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Level 1

10 points

Folks, Boot Camp is broken in 2011.

I don't know what happened. But something did.

This is my fourth MacBook Pro and my seventh Mac computer. In all of these machines I have always been able to set up Boot Camp without an issue doing the exact same things each time. For some reason though, all of a sudden I am unable to on my 2011 MacBook Pro 17". Works fine on my 2010 27" iMac, but not the 2011 MBP. For the record, I am using Windows 7 64 bit, but at this point I really don't care what OS I use, because none of them are working. It's not the Windows disks, it's the MBP.

Open up Boot Camp Assistant.
Don't need the software downloaded, I have the Snow Leopard install disc.
Tell it to partition the drive. I select 20GB, because Windows 7 will use approximately 7GB of that storage. I don't need to store anything directly in Windows and don't plan to keep it for the long term as I use VMWare/Parallels.
Asks me to insert the install DVD and then restart. I do so.
On restart, it sits at a gray screen for 1-3 minutes. I hear the drive spinning during this time, then slows, then the screen starts flashing the folder with the question mark, which I understand to mean that it can't find an operating system. Well, that's because I haven't loaded it yet.
Force power down with the power button, power back on while holding Option. The Mac OS drive comes up, then the SuperDrive spins up and two other opticals show up: "Windows" and "EFI Boot". If I select Windows it repeats step 5. If I select EFI boot it freezes and does nothing. I can boot into Mac OS normally and the partition is configured correctly in Disk Utility - FAT32, properly named, etc.

So for some reason the Mac does not know how to boot the DVD even though I confirmed it IS a properly bootable DVD by attempting to load it from one of my Windows VMs, and was able to do so without a problem. Mac OS is all patched up so I know it's not a missing firmware update.

Question is what do I need to do to fix it? Note, I am not interested in workarounds like USB or Terminal commands. I want it to work via the standard method because there's no reason it should not work.

Posted on May 3, 2011 10:10 PM

26 replies

May 23, 2011 9:39 PM in response to Star1

Well, sometimes you have to burn your Windows disks ...

I bought WIndows on the Microsoft online store and it is downloadable (the funniest is that there is extensive help on the MS store about how to download the files, but could not find any help on what to do with the downloaded files).

So I burned the downloaded .iso file to a blank DVD, and I have a very genuine WIndows 7 Ultimate 64 bit install DVD.

Putting it in an external DVD drive (my MBP's superdrive has just been replaced by a second SSD) :

- my 2010 MacBook Air boots from the Windows install DVD, whether using Bootcamp or selecting the boot disk at startup)

- my 2011 MacBook Pro (i7 2.3Ghz, 8GB RAM, 2 SSDs inside) does not boot and just shows a DOS like cursor or a "no boot device found" message.

I can definitely leave without BootCamp, but am still quite annoyed by this.

Any idea on how to solve this?

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

May 24, 2011 5:22 AM in response to ReVeLaTeD

Like I said, the only difference between your installation and thousands of successful installations is you.

philm80

Level 1

0 points

May 24, 2011 6:15 AM in response to jerome1989

Jerome, did you try creating a MBRFAT flash drive following the instructions found here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3173

philm80

Level 1

0 points

May 24, 2011 6:16 AM in response to Csound1

Csound1, if you've already said it, and it already didn't help anyone, please stop repeatedly picking on people that come here looking for assistance.

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

May 24, 2011 6:19 AM in response to philm80

For the majority of people the software works, the hardware works, the variable is the person, instead of wasting time sympathizing it makes sense to point out where the problem originates, a cure is simpler once that is accepted.

philm80

Level 1

0 points

May 24, 2011 6:30 AM in response to Csound1

People don't come here to learn to improve themselves, and if they did what you offer in no way does that. There are known issues with using bootcamp and windows 7, many of these issues revolve around graphics drivers as appears to be the case here. Much of the time the person forgot a step, or was unaware of one, but also much of the time, as with mine, a simple hardware failure can cause the rest of the set up to fail. I commend the original responders advising to make sure the disc is burned properly and such, however, simply repeatedly telling someone that they are the problem is not helping anyone in any way, whatsoever. If you have a problem with how someone approaches you asking for advice, the best solution is to ignore them, especially when it's on an open forum. There is absolutely no need to provoke, or as I said earlier, pick on, someone that is simply asking for help.

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

May 24, 2011 6:31 AM in response to philm80

We'll have to agree to disagree, I hope you solve your problem soon.

philm80

Level 1

0 points

May 24, 2011 6:34 AM in response to Csound1

I've already solved my problem, I stated that earlier in this thread. If you'd like to put your experience to use instead of vent frustration it looks like Mr Colas could use assistance. I'm very very new to Apple so my help will be limited.

ReVeLaTeD Author

Level 1

10 points

May 24, 2011 6:42 AM in response to ReVeLaTeD

Additional info:

Original MacBook Pro was bought first day. Does not boot any DVD except the Apple DVD if the SSD is inside.

Just bought a new MacBook Pro from the Apple Store two days ago. DVD's boot fine with the SATA II drive. That's PROOF POSITIVE something changed, it was broken like I said.

The SATA III drive works in the newer MacBook Pro but just barely. There's a substantial lag when first booting up the drive for some reason, but after it's up and running, it works fine. It wouldn't even do a 100MB file copy in the old MacBook Pro.

So for anyone who is actually open to the idea that Apple is capable of problems, the early MacBook Pros DO have a problem with Boot Camp / DVDs / SATA drives. The newer MacBook Pros (built in either April or May) appear to have had something fixed internally which resolves the issue.

jucytec

Level 1

0 points

May 24, 2011 8:01 AM in response to ReVeLaTeD

AHCI is not turned on in the EFI BIOS.

Since Windows 7 does NOT support EFI 1.x it has no way of turning it unless you change yer MasterBootRecord to trick windows to thinking AHCI was enabled by BIOS.

Solution:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?s=302e54f35b9a21094d90d0e190889eae&sh owtopic=126089

Might be a bit complex for some users but this will allow your SSD to work in AHCI mode. Not ALL SSD's work in IDE mode which is how boot camp load's it's HDD.

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

May 24, 2011 11:02 AM in response to jucytec

I've cloned Windows (Paragon Suite) to SSD on Mac Pro 1,1 and the performance is as fast and normal as on 2 other comparable or better custom PCs.

I see this question posed regularly for 4 yrs going back to 2006/7 and Vista x64 (though not about SSD, just AHCI). And in the past I used 10K Raptors mostly of one model or later VRs.

People have wanted to try to "enable" those two ODD ports to use in Windows as well.

In some ways, and running Windows primarily, I ditched the Mac Pro except as a backup system probably to go with a 'real' Windows computer. So I can enable RAID mode, BIOS, OC, use better graphics, and importantly, have better thermal control.

Folks, Boot Camp is broken in 2011.