Sudden Black Screen when booting into via Boot Camp

Question

Sudden Black Screen when booting into via Boot Camp

Hello everybody

I have a Mac Pro (early 2008) running OS 10.8.2 along with Windows XP and Windows 8 via Boot Camp. It has successfully been running Windows XP for a number of years now, and Windows 8 since about December last year, everything running perfectly well.

However, this morning, when coming to boot into XP, all I get it a black screen, no BIOS / OS choice which I usually get.

What I DO get:

1. Both drives mount under OSX

2. Both XP and 8 can be selected in boot preferences

3. Both XP and 8 can be selected using option while booting

4. The hard drives SOUND as though they are booting the OSs normally (the usual clicks and pops of the audio devices for example)

5. The Mac boots absolutely fine

What I DON'T get:

1. No BIOS boot selector

2. No Safe Boot options

3. I don't get a flashing cursor or anything like that

4. Windows installation DVDs (both XP and W8) do not display, but sound like they are booting as normal - so I can't 'repair' anything. These are legitimate disks.

I feel like everything is running normally, but I simply don't 'see' anything. The only thing I can think of is that I upgraded Direct X 11 under Windows 8 at the weekend, but I can't think that would cause the BIOS screens not to display or Windows XP to boot up. If this was the case, how can I remove the installation via the Mac to make it run as a 'default' driver?

I'm open to other suggestions if you feel the above is not the problem.

I'm not sure if reinstallation is an option as I simply can't see any Windows screens! Not even from an installation disk!

I hope someone can help!

Thank you.

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Mar 11, 2013 7:51 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 11, 2013 10:14 AM in response to Robert Iveson1

As an additional note, I have also tried creating a brand new Windows partition using Boot Camp Assistant and goiong through the motions of reinstalling a copy of Windows 7. I still don't see any Windows screens during a reboot, so it's not even a fresh install is an option as I still don't see any Windows boot-up/install screens.

I have also tried completely removing the Windows 8 hard drive, and while Windows XP seemingly boots as normal, I still don't 'see' anything.

Hope somebody can help - all my work depends on it!

Thanks.

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Answer 2

_bck

Level 1

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May 31, 2014 1:02 PM in response to Robert Iveson1

Hey Robert,

I know this is old, but did you ever find a solution to this problem? I'm having a very similar issue with Bootcamped Windows 8.1 Pro on an early 2013 Macbook Pro. Everything was functioning normally, then suddenly it cut to black. I was actually in the middle of normal use when it happened to; no restart or anything. Now the most I get is the blue Windows logo at startup, then black. Same as for you, everything sounds like it's functioning normally, just no display.

Thanks!

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Answer 3

_bck

Level 1

0 points

May 31, 2014 2:08 PM in response to _bck

EDIT: RESOLVED

For anyone else who finds their way here like I did, this link did it for me: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/527599/windows-8-issues-solved-please-r ead-if-you-39-re-having-black-screen-and-or-flickering-/

Specifically, the posts by Dunsany and valkyr did the trick. I booted in safe mode, uninstalled and deleted the Nvidia driver, disabled automatic driver installation, and restarted normally. I then manually downloaded and installed the previous Nvidia driver for my graphics card (which at the time of this writing was 335.23, rather than the latest which was 337.88), and everything is now bueno!

Two hiccoughs along the way: First, when I tried to uninstall the Nvidia driver the first time, when I restarted I got the login screen (which was a good sign), but it quickly went black again. I powered down, restarted in safe mode again, and repeated the uninstallation process, and it worked the second time. Second, when I started the manual install of the 335.23 driver, the computer played a sound similar to the one for disconnecting a USB device, and the screen went black. I'd seen a lot about trying to increase the brightness (though it hadn't worked up to this point; but if you haven't tried it yet, might as well); I tried it, and it worked! So far I'm back up and running. [/fingers crossed]

Hope this helps someone else!

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