Win7-32bit on BootCamp won't boot under 10.9

So I really want to get come clarification, this specific January 2013 Macbook Pro was booting Windows 7 32bit just fine with Mountain Lion, and upon upgrading to Mavericks, it not longer would boot Windows?

Is there a log I can address with Console.app that will tell me what my "boot behavior" has been since Feb. 3, 2013? I am trying to come up with a better answer than my memory offers me. (Or is there a log I can access to get this information when I am running my Windows under VirtualBox?)

Oh for Pete's sake, thanks for not telling us the whole story and wasting everyone's time. NOW you tell us that this Windows 7 32bit was never originally installed on THIS COMPUTER? Great.

I'm not an expert. I only use Windows when I am required to use it by my work. I have become progressively more nimble at not using Windows. I would never intentionally "waste everyone's time," and am usually not passive-aggressive enough to waste anyone's time. I don't know very much about Windows. I admit that.

Part of my confusion/ignorance/poor memory may derive from my use of VirtualBox. My VirtualBox, as far as I know, boots from my BootCamp installation. I just checked, and the VirtualBox boots satisfactorily into Windows. I still sometimes need to boot into BootCamp to perform some tasks for work, though, and that's why I'm trying to get things to work again.

It seems to me unlikely that it will be useful for me to run the command line commands in the running VirtualBox installation, but I mention that it is possible.

That things be clear, I bought the machine from Apple in February, 2013. It was bulit in January, 2013. However, as I put in my "signature" information below, it is the model called 9,2, classified by Apple as a 2012 model.

Apple Part No: MD101LL/A

Apple Subfamily: Mid-2012 13"

Apple Model No: A1278 (EMC 51*)

Model Identifier: MacBookPro9,2

Processor Name: Intel Core i5

Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 2

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 3 MB

Memory: 16 GB

Boot ROM Version: MBP91.00D3.B08

SMC Version (system): 2.2f44

The page you mentioned informs me that my machine can run 32 bit Windows 7 under BootCamp.

There is at least one PACS (Picture Archive Communication System) server that I have an unpredictable need to access that I have only heretofore been able to access from natively booted (BootCamped) Windows. It might be that someone who understands the networking details of virtual machines better than I do could make these things work.

I'm much more firmly in contact with the limitations of my understanding than I was before starting this thread.

Version 5.1.0 (473)

Yesterday, I prepared a USB stick, changing it from xFat to FAT32 in anticipation of these events. I'm downloading the files now. Maybe I'll be able to make a bootable optical drive from my .iso install disk image, and somehow make the chihuahua jump through the burning hoop.

In the meantime, after I used VirtualBox, the behavior of my machine changed. Yestereday: When I choose the 28GB partition from Startup Manager, it does nothing after I hit ENTER. If I am booted into Mavericks and use Startup Disk in System Preferences to choose the 28GB partition, it does reboot to a black screen with a white blinking underscore character top left.

Today:

Whether I choose the 28GB partition from Startup Manager, or if I am booted into Mavericks and use Startup Disk in System Preferences to choose the 28GB partition, it does reboot to a black screen with a white blinking underscore character top left. It no longer does nothing after I choose the 28GB partition from Startup Manager.

I found the notes I made from when I got the new machine. I did a very elaborate migration of the BootCamp partition using Winclone, and making a special SysPrep image. I am certain now that the machine successfully booted into Win7 several times 4 months ago.

I used Boot Camp Assistant to "burn" my Windows .iso to a Master Boot Record FAT32 USB flash drive, and it told me it was successful.

When I booted into Startup Manager, I could see the WINSTALL USB flash drive. I selected it, hit enter, and my display went white… and remained that way for 12 minutes without doing any other thing.

Should I have been holding down an "F-key" (top row of the keyboard of my MBP) or something like that?

I'm suspicious now of my USB stick, as it does not show up as bootable in System Preferences>Startup Disk.

Message was edited by: autnagrag

After two reboots, the USB WININSTALL loaded its OS, but claimed "This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to repair." I also had a .cdr of a System Recovery disk from my Win7 installation, so I used the Mavericks Boot Camp Assistant to make this into a bootable USB. That failed in the same way.

I think you need to create a bootable DVD or more likely a bootable USB stick somehow. I doubt the Mavericks version of Boot Camp will help because presumably it'll know the ISO contains a 32-bit OS and will refuse to proceed.

Tonight I can boot the machine into 10.8.5, and use that Boot Camp Assistant. Maybe it will make useful USB sticks.

Here is that output. I did not know if I was supposed to target the Windows partition, at disk1s4, but I assumed that was what I should do. You can see the code I entered. If I should do it another way, please let me know. I see trouble messages such as Invalid partition table, among others.

user$ sudo dd if=/dev/disk1 bs=440 count=4 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

Password:

00000000 33 c0 8e d0 bc 00 7c fb 50 07 50 1f fc be 1b 7c |3.....|.P.P....||

00000010 bf 1b 06 50 57 b9 e5 01 f3 a4 cb bd be 07 b1 04 |...PW...........|

00000020 38 6e 00 7c 09 75 13 83 c5 10 e2 f4 cd 18 8b f5 |8n.|.u..........|

00000030 83 c6 10 49 74 19 38 2c 74 f6 a0 b5 07 b4 07 8b |...It.8,t.......|

00000040 f0 ac 3c 00 74 fc bb 07 00 b4 0e cd 10 eb f2 88 |..<.t...........|

00000050 4e 10 e8 46 00 73 2a fe 46 10 80 7e 04 0b 74 0b |N..F.s*.F..~..t.|

00000060 80 7e 04 0c 74 05 a0 b6 07 75 d2 80 46 02 06 83 |.~..t....u..F...|

00000070 46 08 06 83 56 0a 00 e8 21 00 73 05 a0 b6 07 eb |F...V...!.s.....|

00000080 bc 81 3e fe 7d 55 aa 74 0b 80 7e 10 00 74 c8 a0 |..>.}U.t..~..t..|

00000090 b7 07 eb a9 8b fc 1e 57 8b f5 cb bf 05 00 8a 56 |.......W.......V|

000000a0 00 b4 08 cd 13 72 23 8a c1 24 3f 98 8a de 8a fc |.....r#..$?.....|

000000b0 43 f7 e3 8b d1 86 d6 b1 06 d2 ee 42 f7 e2 39 56 |C..........B..9V|

000000c0 0a 77 23 72 05 39 46 08 73 1c b8 01 02 bb 00 7c |.w#r.9F.s......||

000000d0 8b 4e 02 8b 56 00 cd 13 73 51 4f 74 4e 32 e4 8a |.N..V...sQOtN2..|

000000e0 56 00 cd 13 eb e4 8a 56 00 60 bb aa 55 b4 41 cd |V......V.`..U.A.|

000000f0 13 72 36 81 fb 55 aa 75 30 f6 c1 01 74 2b 61 60 |.r6..U.u0...t+a`|

00000100 6a 00 6a 00 ff 76 0a ff 76 08 6a 00 68 00 7c 6a |j.j..v..v.j.h.|j|

00000110 01 6a 10 b4 42 8b f4 cd 13 61 61 73 0e 4f 74 0b |.j..B....aas.Ot.|

00000120 32 e4 8a 56 00 cd 13 eb d6 61 f9 c3 49 6e 76 61 |2..V.....a..Inva|

00000130 6c 69 64 20 70 61 72 74 69 74 69 6f 6e 20 74 61 |lid partition ta|

00000140 62 6c 65 00 45 72 72 6f 72 20 6c 6f 61 64 69 6e |ble.Error loadin|

00000150 67 20 6f 70 65 72 61 74 69 6e 67 20 73 79 73 74 |g operating syst|

00000160 65 6d 00 4d 69 73 73 69 6e 67 20 6f 70 65 72 61 |em.Missing opera|

00000170 74 69 6e 67 20 73 79 73 74 65 6d 00 00 00 00 00 |ting system.....|

00000180 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|

*

000001b0 00 00 00 00 00 2c 44 63 a7 47 8a 02 00 00 00 00 |.....,Dc.G......|

000001c0 02 00 ee 7f 0e 19 01 00 00 00 27 40 06 00 00 7f |..........'@....|

000001d0 0f 19 af d4 d7 ff 28 40 06 00 b0 49 d8 36 00 d4 |......(@...I.6..|

000001e0 d8 ff ab 2c ef ff d8 89 de 36 20 5f 17 00 80 49 |...,.....6 _...I|

000001f0 d5 ff 07 50 cf ff 00 f0 f5 36 00 70 42 03 55 aa |...P.....6.pB.U.|

00000200 45 46 49 20 50 41 52 54 00 00 01 00 5c 00 00 00 |EFI PART....\...|

00000210 e7 31 38 4c 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |.18L............|

00000220 2f 60 38 3a 00 00 00 00 22 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |/`8:....".......|

00000230 0e 60 38 3a 00 00 00 00 db d3 f4 f0 fb 01 e9 40 |.`8:...........@|

00000240 b9 14 b5 4f 59 fd 2d e2 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |...OY.-.........|

00000250 80 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 35 61 bc 1f 00 00 00 00 |........5a......|

00000260 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|

*

00000400 28 73 2a c1 1f f8 d2 11 ba 4b 00 a0 c9 3e c9 3b |(s*......K...>.;|

00000410 72 6e 8b 01 45 4f fd 43 8e 3c 46 ef 7a 6b d6 16 |rn..EO.C.<F.zk..|

00000420 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 27 40 06 00 00 00 00 00 |(.......'@......|

00000430 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 20 00 |........E.F.I. .|

00000440 53 00 79 00 73 00 74 00 65 00 6d 00 20 00 50 00 |S.y.s.t.e.m. .P.|

00000450 61 00 72 00 74 00 69 00 74 00 69 00 6f 00 6e 00 |a.r.t.i.t.i.o.n.|

00000460 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|

*

00000480 00 53 46 48 00 00 aa 11 aa 11 00 30 65 43 ec ac |.SFH.......0eC..|

00000490 d0 47 a0 d6 38 89 65 4a b0 67 e7 eb 59 f6 00 3d |.G..8.eJ.g..Y..=|

000004a0 28 40 06 00 00 00 00 00 d7 89 de 36 00 00 00 00 |(@.........6....|

000004b0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 54 00 72 00 65 00 66 00 |........T.r.e.f.|

000004c0 6f 00 69 00 6c 00 5f 00 4d 00 65 00 74 00 64 00 |o.i.l._.M.e.t.d.|

000004d0 61 00 6c 00 65 00 39 00 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |a.l.e.9.2.......|

000004e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|

*

00000500 74 6f 6f 42 00 00 aa 11 aa 11 00 30 65 43 ec ac |tooB.......0eC..|

00000510 cf 0d bc 21 9d 34 d7 45 97 d7 6d 55 21 9c 47 28 |...!.4.E..mU!.G(|

00000520 d8 89 de 36 00 00 00 00 f7 e8 f5 36 00 00 00 00 |...6.......6....|

00000530 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 41 00 70 00 70 00 6c 00 |........A.p.p.l.|

00000540 65 00 5f 00 48 00 46 00 53 00 5f 00 55 00 6e 00 |e._.H.F.S._.U.n.|

00000550 74 00 69 00 74 00 6c 00 65 00 64 00 5f 00 32 00 |t.i.t.l.e.d._.2.|

00000560 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|

*

00000580 a2 a0 d0 eb e5 b9 33 44 87 c0 68 b6 b7 26 99 c7 |......3D..h..&..|

00000590 5f 0d 4b 99 02 cd 1e 47 88 cb 18 a9 f4 7c 28 5f |_.K....G.....|(_|

000005a0 00 f0 f5 36 00 00 00 00 ff 5f 38 3a 00 00 00 00 |...6....._8:....|

000005b0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 50 00 4f 00 43 00 54 00 |........P.O.C.T.|

000005c0 4f 00 42 00 41 00 4d 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |O.B.A.M.........|

000005d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|

*

000006e0

user$

user$ sudo dd if=/dev/disk1 bs=440 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

|3.....|.P.P....||

|...PW...........|

|8n.|.u..........|

|...It.8,t.......|

|..<.t...........|

|N..F.s*.F..~..t.|

|.~..t....u..F...|

|F...V...!.s.....|

|..>.}U.t..~..t..|

|.......W.......V|

|.....r#..$?.....|

|C..........B..9V|

|.w#r.9F.s......||

|.N..V...sQOtN2..|

|V......V.`..U.A.|

|.r6..U.u0...t+a`|

|j.j..v..v.j.h.|j|

|.j..B....aas.Ot.|

|2..V.....a..Inva|

|lid partition ta|

|ble.Error loadin|

|g operating syst|

|em.Missing opera|

|ting system.....|

|................|

|.....,Dc|