.e., don't click continue.) In Disc Utility select the First Aid tab, then select the internal hard drive and click 'repair'. This might be able to fix it.
If it still doesn't boot shut it down. Press and hold this awkward 4 key combo: command-option-p-r and boot up again. Keep holding these 4 keys down until you've heard the initial startup "bong" sound 3 times. After the 3rd time let those keys go and see if it starts up from there. This is clearing your pram (parameter RAM) where some base settings are held.
If that doesn't work and you still want to keep trying yourself, get a hold of a copy of Disc Warrior and boot off that and let it run it's dark magic. I've seen Disc Warrior fix lots of systems that seemed beyond repair. But you need to have the disc.
On the other hand, the slow down you were experiencing before this does lead one to believe that your disc was failing. Hopefully that isn't the case though.
Good luck. Keep us posted.
- jim 5-21-2009 2:09 pm