Black screen at Windows 10 boot up

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Level 1

9 points

Black screen at Windows 10 boot up

iMac Retina 5K,, 27”, Late 2015

i5, 24Gb Memory, Fusion 2,12 Tb, AMD Radeon R9 M395

Windows 10 installed end of 2010. Run flawlessly before Windows update 1 month back. When booting to Bootcamp I ‘ve got a black screen instead of Windows logo. Otherwise O.K.

Three days back I’ve lost mouse cusor (wired). After restart I’ve got a bclack screen forever (moth Apple and Windows logo appear when holding Option/Alt at restart).

Disk utility found no problem with Bootcamp Volume.

Tried to reinstall Windows 10 with Bootcamp assistant - no way, same black screen at restart.

Believe me, I’ve reset all kind of memory, resized disk etc. - literally tried whatever method I could find. Nothing helped.

Strange thing is that after BCA loads Windows support and right before restart Disk Utility lists both Bootcamp AND OSXRESERVED Volumes (either exFAT or NTFS, different every time!).

-iMac ~ % diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *2.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk2 1.0 TB disk0s2

3: Microsoft Basic Data OSXRESERVED 10.0 GB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 964.2 GB disk0s4

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *121.3 GB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk2 121.1 GB disk1s2

/dev/disk2 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +1.1 TB disk2

Physical Stores disk1s2, disk0s2

1: APFS Volume SSD 11.1 GB disk2s1

2: APFS Volume SSD — данные 71.4 GB disk2s2

3: APFS Volume Preboot 82.5 MB disk2s3

4: APFS Volume Recovery 525.8 MB disk2s4

5: APFS Volume VM 2.1 GB disk2s5

6: APFS Volume Update 966.7 KB disk2s6

/dev/disk3 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US... +6.2 GB disk3

After 3-5 unsuccesseful attempts of Windows loading (yes, I can see both Apple and Windows icons when selecting), there is NO OSXRESERVED Volume anymore and Bootcamp Volume is empty.

-iMac ~ % diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *2.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk2 1.0 TB disk0s2

3: Microsoft Basic Data OSXRESERVED 10.0 GB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 964.2 GB disk0s4

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *121.3 GB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk2 121.1 GB disk1s2

/dev/disk2 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +1.1 TB disk2

Physical Stores disk1s2, disk0s2

1: APFS Volume SSD 11.1 GB disk2s1

2: APFS Volume SSD — данные 71.4 GB disk2s2

3: APFS Volume Preboot 82.5 MB disk2s3

4: APFS Volume Recovery 525.8 MB disk2s4

5: APFS Volume VM 2.1 GB disk2s5

6: APFS Volume Update 966.7 KB disk2s6

/dev/disk3 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US... +6.2 GB disk3

After failed installation

-iMac ~ % diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *2.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk2 1.0 TB disk0s2

3: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 964.2 GB disk0s4

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *121.3 GB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk2 121.1 GB disk1s2

/dev/disk2 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +1.2 TB disk2

Physical Stores disk1s2, disk0s2

1: APFS Volume SSD 11.1 GB disk2s1

2: APFS Volume SSD — данные 71.0 GB disk2s2

3: APFS Volume Preboot 82.5 MB disk2s3

4: APFS Volume Recovery 525.8 MB disk2s4

5: APFS Volume VM 2.1 GB disk2s5

6: APFS Volume Update 987.1 KB disk2s6

Oh, just in case: I’ve tried Windows loading from USB - same process, same result...

Posted on May 4, 2021 11:57 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

May 6, 2021 4:46 PM in response to Necaster

macOS High Sierra and older do not support W10 1903 and later correctly. I have install W10 1804v2 on a 2014 iMac running macOS Sierra. However, my recommendation is to stay away from macOS High Sierra and older versions, if you can. Splitting a Fusion drive creates additional problems, and BC Assistant will refuse to work. The AMD GPU compounds the issues quite a bit.

Rebuild your Fusion drive using steps in How to fix a split Fusion Drive - Apple Support. Once you have it ready, install the latest version of macOS Mojave or Catalina. Do not use Big Sur. Run SMC and NVRAM Reset. Use the latest W10 ISO from Microsoft and try to install W10.

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

May 4, 2021 2:03 PM in response to Necaster

Disconnect all external peripherals, except Keyboard/Trackpad/Mouse,

Run BC Assistant and click on Remove/restore to remove any existing BOOTCAMP partitions.
Run
- SMC Reset - How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support
- NVRAM Reset - Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac - Apple Support
Re-run BC Assistant and try to install Windows.

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Answer 3

Necaster Author

Level 1

9 points

May 7, 2021 8:07 AM in response to Loner T

Loner T, your professionalism equals your patience (or whatever is first, both qualities of the highest pedigree).

I started from rebuilding Fusion drive, then reinstalled MacOS Catalina, then restored my Mac part of the computer with Time Machine, reset SMC, NVRAM, downloaded a fresh copy of 64-bit Win10, started BootCamp Assistant. Do you think it was a successful installation?? Well, you guess it right!

To my relief, everything went smoothly this time - Windows installation, BootCamp drivers installation, AMD Graphics BootCamp drivers update (recommended by both Apple - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208908 - and AMD). All in all, so far so good.

Huge thanks for your support and kind attention!

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Answer 4

Necaster Author

Level 1

9 points

May 4, 2021 2:17 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks a lot for your advice. In fact, that's exactly what I started with: removed BOOTCAMP partition, SMC reset, NVRAM reset etc. Even tried different versions of Windows 10 ISO (e.g. English International, English US etc.). Also played with granting full access to both BC Assistant and Disk Utility. Dragged/dropped Windows support filed (those downloaded by BC Assistant) directly to OSXRESERVED and Bootcamp folders. Alas, same black screen.

I've read somewhere about Radeon graphic card drivers issue, but those can only be updated in Windows, which is out of reach for me:-)

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Answer 5

Necaster Author

Level 1

9 points

May 5, 2021 5:17 AM in response to Necaster

So-o-o-o, Mr. Loner T, here we are again. Instead of waisting time with different WIN10 versions, I installed same 20XX version to my MacBook (same vintage as my iMac, Core M, 8Gb, nothing fancy though the graphic card is Intel, not AMD). I should've done that two days back to save your and my time. Installation went as it should, no problem at all!

Now, I'm pretty much sure that Windows 10 ISO is fine, BootCamp itself and its' Intel graphic drivers work flawlessly.

I'm thinking about the options I have (none is easy).

Option 1: roll back to Mojave, make another attempt of Win10 installation (e.g., ver. 16XX). If succeeded then upgrade to Catalina (restore from TimeMachine), update BootCamp AMD drivers (I have them all downloaded from AMD official site) and relax. Not 100% sure if I initially installed Windows in Mojave, but it's highly likely.

Option 2: attach second monitor to my iMac and try to make it work. Questionable. I've read discussions with your involvement regarding the subject - too many 'ifs' and 'buts'.

Option 3: delete BootCamp on my MB, start fresh Windows installation simultaneously on two machines and blindly mirror Tab-Space-Enter combinations from my MB to my iMac when selecting options during installation with a hope that I can move ahead to Windows restart on my iMac (as I mentioned before, Windows 10 booted with a black screen after Win10 update, but loaded normally). Brave, but no guarantee. One miss and your game is over.

Option 4: forget about BootCamp and install one of those Virtual Machines for Mac.

In fact, I need Win 10 mostly for my tried and true DAW, which unfortunately is Windows only. I can survive without some other Windows apps which I like very much, but switching from Cakewalk to, say, ProTools will be a disaster, since I have all my projects in Cakewalk, let alone hundreds of VSTs, VSTIs, which are also Windows and cost me a fortune.

Will be glad to hear your professional advice.

P.S. I'm 7 hours ahead of EST (2 hours ahead of GMT), so my postings are not synced with yours sometimes.

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Answer 6

Necaster Author

Level 1

9 points

May 5, 2021 11:02 AM in response to Loner T

Thank you, Loner T. Will try. The only problem I have now is Internet connection - my provider sent me SMS with 100 excuses, but it's not a substitution for LAN. So, after I download OS Mojave (it's a problem, too!) will start from scratch.

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Answer 7

Necaster Author

Level 1

9 points

May 6, 2021 2:11 PM in response to Necaster

Option 1 - result negative. Restored original MacOS (El Capitan). BootCamp Assistant couldn't a) create partition and then b) restore partition after installation failure.

Suspecting SSD/HDD error, I've split Fusion disk to SSD and HDD. Reinstalled MacOS to SSD and tried to install Windows to HDD. No luck (see above). Same story with MacOS on HDD and Windows on SSD (128Gb).

Disk (Volume) verification says both drives are OK, though more thorough test may end less positive.

I'm lost. It's a shame to waste time this way. Frankly, never ever have been in a such a situation with PC (since early 90-th!). Not a single problem that couldn't be sorted out in 1-2 hour time. Really thinking about ending my Apple era...

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Answer 8

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

May 4, 2021 1:44 PM in response to Necaster

What is the current macOS version?

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Answer 9

Necaster Author

Level 1

9 points

May 4, 2021 1:49 PM in response to Loner T

Catalina, 10.15.7

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Answer 10

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

May 4, 2021 2:28 PM in response to Necaster

Instead of using a W10 20xx ISO, can you try to find a 16xx/17xx/18xx ISO and try to install W10? Be careful, because some websites that offer this can contain malware/adware/ransomware.

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