Black screen after boot

Question

Level 1

8 points

Black screen after boot

I have a new MacBook Air 13”. I am trying to install Windows 7 Ultimate x64. I have the ISO download directly from Microsoft and an 8GB USB drive and 4GB USB drive and both work for enabling booting to USB. I have used both before to install Windows 7 Ultimate x64.

I have tried and followed the boot camp installation guide.

I have created the Windows install USB using the boot camp assistant.

I have created the USB using a Windows machine.

I have tried using just Boot Camp and rEFI to boot the USB. Nothing works.

I have booted in all different resolutions and tried tapping the space bar as the USB loads.

I have made sure the USB is set to active in diskpart.

I see the USB blinking as if it is working but the screen is black. The only way to boot back to OS X is to hold down the option key and select Macintosh HD, there is an empty part showing fat32. Help I am at a loss. I do not get to the blinking curser. Thanks in advance.

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.3), MacBook Air 13" 4.2

Posted on Feb 20, 2012 1:09 PM

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Answer 1

CyberBop Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 20, 2012 1:11 PM in response to CyberBop

Oh sorry I forgot I have also tried the MacBook Air SuperDrive to make a DVD and boot from that and same, black screen.

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Answer 2

Mar 15, 2012 7:00 PM in response to CyberBop

*Bump* I have a 2007 Macbook Pro and am trying to install another OS. Tried rEFI to boot Windows Ubuntu etc.

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Answer 3

CyberBop Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 16, 2012 5:25 AM in response to Daniel Worrall

I worked with Apple support on the phone. They were unable to help me and after their level 3 tech I was transferred to an engineer who knew all about the EFI. Worked with this guy for 20 minutes and he said it is physically defective. The engineer flagged the laptop to be secured at my local Apple store and sent back to him for more testing.

I went to the Apple store and the in store support attempted by the book to install Windows from their in-house copy (yes they use Windows 7 at Apple for a few things) which they know works. The system failed. They replaced my system with a new system and packaged the broken system to go back to the Apple engineer.

The new system worked perfectly and I was able to easily install Windows 7 Ultimate x64 with no issues using Boot Camp.

Your Question Daniel:

The MacBook Pro is not able to use the USB to boot from, only the Air. If you are using a USB it will not work to install any OS and a disc is needed.

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Answer 4

Mar 19, 2012 1:23 AM in response to CyberBop

Glad you got it sorted. Sadly my machine is well out of warranty, I don't see how the EFI firmware can become defective unless it was bricked from the factory to begin with.

I am going to remove my drive and physically use in my Mac Pro which has a working DVD drive. It just just a pain on the old Macbooks as it involves disassembling the whole case.

I have done it before to upgrade the internal hard-drive, but it is just uncessary hastle.

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Answer 5

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Mar 19, 2012 6:50 AM in response to Daniel Worrall

While the Air supports it, there is a long thread from non-Air users that have edited and added plist to include their model in the string for support booting from USB DVD driver.

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