Aidar
Level 1 (15 points)

Q: BootCamp 5.0 error on 13” MacBook Pro Mid-2010: “Installation Error. Boot Camp x64 is unsupported on this computer model”

Installing Boot Camp 5.0.5033 (downloadable at http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1638) on Windows 8 x64 on 13” MacBook Pro Mid-2010 using BootCamp\setup.exe, I get the following message: “Installation Error. Boot Camp x64 is unsupported on this computer model”.


According to http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5634, Windows 8 x64 is not supported by Boot Camp 5 on 13” MacBook Pro Mid-2010 .

 

Previous version, Boot Camp 4.0, causes bluescreens on Windows 8 (https://discussions.apple.com/message/20131524#20131524).

 

Fortunately, it might be still possible to employ updated Boot Camp by launching “msiexec /i BootCamp.msi” from BootCamp\Drivers\Apple folder using administrative command prompt (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc947813%28v=WS.10%29.aspx).

 

However, new Boot Camp 5.0.5033 does not contain all the drivers for 13” MacBook Pro Mid-2010. E.g. driver for NVIDIA nForce System Management Controller (labeled Other devices/Coprocessor in Control Panel) and NVIDIA nForce PCI Systems Management (labeled Other devices/SM Bus Controller in Control Panel) must be obtained at Drivers\NVidia\NVidiaChipset64 in older Boot Camp 4.0 (downloadable at http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1634)


According to Microsoft (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/system-requirements), the MacBook Pro config (Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM) exceeds Windows 8 x64 hardware requirements. Windows Experience Index for this laptop is approx. 5.1 (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/what-windows-experience-index).


Does anybody know, is there any technical reason why Windows 8 x64 is not supported by Boot Camp 5 on 13” MBP Mid-2010?

Is there a specific hardware/firmware deficiency in this MacBook model, incompatible with Win8? Maybe NVIDIA refused to provide Win8-compatible drivers for its chipset components (GeForce 320M graphics card though is still supported by latest notebook drivers available at www.geforce.com)?

MacBook Pro, Other OS

Posted on Mar 16, 2013 10:03 AM

Close
Aidar

Q: BootCamp 5.0 error on 13” MacBook Pro Mid-2010: “Installation Error. Boot Camp x64 is unsupported on this computer mod ... more

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by tsynik,Helpful

    tsynik tsynik Mar 16, 2013 1:08 PM in response to Aidar
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 16, 2013 1:08 PM in response to Aidar

    I also installed Bootcamp 5 with Windows 8 x64. The only thing is Windows 8 x64 doesn't work in UEFI mode with GeForce Driver installed (but boots OK without GPU driver). In BIOS mode all hardware works fine. I also wonder why 15" and 17" 2010 models supported, but 13" is not. Maybe this is the reason:

     

    *This system has dual graphics processors -- a NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 256 MB of dedicated GDDR3 SDRAM and Intel HD Graphics with 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory.

     

    in case of 15 and 17 models.

     

    Anyway, you have Windows 8 x64 with Bootcamp 5 working with some tricks. Only issue SATA controller works in IDE mode, but it's OK. Another tip is to install updated Broadcom Bluetooth drivers from Broadcom site: http://www.broadcom.com/support/bluetooth/update.php. NVidia Chipset drivers 15.56 x64 can be obtained from NVidia site: http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce-vista-win7-64bit-15.56-driver.html

  • by tsynik,

    tsynik tsynik Mar 16, 2013 1:22 PM in response to Aidar
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 16, 2013 1:22 PM in response to Aidar

    Another small issue is brightness control with Bootcamp 5 GPU driver of the last one from NVidia site.

    I fixed it with some tips from GeForce forums:

     

    https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/518208/geforce-mobile-gpus/brightness-c ontrols-not-working/4

     

    1) Open regedit and go to the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Class" key.

    2) Find the sub-key corresponding to the NVIDIA graphics adapter. I did this by going to Find in the Edit menu and searching for "nvidia".

    3) Add a new DWORD called "EnableBrightnessControl" and set the value to 1.

    4) Reboot and the brightness keys should work again.

     

    now brightness control works.

  • by Aidar,

    Aidar Aidar Mar 17, 2013 4:12 AM in response to tsynik
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Mar 17, 2013 4:12 AM in response to tsynik

    Thanks for the follow-up and the information regarding NVIDIA and Broadcom drivers! Curious, how do you determine from within Windows 8 x64 whether MacBook is working in “UEFI mode” vs. “BIOS mode”?

  • by irishexpatriate,

    irishexpatriate irishexpatriate Mar 17, 2013 8:01 AM in response to Aidar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2013 8:01 AM in response to Aidar

    After searching other issues relating to windows boot camp issues, i tried installing the bootcamp.msi file in Drivers\Apple\ through RgtClk review compatability and i was able to bypass the unsupported issue.

     

     

    I just did this, so no news on how well it works.

     

     

    my computer: early 2009 27" iMac (ufficially unsupported by Apple)

  • by tsynik,

    tsynik tsynik Mar 17, 2013 12:07 PM in response to Aidar
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 17, 2013 12:07 PM in response to Aidar

    Boot mode depends on partition scheme / boot loader. I have hybrid MBR/GPT formatted disk. On EFI partition I have EFI bootloader for Windows 8 /EFI/Boot/BOOTx64.EFI + /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/BCD. On main partition with Windows (which set as active on MBR partition scheme) i have BIOS bootloader MBR + bootmgr + /BOOT/BCD. When I choose boot from EFI partition - MCP89 loaded in AHCI mode, but 320M fails to load with it's driver (only works with generic from Microsoft). In BIOS mode (as any BOOTCAMP boots) all is fine.

  • by Aidar,

    Aidar Aidar Mar 19, 2013 2:20 AM in response to tsynik
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Mar 19, 2013 2:20 AM in response to tsynik

    Thanks for the detailed explanation! If MacBook supports AHCI/SATA only in native “UEFI mode”, while reverting back to PATA/IDE in legacy “BIOS mode”, then it could make perfect sense to use UEFI to make sure that technology like Native Command Queuing (NCQ) is employed, as it may give noticeable performance improvements for certain operations: www.happysysadm.com/2012/12/intel-g530-nas-performance-part-3.html. I wonder how do you get Windows 8 x64 with EFI bootloader installed on MacBook?


    Simply choosing EFI Boot (“Some EFI platforms support both UEFI and BIOS firmware. On some of those systems, it is not always clear if the default DVD boot option is an EFI or BIOS boot option. On these systems, using the EFI shell command may be required. If you do not specifically start Windows Setup by using the EFI boot entry, the default firmware boot entry for BIOS may be used. If Windows Setup starts in BIOS mode on a combined EFI/BIOS system, the ESP and MSR partitions are not created.”) from Win8 x64 DVD when installing on blank HDD would yield “The computer restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error. Windows installation cannot proceed" message. Also, if the hard drive was not in SATA mode during Windows installation, registry tweaking may be required before switching from PATA to SATA. Do you do registry tweaking and EFI bootloader configuration manually after a copy of Windows was installed in its dedicated partition in a regular way?

  • by tsynik,Helpful

    tsynik tsynik Mar 19, 2013 3:56 AM in response to Aidar
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 19, 2013 3:56 AM in response to Aidar

    NCQ doesn't give much improvement over IDE mode. Much more sence have unaccessible GPU in EFI mode. Since Windows 8 is much more hardware independent, it automatically detects and configures on boot all new hardware (NVidia AHCI SATA controller for example) when switching from EFI/BIOS. Yup, I installed (actually restored a fresh copy) on external USB HDD. After, I just placed EFI bootloader on 1st small EFI partition manually with: bcdboot S:\Windows /g Z: /f UEFI (where S: - windows partition, Z: - EFI partition [200MB fat32 formatted], /f switch tell which boot type code must be placed there), and my Mac can load Windows with ALT press on boot from that external HDD in native EFI mode.

  • by Aidar,

    Aidar Aidar Mar 22, 2013 3:29 PM in response to tsynik
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Mar 22, 2013 3:29 PM in response to tsynik

    Thank you for the valuable insight!

    It seems that many people are interested in running Windows 8 x64 with BootCamp 5.0 on MacBooks that are currently supported only by older BootCamp 4.0 (which causes BSODs on Win8):

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4889818

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4892799

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4889654

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4894920

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4889229

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4895881

     

    I submitted a request to add 13” MacBook Pro Mid-2010 to the list of models officially supported by BootCamp 5.0 at http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html. BootCamp 5.0.5033 has been running on my MacBook Pro for about a week, without any problems so far.

  • by dekampes,

    dekampes dekampes Jul 15, 2013 9:22 PM in response to tsynik
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 15, 2013 9:22 PM in response to tsynik

    Hi tsynik!

     

    Sorry for bumping old thread.

     

    So, did you successfully install NVidia driver on Win 8 x64 under EFI-mode?

    I've tried several versions of VGA driver (320.49, 285.62, and 266.58) and all of them came with same result: BSOD and suddenly restart when installing driver.

    Can I fix it by installing Broadcom Bluetooth driver and NVidia Chipset drivers 15.56 x64?

     

    I can't use Windows in BIOS-mode because it didn't show Windows installation screen, only black screen appeared. But in EFI mode, it works (although installation steps a bit tricky with several reboot). I also use MBP 7.1 (13" Mid-2010).

     

    Thank you.

  • by KaIelegnA,

    KaIelegnA KaIelegnA Oct 24, 2013 4:34 PM in response to Aidar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 24, 2013 4:34 PM in response to Aidar

    Hi everyone!

     

    Dekampes, any solution for your problem? I've with the same issue...

     

    Thanks.

  • by KaIelegnA,

    KaIelegnA KaIelegnA Oct 27, 2013 5:13 PM in response to dekampes
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2013 5:13 PM in response to dekampes

    Hi Dekampes!

     

     

     

    Dekampes, any solution for your problem? I've with the same issue...

     

     

     

    Thanks.

  • by KaIelegnA,

    KaIelegnA KaIelegnA Oct 27, 2013 5:14 PM in response to Aidar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2013 5:14 PM in response to Aidar

    Hi everyone!

     

     

     

    Dekampes, any solution for your problem? I've with the same issue...

     

     

     

    Thanks.

  • by dekampes,

    dekampes dekampes Oct 27, 2013 9:01 PM in response to KaIelegnA
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2013 9:01 PM in response to KaIelegnA

    Hello KaIelegnA!

     

    I have reinstalled Windows 8 x64 in EFI mode several times and tried with various NVidia driver version as suggested by many people on forums but unfortunately I did end up with failure, even with latest NVidia driver.

     

    Sorry can't help you more.