Mazzerac

Q: "Non-system disk Press any key to reboot"- Trying to install Win 7 on Mac Mini

Hello. I'm trying to install Windows 7 on a new-model Mac Mini ('Late 2012'), which I just bought from Apple. [Specs: 1 TB Fusion drive, 2.6 GHz intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM, OS X Mavericks (latest), Graphics: Intel HD graphics 4000, Screen: LG Flatron 24"].

 

After following instructions on Bootcamp, I tried installing it through my external USB Apple Superdrive (DVD), but for some reason as soon as the system finishes getting things ready and reboots to begin installing Windows 7, I get a black screen with an error message as follows: "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key". Pressing the keys on my keyboard does nothing (even though it's a wired model, not a wireless one.) I'm forced to do a hard shutdown using the power button and hold down the Option key in order to get the system to show the Mac HD where OS X is. It also shows the Windows DVD as another option, but when I select it and the system boots, I just get the same error message again. So I go back to a hard shutdown and reboot to go into OS X again.

 

Not sure what to do, I did some online research and in one post in the Frequently Asked Questions for Bootcamp, it says for installing Win 7 and Win 8, the computer won't work with external USB drives (*totally nuts in my opinion - Apple has to fix this stuff if they want to entice Windows users into buying their sleek, quiet hardware). Instead, the post recommends creating a Windows 7 ISO file from my Windows 7 DVD and putting it on a USB thumbdrive that Bootcamp is going to use to put all the Apple/Windows drivers on for the installation process. I'm also told I have to unplug my Superdrive (no explanation given for why). So I do all this and get Bootcamp Assistant running again. Unfortunately, as soon as the system reboots after going through all the usual preparation steps, I get another black screen with a new error message: "Non-system disk Press any key to reboot". So I'm at a loss for what to do next.

 

(I've also have an iMac that I bought more than a year ago that I also put Windows 7 on, with no problems that time. Go figure.)

 

If anyone here has an good answer for how to proceed, I need to know. Thanks in advance!

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Sep 14, 2014 11:20 PM

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Q: "Non-system disk Press any key to reboot"- Trying to install Win 7 on Mac Mini

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  • by Mazzerac,

    Mazzerac Mazzerac Sep 17, 2014 6:24 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 17, 2014 6:24 PM in response to Loner T

    The drive in question, Freedom, is the Mac Fusion drive. I simply renamed it along with adding its capacity for reference. And my iMac has no built-in optical drive. It requires an external one just like the Mac Mini. I also noticed that both of my machines require the same version of Bootcamp drivers, curiously enough.

     

    By the way, the 'sudo' command keeps giving me syntax errors and such. Obviously I'm not inputting all the command-letters right.

     

    Could the renaming of my boot drive be a problem for Bootcamp? I've never had a problem with this before. It was originally called Macintosh HD, I believe.

  • by Mazzerac,

    Mazzerac Mazzerac Sep 17, 2014 6:21 PM in response to Mazzerac
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 17, 2014 6:21 PM in response to Mazzerac

    cygnus-x1:~ LantS$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

     

    WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss

    or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your

    typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.

     

    To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.

     

    This is what I got with the second of the 'sudo' commands? Is this safe for me to use?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 17, 2014 6:25 PM in response to Mazzerac
    Level 7 (24,202 points)
    Safari
    Sep 17, 2014 6:25 PM in response to Mazzerac

    The reason to use sudo is that otherwise your Admin account does not have privileges to run the command. This is a non-destructive command. It reads the MBR.

  • by Mazzerac,

    Mazzerac Mazzerac Sep 17, 2014 6:27 PM in response to Mazzerac
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 17, 2014 6:27 PM in response to Mazzerac

    Hmm, after looking over the 'Maintenance Commands' for Sudo, I think you gave me a typo or something for the first Sudo command - two 'v's?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 17, 2014 6:32 PM in response to Mazzerac
    Level 7 (24,202 points)
    Safari
    Sep 17, 2014 6:32 PM in response to Mazzerac

    Please see

     

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

    Password:

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=256060514304; sectorsize=512; blocks=500118192

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 500118191

          start       size  index  contents

              0          1         MBR

              1          1         Pri GPT header

              2         32         Pri GPT table

             34          6        

             40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

         409640  250392096      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      250801736    1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      252071272        664        

      252071936  248045568      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      500117504        655        

      500118159         32         Sec GPT table

      500118191          1         Sec GPT header

  • by Mazzerac,

    Mazzerac Mazzerac Sep 17, 2014 6:33 PM in response to Mazzerac
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 17, 2014 6:33 PM in response to Mazzerac

    Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

    #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>

    2: AC 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  865908416] <Unknown ID>

    3: AB 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 866318056 -    1269536] Darwin Boot

    4: 0B 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 867588096 - 1085935616] Win95 FAT-32

    cygnus-x1:~ LantS$

     

    This above is the second sudo command.

  • by Mazzerac,

    Mazzerac Mazzerac Sep 17, 2014 6:35 PM in response to Mazzerac
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 17, 2014 6:35 PM in response to Mazzerac

    Can't get the first sudo command to work. This is what I get:

     

    cygnus-x1:~ LantS$ sudo gpt -v -r show /dev/<Bootcampdisk>

    -bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'

    cygnus-x1:~ LantS$

  • by Mazzerac,

    Mazzerac Mazzerac Sep 17, 2014 6:38 PM in response to Mazzerac
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 17, 2014 6:38 PM in response to Mazzerac

    I replaced <Bootcampdisk> with /dev/disk1 and this is what I get:

     

    cygnus-x1:~ LantS$ sudo gpt -v -r show /dev/dev/disk1

    gpt show: unable to open device '/dev/dev/disk1': No such file or directory

    cygnus-x1:~ LantS$

  • by Mazzerac,

    Mazzerac Mazzerac Sep 17, 2014 6:43 PM in response to Mazzerac
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 17, 2014 6:43 PM in response to Mazzerac

    Just noticed your earlier post, out of order for some reason. So I tried the command again with both 'v's, heh.

     

    Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

    #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>

    2: AC 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  865908416] <Unknown ID>

    3: AB 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 866318056 -    1269536] Darwin Boot

    4: 0B 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 867588096 - 1085935616] Win95 FAT-32

    cygnus-x1:~ LantS$ sudo gpt -v -r show /dev/<Bootcampdisk>

    -bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'

    cygnus-x1:~ LantS$ sudo gpt -v -r show /dev/dev/disk1

    gpt show: unable to open device '/dev/dev/disk1': No such file or directory

     

    Oops. Didn't mean to put in my previous failed attempts above here.

     

    cygnus-x1:~ LantS$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=121332826112; sectorsize=512; blocks=236978176

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 236978175

          start       size  index  contents

              0          1         PMBR

              1          1         Pri GPT header

              2         32         Pri GPT table

             34          6       

             40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

         409640  236306352      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      236715992     262144      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      236978136          7       

      236978143         32         Sec GPT table

      236978175          1         Sec GPT header

    cygnus-x1:~ LantS$

  • by Mazzerac,

    Mazzerac Mazzerac Sep 17, 2014 6:44 PM in response to Mazzerac
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 17, 2014 6:44 PM in response to Mazzerac

    Oops. My previous failed attempts showed up above the successful one in the last post. Please ignore above that.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 17, 2014 6:51 PM in response to Mazzerac
    Level 7 (24,202 points)
    Safari
    Sep 17, 2014 6:51 PM in response to Mazzerac

    Run the GPT command for /dev/disk1 as well. That is where your Bootcamp will live. It should have a GPT #4. Your MBR is ready for installation. /Dev/disk0 is your ssd. I should specify that "<Bootcampdisk>" should be replaced with an appropriate value as shown in diskutil list.

  • by Mazzerac,

    Mazzerac Mazzerac Sep 17, 2014 6:56 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 17, 2014 6:56 PM in response to Loner T

    Here it is:

     

    cygnus-x1:~ LantS$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

    Password:

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167

           start        size  index  contents

               0           1         MBR

               1           1         Pri GPT header

               2          32         Pri GPT table

              34           6        

              40      409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

          409640   865908416      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

       866318056     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

       867587592         504        

       867588096  1085935616      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      1953523712        1423        

      1953525135          32         Sec GPT table

      1953525167           1         Sec GPT header

    cygnus-x1:~ LantS$

  • by Loner T,Solvedanswer

    Loner T Loner T Sep 17, 2014 7:03 PM in response to Mazzerac
    Level 7 (24,202 points)
    Safari
    Sep 17, 2014 7:03 PM in response to Mazzerac

    If you notice the GPT Start/Size for 1,2,3,4 are almost the same as fdisk start/size (except the little gap in GPT#3 and #4).

     

    You are ready to install Windows. Put the USB in the USB socket closest to the power cord and attempt your first Windows installation.

  • by Mazzerac,

    Mazzerac Mazzerac Sep 17, 2014 7:06 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 17, 2014 7:06 PM in response to Loner T

    As quick as that? It matters which USB port it is? Most curious. Okay, I'll give it a go.

  • by Mazzerac,

    Mazzerac Mazzerac Sep 17, 2014 7:26 PM in response to Mazzerac
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 17, 2014 7:26 PM in response to Mazzerac

    No luck. 'Non-system disk Press any key to reboot'.

     

    I wonder if there's an issue because after all the failed attempts, instead of getting the Windows drivers during Bootcamp Assistant, I downloaded them off the Apple website first and copied them over to the USB in place of the existing ones. When I compared the files previous to this, both sets of files were made within an hour of each other on the same day so I didn't think it mattered. Could there be some fundamental difference that means I have to do the 2-hour-long download/save to the USB again???

     

    Could the fact that I'm using a USB 2.0 extension cord make a difference? I guess the question is, should I take it out and plug the memory stick in the back of the machine directly?

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