I am stuck on ‘Missing operating system’ after boot camp assistant failure and can’t find my original macbook

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Level 1

4 points

I am stuck on ‘Missing operating system’ after boot camp assistant failure and can’t find my original macbook

I really need help getting back to my normal computer after a failed attempt at installing Windows 7 on my MacBook (it is an old model from 2009).

Basically I am now stuck on either a black screen which says ‘Missing operating system’, or a white screen which just says ‘Windows’- see attached screen shot.

I think that this is my fault as I entered a series of command prompts in order to make the installation work as ‘no device drivers were found’ when I got to installing it via Boot Camp Assistant.

I think the command prompts I entered were- diskpart, list disk, select disk 0, create partition primary, active- if I have remembered correctly! I am now worried that may have damaged my whole laptop.

Basically, I have tried command+r and command+option+r, command+option+p+r and things like F10 when starting it up but I can only go to one of the two pages I have described.

It is probably a mess now and there is nothing anyone can suggest, however if anyone knows what might be going on help would be appreciated; thanks.

MacBook, OS X 10.11

Posted on Jun 30, 2020 7:58 AM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jul 1, 2020 6:19 AM in response to Anne Frances

Do you have a second Mac? If yes, you can Use target disk mode to move files to another computer – Apple Support and install macOS.
See How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan - Apple Support.
You can also buy a retail OS-X-Lion DVD, which will replace the missing Grey disks.

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jun 30, 2020 8:55 AM in response to Anne Frances

Anne Frances wrote:

I think that this is my fault as I entered a series of command prompts in order to make the installation work as ‘no device drivers were found’ when I got to installing it via Boot Camp Assistant.

I think the command prompts I entered were- diskpart, list disk, select disk 0, create partition primary, active- if I have remembered correctly! I am now worried that may have damaged my whole laptop.

The disk should be usable. Do you have the original grey disks which came with the Mac? What was the macOS version on this Mac before you ran into issues?

Basically, I have tried command+r and command+option+r, command+option+p+r and things like F10 when starting it up but I can only go to one of the two pages I have described.

It is probably a mess now and there is nothing anyone can suggest, however if anyone knows what might be going on help would be appreciated

A 2009 Mac will not support Internet Recovery. Local Recovery should work, provided the disk has not been erased.

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jun 30, 2020 4:03 PM in response to Anne Frances

Can you Identify your MacBook model - Apple Support exactly?
What was the macOS version on your Mac, before the issue(s) started?

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Answer 4

Anne Frances Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 1, 2020 5:09 AM in response to Loner T

It is this model: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP512?locale=en_GB

and it is has El Capitan 10.11.6 on it. It appears to have lost the Mac OSX operating system-maybe I wiped it off or something? I am still only getting the black message screen, the white screen with ‘Windows’ on it or repeating of the startup music/chime and a blank white screen when I hold down Command/alt-option/R/P. This is worrying-maybe it no longer has its operating system anymore?

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