[jon_k86]

Hi,
i went to turn on my 15" MBP today and instead of the normal apple start-up logo, i got a picture of a globe of the world and it just kept blinking. So i pressed the power button to turn it off and when i turn it back on it just started up normally with the apple logo. Does anyone know what the globe meant?

[TimothyJay]

the exact same thing happened to me a few days ago that got me worried. fortunately, it doesnt seem to be a harmful issue (at least to me), and this is what apple's website say:

Mac OS: Flashing Globe When Computer Turns On

Mac OS: Flashing Globe When Computer Turns On
If the Network Disk icon is selected in the Startup Disk control panel, and the computer is not connected to a NetBoot server, the computer will take significantly longer to start up.



Symptom

The following startup sequence is observed:


1. The computer begins to start up.

2. A flashing or blinking globe appears on the screen. (This can last several minutes.)

3. A folder that has an alternating flashing question mark and the Mac OS logo inside appears on the screen. (This can last several minutes.)

4. The computer starts up normally.


Products affected

* Computers that use the ROM-in-RAM architecture, which would include computers that have built-in USB ports.


Solution

This is happening because Network Disk is selected in the Startup Disk control panel and no NetBoot servers are available.

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:


1. Open the Startup Disk control panel.

2. Select the appropriate startup disk icon.

3. Close the Startup Disk control panel.

4. Restart the computer.

[ginoledesma]

If you mean something like this image, that means your Mac is trying to boot off a network device. You can set your Mac's default startup disk in the Startup Disk preference pane. Perhaps it was set to the Network Startup option before?

[Javizun]

Ho can you make the computer boot into a network disk?

do i install mac os x on a network drive and boot it off that>? so does that mean i have the entire internal harddrive for back up etc?

[CatOne]

You have to set up a NetBoot image and you have to have a machine on the local subnet running Mac OS X Server that is hosting the image. You also need a DHCP setup.

If you want to read how to do it, Apple has documentation on this:

http://images.apple.com/server/pdfs/...ate_v10.4C.pdf

A bit more complicated than you probably think ;-)