Windows will not start and cannot be reinstalled

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Level 1

4 points

Windows will not start and cannot be reinstalled

I have a 300GB Win 7 partition on disk 2 on my Mac Pro (set up using Bootcamp) that was running fine until a few days ago. There were some "critical updates" that Windows installed, followed by a restart. Now, it simply refuses to start. When I boot into the Apple drive (disk 1), I get a message in OS X saying that the volume did not mount correctly; interestingly enough, another NTFS partition (used for data only) on drive 3 is also reported as unmountable.

I tried the following:

1. Reformatted drive 2 as one partition with Bootcamp and started a fresh installation of Windows - it failed by not allowing the Windows installer to run (hangs up after the logo).

2. Reformatted drive 2 as one partition and restored a previously good image of the drive using Winclone. It verified correctly and mounted properly in OS X (I can view the files). However after I restart and select the Windows HD to boot, it shows the green bars upon Windows start and then hangs up with a black screen.

3. Booting up with the Windows 7 Recovery disc to attempt repair. It failed with an error: unable to repair - contact Administrator.

4. Booting up with the Windows 7 Recovery disc to restore using an image created with Windows 7. The operation was successful, but the restored partition still hangs up in the same place.

In short, Windows won't start up and I can't reinstall it either!

I can't help but think there is something wrong outside of the NTFS partitions (boot partition?), somewhere in the OS X partition. Is there a "secret" Bootcamp partition/file that could be corrupted and cause this? Can anyone help me troubleshoot this?

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Sep 2, 2011 10:32 AM

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Answer 1

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

Sep 2, 2011 11:07 AM in response to pknoot

Ive run Vista and now Windows 7 Pro for 5 yrs and no Windows update was ever a problem.

Windows was also always on its own drive and a NTFS drive for data.

You left something out? maybe you have 3rd party driver or program that is the culprit?

I would find something better than WinClone to image and clone Windows, natively.

Also, a chkdsk and more were probably in order.

Paragon $49 HDM 2011 Suite, or their more robust Pro $99 version for managing, cloning etc.

Just pop in a drive or connect properly where Windows can see it, delete and let Paragon format and clone and know you have a BOOTABLE 2nd Windows drive for backups.

The fact that Mac OS tries to mount your NTFS suggests it is not read-only, that you use Mac OS NTFS driver to support write ability, yes? no? And don't use Apple Disk Utilty to try repairing NTFS.

PS: Boot Camp Assistant is NOT needed to install Windows 7 on its own drive and better w/o.

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Answer 2

pknoot Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 5, 2011 10:42 AM in response to The hatter

Thanks for the response, Hatter!

I'd be happy to try your suggestions, however, I need a solution to this problem first:

I can't even install a new instance of Windows on my system - the install disk hangs up (there should be no issues with drivers or 3rd party programs, right?).

Also, the system shows a drive called EFI after a boot with Option key depressed. What is that?

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Answer 3

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

Sep 5, 2011 11:11 AM in response to pknoot

You don't need to do anything but

Pull all your drives except one

Boot from Windows 7 DVD

There is no Windows Recovery disc.

You are seeing what has always been there. GPT and EFI and seeing "efi" with Apple boot happens, cosmetic (often from having used Disk Warrior) but has been there since 2003-4.

Windows won't install if it sees a 2nd drive with GPT and OS X which is why you remove those.

I get tired of asking, and the new Apple Community doesn't make for having a hardware profile sig but pre-2008 Mac Pro models have more issues. Windows 7 64-bit Pro SP1 System Builder is the ideal version today.

The fact you had Windows before. Now you add that you can't do anything, doesn't tell me or help a whole lot.

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Answer 4

pknoot Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 6, 2011 9:35 AM in response to The hatter

Thanks for the suggestions, Hatter! Here's an update:

BTW - the Windows Recovery Disc is created once you have a Windows 7 installation; it prompts you to do so when you do your first Windows backup procedure. I highly recommend it - it contains some tools that help troubleshoot startup problems. In true MS fashion though, it doesn't do a great job in all circumstances. It is similar to the tools on a Windows install disk.

1. OK, I pulled all the drives except for the one I wanted to install Windows on, booted from the Windows 7 install disk, and installed Windows 7 just fine. The system went through multiple reboots without a hitch.

2. I reconnected the Mac OS X drive and rebooted. The system goes into OS X just fine, but on restart and selecting the Windows 7 drive, it's back to the old behavior! Windows hangs up just after displaying the logo. There is no NTFS partition on the OS X drive, by the way.

3. After a Windows startup failure I boot back up into OS X and I get an error message, saying that the NTFS drive was not shut down properly and could not be mounted.

I keep wondering if OS X has a "boot manager" that somehow tries to control the Windows boot. I'm sorry if that's a stupid question, but I can't imagine why I see this behavior otherwise. Is that the case?

I'd be happy to provide a hardware profile if that helps; please let me know what I should do to obtain it and in what format to submit it. Thanks!

What else can I tell you? I thought I had explained it, but I'd be happy to provide any additional details that would help solve the issue.

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Answer 5

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

Sep 6, 2011 10:06 AM in response to pknoot

OS X has its own read-only NTFS.

Which version of OS X? and I was trying to find if you installed 3rd party NTFS driver for OS X? some don't work, and need to be upgraded too.

Mac has EFI and if you use Alt or Option it doesn't have abilty to mount or modify but it does 'peek' for valid boot volumes.

Windows 7 - normally you will have 100MB partition (with 32MB used) which is actually where/what Windows boots from.

Install of Windows w/o BCA and w/o OS X being present avoids any conflict, but very often OS X's control panel for Startup Disk won't see Windows. Boot Camp control panel in Windows though always works for seeing both.

I think just the process of setting the default OS could mess up something, and that is the only place or time.

I don't have Lion. Maybe at some point. Intrigued with Parallels 7 support too.

Some people use to have a Recovery disc instead of an installer. I assumed that was what you had rather than the one you burned. Is that WinRE? Paragon has updated theirs to WinRE 3.0.

While Windows 7 is running and updated, did you install any Apple drivers, and if so, which? is this 3.0 thru 3.3? there seems to be trouble with 3.0 and 3.3, so 3.2 seems best. If Lion then 4.0 (and with the live download the issues that another Mac Pro owner had the first week Lion came out trying to use 4.0 was just a disaster and he went back to 3.2. Lately, it 'seems' that BC 4.01 drivers in Windows are okay or safe to use. Thanks to the public testing guys! sorry had to put you through that I guess?

So between steps #2 and #3 was Boot Camp drivers installed? they are helpful but not 100% essential, but does add a timesynch and osswitcher to Windows which are. The rest of it.... iffy.

AppleHFS for Windows was buggy and one of the reasons for 3.1 and 3.2, or using Paragon HFS driver for Windows which is what I use and how I access HFS drives and works fine. And they have had a solid NTFS driver for OS X, but may want to check and Google for - some had trouble it seems, and any driver needs to be retuned for Lion or any OS update sadly.

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