Question Mark Folder appears when iMac turned on

[mncyclist]

Hi folks,

I purchased a new optical drive from a reputable mac seller in my area and installed it due to the old one not reading disks anymore. I was very careful and followed the instructions according to an article I found on xlr8yourmac.comarticle I found on xlr8your mac

However, now when I start the computer up, I get the question mark folder. I've done a little research but thought I' check the Macrumors forum before I spent all day on this. The store where I bought the new optical drive from doesn't open for another few hours so, here I am.

Thanks,

me

 

[Eidorian]

Have you tried holding down Option after the boot tone and bringing up the boot loader? You'll be able to pick your hard drive and then set it using the Startup Disk System preference pane after that.

 

[mncyclist]

Thanks Eiudorian,

I just tried that and it won't let me go past the blue screen with the two arrow tabs no matter which I click on.

ugh.

 

[max¥¥]

it's saying it can't find a boot drive, you could have knocked one of the hdd's cables

 

[mncyclist]

so, I replaced the old optical drive and the computer booted up just fine. I swapped the NEW drive back in and got the same old question mark icon. I'm guessing the computer needs to recognize the new optical drive, but I don't know how to do this.