In Mac OS X, when I restart my computer, what should I do if I see a blinking question mark briefly, but the computer then continues to start up normally?

While starting up, if your Mac OS X computer briefly displays a blinking question mark, possibly alternating with the Mac OS X face icon (but otherwise appears to be running fine), chances are you have not chosen a startup disk. In this case, the computer is taking a moment to locate its system software. To fix the problem:

1. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences... . In System Preferences, from the View menu, select Startup Disk.
   
   
2. In the Startup Disk preference pane, select the volume and/or operating system you want to start from by clicking its icon once.
   
   
3. Restart your computer. When the computer restarts, there should no longer be a delay before the normal startup process begins.

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