ok i try to explain this the best i can.

When i turn on my mac i hear the normal mac "on" sound. After that i hear a beep beep sound, not a normal start-up sound. Then the screen will stay gray for awhile. After a few more beeps and a gray screen still a folder pops up in the center of the screen. It goes from a folder to what looks like to be the face for classic mac setup on the folder back and forth thats all it does. Ive opened it, ive rebooted.....nothing. Has this happened to anybody or does anybody know what to do

thanks.

Your System Folder is missing needed files. You need to reinstall your MacOS--but don't worry, that doesn't erase your work.

A few questions, but first a possible solution.
Re-boot the computer, but if you can, put the Operating System disk in.

Now questions.
What kind of mac are you using? Model, processor, etc.
What OS are you running?
Has this computer had any trouble in the past?

i have a power G4, im going to try to install OS again. It's on OS 9. Since FCP wont run on that i have to update it through the update folder that pops up occasionaly

hey guys. none of the cd's worked. and im really stressin cause im working on a project for the national guard and i dont have time for this lol........ help me.

Try posting this onApple Discussions on Apple's website. Look for Douglas Mclaughlin to help you with the situation. He is great and helped millions of mac users with any problem. He is moslty in the iBook G4 section of the webiste, so you might want to e-mail him privately.

He helped me get Mac OS X Tiger on my iBook G4 without using a DVD Drive and using firewire installation from Mac to Mac. He helped me fix my iPod Photo when it had the little folder icon and exlamation mark, and saved all my songs!!! Just thought you ought to know.

even though i dont do work on macs, i did look at one at one point for a friend whos was suffering from the same symptoms. i think she ended up replacing it because something of importance had burnt out, but i don't remember. i'll call her and ask later.

oooooooo thats not good news

sounds like you've got a number of problems!

You can't download a system upgrade that will take you from OS9 to OSX. So, unless you have some sort of install disk for OSX, or you have a version of FCP that will run in OS9 (FCP 3 was dual boot, I believe), you are screwed.

But, before you install OS9, try booting off a CD just to see what the heck happened. Also, try holding down "option" when you start up. It will list all your bootable devices and let you choose which one to start with. You may still be able to save your system/files depending on the problem.

But yeah, this probably isn't the best forum for this type of problem. I'm sure there's tons of documentation on this already over at the apple knowledge base.

well.....poopy. this sucks.