Banango
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Another bootcamp snafu after OSX update; please help.

Early 2014 27" iMac, i7, 3T Fusion Drive, 32G RAM, OSX & Win8.1

 

Problem: I updated OSX and after that I was unable to boot into Windows8.1x64 via BootCamp.  I am able to run my Windows installation via Parallels (10) and I can see the Bootcamp dialogue if I request it on startup. If I try to boot into Windows either from OSX or from Bootcamp I get the following message (paraphrased): Your PC needs to be repaired, Error code 0x000000e . Any command attempted / repair attempted whether from thumbdrive or HDD loopsback to the same message.  Only with a hard reboot can I return to OSX. Attempts to recover the entire drive from an Acronis 2014 sector-by-sector image created before the update fail.

 

My level of expertise is low.

 

I decided to post a question after reviewing the following excellent threads here:

Repairing Boot Camp after creating new partition

"No bootable device --- insert boot disk and press any key" after setting up Bootcamp

 

I believe I can follow them, but have not tried the solutions yet because I don't want to screw the machine up and the results of queries I make are a little different than their examples.

 

I include below the results of my queries beneath and thank anyone in advance for their help.

 

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

gpt show: disk0: PMBR at sector 0

gpt show: disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: 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


sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 14751/255/63 [236978176 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

         Starting       Ending

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

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

1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  236978175] <Unknown ID>

2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     


diskutil list

/dev/disk0

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0

   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         121.0 GB   disk0s2

   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3

/dev/disk1

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk1

   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1

   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         199.4 GB   disk1s2

   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk1s3

   4:       Microsoft Basic Data WinOS                 1.0 TB     disk1s4

   5:       Microsoft Basic Data WinStor                  997.7 GB   disk1s5

   6:          Apple_CoreStorage                         801.4 GB   disk1s6

   7:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk1s7

/dev/disk2

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *1.1 TB     disk2

                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2, ...

                                 F782AFC6-0C98-43B2-B384-C1606DDEC7C3

                                 Unencrypted Fusion Drive

/dev/disk3

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *4.0 GB     disk3

   1:                 DOS_FAT_16 4G USB                  4.0 GB     disk3s1

/dev/disk4

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *31.6 GB    disk4

   1:             Windows_FAT_32 RECOVERY                31.6 GB    disk4s1

/dev/disk5

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *61.9 GB    disk5

   1:               Windows_NTFS 64G USB                 61.9 GB    disk5s1

/dev/disk6

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *123.6 GB   disk6

   1:             Windows_FAT_32 128G USB                123.6 GB   disk6s1

/dev/disk7

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *282.3 MB   disk7

   1:                  Apple_HFS Parallels Access        282.2 MB   disk7s1

/dev/disk9

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk9

   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk9s1

   2:                  Apple_HFS Time Machine Backups    3.0 TB     disk9s2

iMac

Posted on Sep 26, 2014 3:48 PM

by Loner T,Solvedanswer
Loner T Loner T
Level 7 (24,738 points)
Safari
A:

The reason you see two Windows entries, is because of the following entries in the GPT...

 

  391114752  1955307520      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

  2346422272  1948538880      5  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7


*4: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 391114752 - 1955307520] HPFS/QNX/AUX


The current Windows-on-Mac leaves a lot to be desired. It uses a Hybrid MBR (there is a very succinct explanation here http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html ). The entries on the FDisk side show MBR, while the GPT commands show the GPT. If you notice, the start/size for GPT#4 and MBR#4 are identical.

 

To fix BCD issues, in W7 this is what is usually recommended - http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/927392

 

You may also want to look at http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/rebuild-bcd-store-windows.htm

 

F8 or Fn+F8 should let you bring up W8.1 repair. EasyBCD is PC-centric, but the FAQs are a good source of information.

Posted on Sep 29, 2014 1:22 AM

Close
Banango

Q: Another bootcamp snafu after OSX update; please help.

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  • Helpful answers

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  • by Loner T,Helpful

    Loner T Loner T Sep 26, 2014 6:06 PM in response to Banango
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Sep 26, 2014 6:06 PM in response to Banango

    On a Fusion drive, Windows can be installed only on the HDD part using a non-EFI Bootcamp method.

     

    Please post the output of

     

    diskutil cs list

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1 (This is where your Bootcamp installation is).

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

     

    Apart from TM (/dev/disk9) and a 4GB (/dev/disk3) Flash drive(?), what are these other drives (/dev/disk4 - /dev/disk9)?

     

    If you have created an additional partition on WinSTOR after Bootcamp was installed, that can be problematic as well.

  • by Banango,

    Banango Banango Sep 27, 2014 7:11 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 27, 2014 7:11 PM in response to Loner T

    Thanks for your response!

     

    >>On a Fusion drive, Windows can be installed only on the HDD part using a non-EFI Bootcamp method.

     

    Sorry, I am not sure the relevance of this, likely due to my ignorance. Windows is already installed and has been working fine for many months via bootcamp. I had to get it to the very front of the non-SSD part of the HD or it would not work stably. It merely happens that I had also installed Parallels and it was already accessing that installation of Windows and thus I am still able to use it that way.

     

    >>>>>>diskutil cs list

    CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

    |

    +-- Logical Volume Group 21379E82-9F5F-46E4-BC59-331C4DA9FE8D

        =========================================================

        Name:         Macintosh HD

        Status:       Online

        Size:         1121815764992 B (1.1 TB)

        Free Space:   126976 B (127.0 KB)

        |

        +-< Physical Volume 5CF2686D-5D4B-4D39-8220-7130AEF7A45E

        |   ----------------------------------------------------

        |   Index:    0

        |   Disk:     disk0s2

        |   Status:   Online

        |   Size:     120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

        |

        +-< Physical Volume E8D6F2EC-7F40-4806-9AFC-0E5D7F7757E3

        |   ----------------------------------------------------

        |   Index:    1

        |   Disk:     disk1s2

        |   Status:   Online

        |   Size:     199390371840 B (199.4 GB)

        |

        +-< Physical Volume A88492D5-E59C-488B-946A-3BE3EE0A2180

        |   ----------------------------------------------------

        |   Index:    2

        |   Disk:     disk1s6

        |   Status:   Online

        |   Size:     801436540928 B (801.4 GB)

        |

        +-> Logical Volume Family C4A6357A-9745-4339-8A04-3C1594B72FDF

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

            Encryption Status:       Unlocked

            Encryption Type:         None

            Conversion Status:       NoConversion

            Conversion Direction:    -none-

            Has Encrypted Extents:   No

            Fully Secure:            No

            Passphrase Required:     No

            |

            +-> Logical Volume F782AFC6-0C98-43B2-B384-C1606DDEC7C3

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

                Disk:                  disk2

                Status:                Online

                Size (Total):          1106999902208 B (1.1 TB)

                Conversion Progress:   -none-

                Revertible:            No

                LV Name:               Macintosh HD

                Volume Name:           Macintosh HD

                Content Hint:          Apple_HFS


    >>>>>>sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1 (This is where your Bootcamp installation is)


    gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=3000592982016; sectorsize=512; blocks=5860533168

    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 5860533167

           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   389434320      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

       389843960     1269760      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

       391113720        1032        

       391114752  1955307520      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      2346422272  1948538880      5  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      4294961152        4088        

      4294965240  1565305744      6  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      5860270984      262144      7  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      5860533128           7        

      5860533135          32         Sec GPT table

      5860533167           1         Sec GPT header


    >>>>>>>sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

     

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=3000592982016; sectorsize=512; blocks=5860533168

    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 5860533167

           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   389434320      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

       389843960     1269760      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

       391113720        1032        

       391114752  1955307520      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      2346422272  1948538880      5  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      4294961152        4088        

      4294965240  1565305744      6  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      5860270984      262144      7  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      5860533128           7        

      5860533135          32         Sec GPT table

      5860533167           1         Sec GPT header


    >>>>>>>>sudo fdisk /dev/disk1


    Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 97451/255/63 [1565565872 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 -  389434320] <Unknown ID>

    3: AB 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 389843960 -    1269760] Darwin Boot

    4: 0C 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 391114752 - 1955307520] Win95 FAT32L


    >>>>>>>Apart from TM (/dev/disk9) and a 4GB (/dev/disk3) Flash drive(?), what are these other drives (/dev/disk4 - /dev/disk9)?


    They are flash drives,  See below, with them unplugged:


    diskutil list

    /dev/disk0

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         121.0 GB   disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3

    /dev/disk1

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk1

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         199.4 GB   disk1s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk1s3

       4:       Microsoft Basic Data WInOS                 1.0 TB     disk1s4

       5:       Microsoft Basic Data WinStor                  997.7 GB   disk1s5

       6:          Apple_CoreStorage                         801.4 GB   disk1s6

       7:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk1s7

    /dev/disk2

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *1.1 TB     disk2

                                     Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2, ...

                                     F782AFC6-0C98-43B2-B384-C1606DDEC7C3

                                     Unencrypted Fusion Drive

    /dev/disk7

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *282.3 MB   disk7

       1:                  Apple_HFS Parallels Access        282.2 MB   disk7s1


    >>>>>>>If you have created an additional partition on WinSTOR after Bootcamp was installed, that can be problematic as well.


    No.  The two Windows partitions were created at the same time from within OSX at the time that Win81 was installed as part of trying to get Win81 to run stably from bootcamp.  Essentially, I made a huge mistake buying the machine with the fusion drive instead of just stuffing in a big SSD, but Apple didn;t offer an especially large SSD when I placed the order, and the fine folks at the Apple Store insisted the Fusion drive would work just fine for what I wanted - essentially the ability to run Windows on an iMac with the very occasional ability to login to OSX via Bootcamp for testing.  They proved to be wrong, but Apple refused to alter the setup of the machine because it was custom ordered, so I am stuck with the Fusion Drive until the machine is out of warranty. I would have preferred a single 2TB partition for Windows but that simply wouldn't ever run stably.


    Thanks again!


    B


  • by Loner T,Helpful

    Loner T Loner T Sep 27, 2014 8:18 PM in response to Banango
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Sep 27, 2014 8:18 PM in response to Banango

    The 4th entry on the output of the Fdisk command is your MBR pointer to Windows. This looks incorrect.

     

    The following commands change the code (id 0x'0C' to be 0x'07') and flag it to be bootable, for the 4th partition on /dev/disk1 (which is /dev/disk1s4) or WinOS.

     

    sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk1

    setpid 4

    07

    flag 4

    p

    w

    y

     

    You may need to reboot after this. After it reboots in OS X, please check

     

    1. Test 1- Bootcamp volume shows in Finder.

    2. Test 2 - Bootcamp volume shows Windows files.

    3. Test 3 - System Preferences -> Startup Disk has WinOS (Bootcamp) as bootable and can be selected.

    4. Test 4 - Select WinOS/Bootcamp and Restart. Does Windows come up?

     

    The error code that you have is related to Windows BCD (Boot Configuration Data) being corrupted. If Windows does not come up, see if the Repair attempt gets you any further than the previous attempts.

  • by Banango,

    Banango Banango Sep 28, 2014 9:37 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 28, 2014 9:37 PM in response to Loner T

    Hi again Loner T, and thanks again...

     

    1. Test 1- Bootcamp volume shows in Finder.

     

    >>>Yes

     

    2. Test 2 - Bootcamp volume shows Windows files.

     

    >>>Yes


    3. Test 3 - System Preferences -> Startup Disk has WinOS (Bootcamp) as bootable and can be selected.

     

    >>>Yes

     

    4. Test 4 - Select WinOS/Bootcamp and Restart. Does Windows come up?

     

    >>>Yes...and no.  I get exactly the same error / loop as mentioned in my first e-mail. But there is more, see below, please.

     

    The error code that you have is related to Windows BCD (Boot Configuration Data) being corrupted. If Windows does not come up, see if the Repair attempt gets you any further than the previous attempts.

     

    >>>After getting the error/loop again I hard booted, went into the OS-choosing dialogue, and somewhat surprisingly there are now three HDD icons instead of two.  One is OSX, and the other two are Windows.  Choosing one of the Windows options puts me into that same loop again.  Choosing the other gets me a DOS text-type message that Windows failed to start, the further gist of which is error 0xc000000r and it mentions files in \Boot\BCD and that Boot Config Data is missing.  This wasn't there before I did the "repointing" you showed me how to do.

     

    I tried using the Win81 Startup Repair via USB and it doesn't work at all.  It effectively hangs on the second screen (the one after one chooses keyboard language) - one can choose neither repair tools nor to turn off the PC and the attempt eventually nets an error code 80004001, after which the machine reboots itself.

     

    I then booted back into OSX and ran the same commands as before to show the state of the discs:

     

    diskutil cs list

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

    diskutil list


    The first two seem to show exactly the same results as in my most recent previous response to you. 


    The third one shows this, with the obvious difference on the last line:

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

    Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 97451/255/63 [1565565872 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 -  389434320] <Unknown ID>

    3: AB 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 389843960 -    1269760] Darwin Boot

    *4: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 391114752 - 1955307520] HPFS/QNX/AUX


    The fourth one is the same as before except the reference to /dev/disk7 now reads /dev/disk4 as below:


    diskutil list

    /dev/disk0

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         121.0 GB   disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3

    /dev/disk1

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk1

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         199.4 GB   disk1s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk1s3

       4:       Microsoft Basic Data WinOS                 1.0 TB     disk1s4

       5:       Microsoft Basic Data WinStor                 997.7 GB   disk1s5

       6:          Apple_CoreStorage                         801.4 GB   disk1s6

       7:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk1s7

    /dev/disk2

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *1.1 TB     disk2

                                     Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2, ...

                                     F782AFC6-0C98-43B2-B384-C1606DDEC7C3

                                     Unencrypted Fusion Drive

    /dev/disk4

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *282.3 MB   disk4

       1:                  Apple_HFS Parallels Access        282.2 MB   disk4s1


    My Windows8.1 installation still seems to be intact and I can run it via parallels, but to my untrained eye the mystery seems to have thickened somewhat!


    I look forward to your next suggestion and, as always, appreciate your time and help very much.


    B

  • by Loner T,Solvedanswer

    Loner T Loner T Sep 29, 2014 1:22 AM in response to Banango
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Sep 29, 2014 1:22 AM in response to Banango

    The reason you see two Windows entries, is because of the following entries in the GPT...

     

      391114752  1955307520      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      2346422272  1948538880      5  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7


    *4: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 391114752 - 1955307520] HPFS/QNX/AUX


    The current Windows-on-Mac leaves a lot to be desired. It uses a Hybrid MBR (there is a very succinct explanation here http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html ). The entries on the FDisk side show MBR, while the GPT commands show the GPT. If you notice, the start/size for GPT#4 and MBR#4 are identical.

     

    To fix BCD issues, in W7 this is what is usually recommended - http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/927392

     

    You may also want to look at http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/rebuild-bcd-store-windows.htm

     

    F8 or Fn+F8 should let you bring up W8.1 repair. EasyBCD is PC-centric, but the FAQs are a good source of information.

  • by Banango,

    Banango Banango Sep 29, 2014 1:25 PM in response to Banango
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 29, 2014 1:25 PM in response to Banango

    Thanks LonerT, bit at this point I feel totally lost.


    You may also want to look at http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/rebuild-bcd-store-windows.htm

     

    >>>As I have noted repeatedly, I cannot access Win81. That is the whole problem. The BCD rebuild instructions seem predicated on being able to get into Win81 at least via command line. I have no idea how to do that when any attempt to access the OS or even iits repair system just results in an error. Are you suggesting I do this from Parallels?

     

    B

  • by Banango,

    Banango Banango Sep 29, 2014 2:30 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 29, 2014 2:30 PM in response to Loner T

    LonerT,

     

    Please ignore my previous response.  I did manage to get win81 startup repair to boot by trying a THIRD USB Flash drive. Perhaps the other two were too large?  I also learned - by accident - how to make Advanced Startup selectable where previously it had hung the machine. it seems my iMac recognised the wireless keyboard immediately, but it only recognised the trackpad and mouse if I turned them off and back on after the startup repair drive had booted. Regardless, the instructions you suggested seem to have worked. Thank you! I am now booted into Win81 natively on the machine. I will need to leave it running a few days to see if it is stable,but all the work done on it via parallels seems to be intact.

     

    OF the two apparent Windows HDDs which you explained are an artefact of the Hybrid-MBR, I now know that one will still boot me into the error loop, while the other actually puts me into Windows! Hopefully the Startup Disc icon in OSX settings will know which to aim at, but I shall wait to find out.

     

    I am most grateful for your expertise and patience.  How do I give you "points"?!

     

    B

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 29, 2014 3:08 PM in response to Banango
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Sep 29, 2014 3:08 PM in response to Banango

    Wonderful. I think the last USB that worked is probably a USB2 flash drive. Your persistence paid off.

     

    Thank you for the points, much appreciated. If you run into any further issues, please post back.

     

    OSX will pick the bootable partition in Startup Disk. Your Volume names are also different, so that should also be a helpful hint.

  • by Banango,

    Banango Banango Sep 30, 2014 7:14 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2014 7:14 PM in response to Loner T

    >>OSX will pick the bootable partition in Startup Disk. Your Volume names are also different, so that should also be a helpful hint.<<

     

    Funny story....no, if I try to boot into Windows with an OSX restart via Bootcamp it goes into the error loop.  It seems I can only get to the working Bootcamp installation by using the alt-command on a manual reboot. If you have any more tricks up your sleve to help with this, I will be grateful again!  I am also now trying to figure out why the WinStor partition is no longer visible / recognized from within Win81 but still is from OSX.

     

    B

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 30, 2014 8:32 PM in response to Banango
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Sep 30, 2014 8:32 PM in response to Banango

    Banango wrote:

     

    >>OSX will pick the bootable partition in Startup Disk. Your Volume names are also different, so that should also be a helpful hint.<<

     

    Funny story....no, if I try to boot into Windows with an OSX restart via Bootcamp it goes into the error loop. 

    Is this the same error loop you were seeing when it asked you to Repair and kept looping?

     

    It seems I can only get to the working Bootcamp installation by using the alt-command on a manual reboot. If you have any more tricks up your sleve to help with this, I will be grateful again!

     

    You seem to have the reverse problem as mentioned in the Fusion Drive  article.

     

    You may have to use OS X Mavericks: Reset your computer’s PRAM.Take a look at OS X: Keyboard shortcuts and Startup key combinations for Intel-based Macs . Please boot into OS X. If it does not boot, use Alt key and choose OS X. Now try to choose Bootcamp. Switch back to OS X and make sure either direction works correctly.

     

    From Mac mini (Late 2012), iMac (Late 2012 and later): About Fusion Drive

     

    I've recently reset NVRAM (Non-Volatile Random Access Memory, also known as PRAM) and now my Fusion Drive is starting up more slowly. How can I fix this?


    The reset removed your Startup Disk setting from NVRAM. To access the setting, choose System Preferences from the Apple () menu. Then, click Startup Disk and then Macintosh HD. Note: You may have to click the lock icon at the bottom of the window and enter your system administrator password to manage this setting.



    I am also now trying to figure out why the WinStor partition is no longer visible / recognized from within Win81 but still is from OSX.

    Before you upgraded Mavericks, was WinStor visible on the Bootcamp side? If yes, the Hybrid MBR needs to be recreated and the WinStor partition needs to be included in one of the four entries that the FDisk utility shows.

     

    Currently you have GPT#1,2,3,4 and MBR#1,2,3,4 which are almost identical, if you ignore the slight discrepancy between GPT#1 and MBR#1.

     

    Logically,

     

    1. From 1-389843959 (GPT#1,2) will become MBR#1. This means you cannot read the OS X volume in Windows.

         a. Have you ever been able to read the OS X volume in Windows (I would be very surprised, if you said yes).

         b. Since OS X is CoreStorage, there is no Apple driver to read CoreStorage volumes till Mavericks. It may be released in 10.10

    2. GPT#3 will become MBR#2.

    3. GPT#4 will become MBR#3 (and bootable). This may have been also the case before the Upgrade, which messed up your Windows to begin with.

    4. GPT#5 will become MBR#4 (not bootable). This is your WinStor.

     

    This configuration is very fragile (and I consider it the worst Engineering invention to come out of Apple). Rod Smith has some choice words for Apple on this specific subject. I also have some vocabulary I would like to share with the Bootcamp Engineers on this subject.

     

    MBR also has a limitation of not being able to address beyond 2TB (2.2TiB). This is also why part of your CoreStorage volume is sitting on disk1s6 (beyond the 2 TB MBR limit). Apple wrote a special version of DU for the 3TB Fusion drives in IMacs which does these shenanigans with the volumes.

     

    This is an exercise best done very slowly.

  • by Banango,

    Banango Banango Sep 30, 2014 8:49 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2014 8:49 PM in response to Loner T

    LonerT,

     

    i will explain in detail tomorrow how I have likely screwed the whole thing up in the hunt to make WinStor visible again. Suffice to say I now have TWO core storage volume groups, and WinStor is no longer visible from anywhere except Disk Utility and Terminal...and it claims to be 100% full. But  I am too sleepy to pursue further tonight. I am at least learning a great deal!

     

    IN answer to the other main questions:

     

    Yes, restart to Bootcamp (win81) from within OSX sends me into exactly the same error loop as before.

    Yes, WinStor was always visible and accessible from Bootcamp previously. It appeared as my "D" drive and was formatted as NTFS. It was showing as unallocated space throughout today as I was using win81 via Bootcamp. I could not reallocate/format it, which I was happy to do after copying everything over from it to a reserve drive from within OSX this afternoon, Due to my experimenting tonight WinStor is apparently now formatted in the OSX file system and is inaccessible; I delete it in disk utility in order to recreate it, which seemed logical at the time.

    No, I was never able to read or even see the OSX partitions from Windows.

     

    A things stand, I can still boot into OSX and into Win81, but I am effectively missing a Terrabyte of the HDD portion of the Fusion drive which used to be (and in a sense still is) WinStor.

     

    Thanks as always!

     

    B

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 1, 2014 4:24 AM in response to Banango
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Oct 1, 2014 4:24 AM in response to Banango

    The diskutil cs list that you have posted shows three slices (disk0s2,disk1s2 and disk1s6). The WinStor is a MSD partition. There are three different parts in play here, GPT, MBR and CoreStorage and the dance is pretty convoluted. As long as the core GPT has not been modified on any of the disks, the MBR and CoreStorage can be manipulated. There are some corner cases where data loss is likely.

     

    Do you have TM backups of the OS X side? Do you have separate backups of the Windows side?

  • by Banango,

    Banango Banango Oct 1, 2014 8:56 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 1, 2014 8:56 AM in response to Loner T

    Below is what the diskutil cs list looks like now, and the difference will be obvious.  I have no idea how to get the Winstor volume back where it was, but am hoping there is a way both to return it and format it as ntfs and get Win81 to see it again.  It is empty of actual data - I copied everything out of it knowing I might lose everything.

     

    CoreStorage logical volume groups (2 found)

    |

    +-- Logical Volume Group 21379E82-9F5F-46E4-BC59-331C4DA9FE8D

    |   =========================================================

    |   Name:         Macintosh HD

    |   Status:       Online

    |   Size:         1121815764992 B (1.1 TB)

    |   Free Space:   126976 B (127.0 KB)

    |   |

    |   +-< Physical Volume 5CF2686D-5D4B-4D39-8220-7130AEF7A45E

    |   |   ----------------------------------------------------

    |   |   Index:    0

    |   |   Disk:     disk0s2

    |   |   Status:   Online

    |   |   Size:     120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

    |   |

    |   +-< Physical Volume E8D6F2EC-7F40-4806-9AFC-0E5D7F7757E3

    |   |   ----------------------------------------------------

    |   |   Index:    1

    |   |   Disk:     disk1s2

    |   |   Status:   Online

    |   |   Size:     199390371840 B (199.4 GB)

    |   |

    |   +-< Physical Volume A88492D5-E59C-488B-946A-3BE3EE0A2180

    |   |   ----------------------------------------------------

    |   |   Index:    2

    |   |   Disk:     disk1s7

    |   |   Status:   Online

    |   |   Size:     801436540928 B (801.4 GB)

    |   |

    |   +-> Logical Volume Family C4A6357A-9745-4339-8A04-3C1594B72FDF

    |       ----------------------------------------------------------

    |       Encryption Status:       Unlocked

    |       Encryption Type:         None

    |       Conversion Status:       NoConversion

    |       Conversion Direction:    -none-

    |       Has Encrypted Extents:   No

    |       Fully Secure:            No

    |       Passphrase Required:     No

    |       |

    |       +-> Logical Volume F782AFC6-0C98-43B2-B384-C1606DDEC7C3

    |           ---------------------------------------------------

    |           Disk:                  disk2

    |           Status:                Online

    |           Size (Total):          1106999902208 B (1.1 TB)

    |           Conversion Progress:   -none-

    |           Revertible:            No

    |           LV Name:               Macintosh HD

    |           Volume Name:           Macintosh HD

    |           Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

    |

    +-- Logical Volume Group F2365295-E8FD-43AB-83EB-578769A4DDD0

        =========================================================

        Name:         WinStor

        Status:       Online

        Size:         997519781888 B (997.5 GB)

        Free Space:   997167456256 B (997.2 GB)

        |

        +-< Physical Volume D9B7C5BA-960B-4F71-8B45-B77A3E164E60

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

            Index:    0

            Disk:     disk1s5

            Status:   Online

            Size:     997519781888 B (997.5 GB)


    If necessary, I am reasonably prepared to nuke the entire drive and begin all over again, though it wouldn;t be my preference.  I am in theory well backed up on both the OSX and Windows sides. I use Acronis on both sides (2015 now does OSX) and also TM on the Mac side, though TM only does OSX partitions. Given time - which I have as this is far from my only computer - I can dig out the instructions I used to get everything working right on the Fusion Drive in the first place (it wasn't simple).  I must confess, however, I have no clue how to return the machine to its original state, and it is new enough that it has no internal optical drive and I have no DVD with Mavericks on it. I am also somewhat leery of the Win81 backup because, though I know the files are all there, I am now questioning whether the fusion drive will allow a proper restore. But I can always just re-install everything.  The data is backed up in multiple locations.

     

    I'll try and deal with the fact I cannot restart directly into the "correct" Windows from OSX after this is sorted.  Of course, if I end up having to nuke it and rebuild, that will not be an issue.

     

    Thank you once again!

     

    B

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 1, 2014 9:05 AM in response to Banango
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Oct 1, 2014 9:05 AM in response to Banango

    I have just re-built two Minis using Winclone and putting Windows on the SSD part rather than the HDD. You can investigate it, if you want to start fresh.

     

    Installing OSX can be done using Command+Opt+R (Internet Recovery) and you can erase you internal drives completely prior to re-installing OSes.

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