24" iMac mid 2007 that won't install Windows in Boot Camp

Question

Level 1

9 points

24" iMac mid 2007 that won't install Windows in Boot Camp

Machine specs: 24" iMac Mid 2007 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (64-bit), 4 GB RAM, running Mac OS X 10.6.8 using Boot Camp 3.0.4

Spec link: http://support.apple.com/kb/SP16

Partition was successfully created, 75 GB MS-DOS (FAT) partition named BOOTCAMP shows up in Disk Utility and on the Finder.

I have read and tried http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3173 along with a second display, but can't even get to an install screen. I get a white or black screen on both displays, that's it. Boot Camp says that Windows 7 is required, I have tried both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, as well as a 32-bit version of Windows XP that I still have, nothing will even get to the installer screen.

I am ready to upgrade to Lion, but I really wanted to get my Windows Boot Camp install up and running first. I tried downloading a newer version of Boot Camp Assistant, 3.1, 3.2, or 3.3, but all I can find are Windows executables like this http://support.apple.com/downloads/DL979/en_US/BootCamp_3.2_64-bit.exe

Where can I find and download the Mac OS Boot Camp Assistant updates? Or is that not the problem?

Many thanks for any help, I've read and Googled around the topic, but I'm finally reaching out for some help here.

Sam

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 24" iMac Mid 2007 2.4 GHz 4 GB RAM

Posted on Dec 30, 2011 10:29 AM

Reply

Answer 1

kostby

Level 4

2,940 points

Dec 30, 2011 5:49 PM in response to CyberGoat

I'm fairly certain that you cannot use a 75GB Windows partition formatted as FAT.

I think it has to be NTFS if it is more than 32GB.

This is from an older version of the Boot Camp installation guide (OS X 10.5)

One other possibility is that the default Windows video driver used at installation is somehow incompatible with your ATI Radeon chipset. ATI has an Apple Boot Camp driver here http://www.official-drivers.com/installer/?seed=ati&gclid=COOhrP6Vq60CFc3DKgod71 _NoA

Unfortunately that download a setup.exe file, which means you have to have Windows running in order to install it, so that won't help during installation.

Reply

Answer 2

CyberGoat Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 30, 2011 9:11 PM in response to kostby

The partition was made with Boot Camp Assistant, not the Windows install DVD, I can't get to that step. The 32 GB limitation was due to old Windows Operating System, and doesn't come into play at this point. I believe that you can create a partition as big as you like, but the old OS would only make use of the 32 GB that it could "see". I know that the first step once I get to the Windows install DVD is to reformat the partition from FAT to NTFS - if only I can get there.

It may well be a video driver problem, but I haven't found a way to get the iMac to boot from a USB stick with drivers either. I'm working on that too.

Reply