I've had this problem before.
Sometimes the hard disk connecting plugs need to be reseated.
Just pull out the power and data plugs from the hard drive and replug them.
This cured the problem for me.
Make sure power is off beforehand.
Pete Bird.

WideGlide wrote:
Quick question..... just tried to turn my Mac on, and instead of getting the
little smiling face while it's booting up, I get a picture of a floppy disc
with a flashing question mark over it.... and it remains this way. Turned
it off and tried to restart it about 5 times, same thing every time. Can
anyone give me any insight as to what is going on here? Computer has been
running fine for months, and I have not altered anything at all in a very
long time. There is really no reason for anything to not be working
correctly, unless there was some sudden failure. Please don't tell me that
my hard drive just died. Any help appreciated. wg