Boot Camp repair after deleting Linux Partitions

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Boot Camp repair after deleting Linux Partitions

I'm running OS X 10.9.4 and Windows 7 x64 Ultimate on Parallels 8. This is on a Mid 2011 iMac with a 1TB Hard Drive.

Earlier this year I decided to update my setup to allow a triple boot with Ubuntu to familiarize myself a bit with Linux (using rEFIt. I was able to successfully boot into Mac and Linux and continue to use Parallels to use my Windows, however I was unable to boot into Windows anymore. Initially I setup Windows using the bootcamp assistant and then added parallels later. I no longer have a need for Linux so I used disk utility to remove the Linux partitions and gave the space back to OS X. I also moved the EFI folder to stop it from using rEFIt anymore. I tried again to boot into windows using the Startup Disk section in System Preferences but got the following message:

"No bootable device --- insert boot disk and press any key"

I restarted, put in my boot disk and was able get back into OS X. I have read some other posts on similar issues but it seems as if my case might be different since I deleted the Linux partitions.

Here are the results of the "gpt -r -vv show disk0" and "fdisk /dev/disk0" commands, tilde's added by me:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

sudo gpt -r -vv show disk0

gpt show: disk0: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168

gpt show: disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

gpt show: disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: disk0: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167

start size index contents

0 1 MBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 32 Pri GPT table

34 6

40 409600 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

409640 1464844248 2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

1465253888 262144

1465516032 488007680 3 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

1953523712 1423

1953525135 32 Sec GPT table

1953525167 1 Sec GPT header

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [ start - size]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 409639] <Unknown ID>

2: AF 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 409640 - 1464844248] HFS+

3: 0C 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [1465516032 - 488007680] Win95 FAT32L

4: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If needed, 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB 1333 MHz DDR3 Ram.

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Sep 7, 2014 4:42 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,849 points

Sep 7, 2014 4:49 PM in response to ice1080

Do you have a question? If so then please ask it with as much detail as possible. Try to be brief.

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Answer 2

ice1080 Author

Level 1

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Sep 7, 2014 8:15 PM in response to ice1080

I am trying to regain the ability to boot into Windows. As stated in the initial post above, I currently receive the error message "No bootable device --- insert boot disk and press any key"

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

361,849 points

Sep 7, 2014 11:05 PM in response to ice1080

You will have to reinstall Windows. That is what the error message means.

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Answer 4

ice1080 Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 8, 2014 7:54 AM in response to Kappy

Thanks for the suggestion Kappy but I am actually looking to follow the steps for using GPT fdisk (gdisk) to repair it as seen in this thread. I know that re-installing windows will likely fix the problem but that is quite a bit of extra time to recover the data I currently have on the computer. I would like to recover the bootable partition without deleting it. I have also tried backing up the Windows partition using Windows 7 Backup and Restore which fails every time for no apparent reason. Due to this, I saved my most important files but it would still be a significant amount of time to recover this setup, seeing as I have quite a bit of software on there from work which is not easy to get onto this computer.

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 16, 2014 6:03 PM in response to ice1080

Please post the output of

1. sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk0s3 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

2. Your MBR has 0x'0C', not 0x'07' for MBR #3, and it needs to be flagged as bootable using

sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0

setpid 3

07

flag 3

w

y

3. Check if Bootcamp mounts and is visible in Finder.

4. Check if files can be read in Finder.

5. Check if the Bootcamp shows up in Startup disk.

You do not have a Recovery HD, so you will end up with Internet Recovery when using Command+R/Command+Opt+R.

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Answer 6

ice1080 Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 17, 2014 7:50 PM in response to Loner T

Hi Loner T. Here are the responses:

1. sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk0s3 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

00000000 eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20 20 20 20 00 02 08 00 00 |.R.NTFS .....|

00000010 00 00 00 00 00 f8 00 00 3f 00 ff 00 00 00 5a 57 |........?.....ZW|

00000020 00 00 00 00 80 00 80 00 ff 67 16 1d 00 00 00 00 |.........g......|

00000030 00 00 0c 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|

00000040 f6 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 4e 8d 25 e6 9e 25 e6 08 |........N.%..%..|

00000050 00 00 00 00 fa 33 c0 8e d0 bc 00 7c fb 68 c0 07 |.....3.....|.h..|

00000060 1f 1e 68 66 00 cb 88 16 0e 00 66 81 3e 03 00 4e |..hf......f.>..N|

00000070 54 46 53 75 15 b4 41 bb aa 55 cd 13 72 0c 81 fb |TFSu..A..U..r...|

00000080 55 aa 75 06 f7 c1 01 00 75 03 e9 dd 00 1e 83 ec |U.u.....u.......|

00000090 18 68 1a 00 b4 48 8a 16 0e 00 8b f4 16 1f cd 13 |.h...H..........|

000000a0 9f 83 c4 18 9e 58 1f 72 e1 3b 06 0b 00 75 db a3 |.....X.r.;...u..|

000000b0 0f 00 c1 2e 0f 00 04 1e 5a 33 db b9 00 20 2b c8 |........Z3... +.|

000000c0 66 ff 06 11 00 03 16 0f 00 8e c2 ff 06 16 00 e8 |f...............|

000000d0 4b 00 2b c8 77 ef b8 00 bb cd 1a 66 23 c0 75 2d |K.+.w......f#.u-|

000000e0 66 81 fb 54 43 50 41 75 24 81 f9 02 01 72 1e 16 |f..TCPAu$....r..|

000000f0 68 07 bb 16 68 70 0e 16 68 09 00 66 53 66 53 66 |h...hp..h..fSfSf|

00000100 55 16 16 16 68 b8 01 66 61 0e 07 cd 1a 33 c0 bf |U...h..fa....3..|

00000110 28 10 b9 d8 0f fc f3 aa e9 5f 01 90 90 66 60 1e |(........_...f`.|

00000120 06 66 a1 11 00 66 03 06 1c 00 1e 66 68 00 00 00 |.f...f.....fh...|

00000130 00 66 50 06 53 68 01 00 68 10 00 b4 42 8a 16 0e |.fP.Sh..h...B...|

00000140 00 16 1f 8b f4 cd 13 66 59 5b 5a 66 59 66 59 1f |.......fY[ZfYfY.|

00000150 0f 82 16 00 66 ff 06 11 00 03 16 0f 00 8e c2 ff |....f...........|

00000160 0e 16 00 75 bc 07 1f 66 61 c3 a0 f8 01 e8 09 00 |...u...fa.......|

00000170 a0 fb 01 e8 03 00 f4 eb fd b4 01 8b f0 ac 3c 00 |..............<.|

00000180 74 09 b4 0e bb 07 00 cd 10 eb f2 c3 0d 0a 41 20 |t.............A |

00000190 64 69 73 6b 20 72 65 61 64 20 65 72 72 6f 72 20 |disk read error |

000001a0 6f 63 63 75 72 72 65 64 00 0d 0a 42 4f 4f 54 4d |occurred...BOOTM|

000001b0 47 52 20 69 73 20 6d 69 73 73 69 6e 67 00 0d 0a |GR is missing...|

000001c0 42 4f 4f 54 4d 47 52 20 69 73 20 63 6f 6d 70 72 |BOOTMGR is compr|

000001d0 65 73 73 65 64 00 0d 0a 50 72 65 73 73 20 43 74 |essed...Press Ct|

000001e0 72 6c 2b 41 6c 74 2b 44 65 6c 20 74 6f 20 72 65 |rl+Alt+Del to re|

000001f0 73 74 61 72 74 0d 0a 00 8c a9 be d6 00 00 55 aa |start.........U.|

00000200

2.

sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0

fdisk: could not open MBR file /usr/standalone/i386/boot0: No such file or directory

Enter 'help' for information

fdisk: 1> setpid 3

Starting Ending

#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [ start - size]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*3: 07 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [1465516032 - 488007680] HPFS/QNX/AUX

Partition id ('0' to disable) [0 - FF]: [7] (? for help) 07

fdisk: 1> flag 3

Partition 3 marked active.

fdisk:*1> w

Device could not be accessed exclusively.

A reboot will be needed for changes to take effect. OK? [n] y

Writing MBR at offset 0.

3. Bootcamps automatically mounts on startup and it is visible in finder.

4. Files can be read in finder, I opened up a text document and a word document in OS X from the windows documents.

5. Bootcamp shows up in Startup disk.

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Answer 7

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 18, 2014 4:44 AM in response to ice1080

The NTFS header is intact, so this may be easier than some other scenarios.

Can you select Windows as the startup disk in System Preferences -> Startup Disk and reboot? If you see any errors, please post back here.

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Answer 8

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 18, 2014 4:48 AM in response to Kappy

Kappy wrote:

You will have to reinstall Windows. That is what the error message means.

I wish TM would support backing up Windows on the Mac (and Windows in general), so backup/restore would be supported and save posters some time and energy.

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Answer 9

ice1080 Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 18, 2014 11:38 AM in response to Loner T

After it rebooted, black screen with:

error: no such partition.

grub rescue>

This is the same thing that happens if I turn the computer off and on and hold the option key to select windows.

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Answer 10

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 18, 2014 12:02 PM in response to ice1080

The GRUB has replaced your Mac's Bootmanager. In GRUB, does Windows show up as bootable partition?

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Answer 11

ice1080 Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 19, 2014 5:10 PM in response to Loner T

Loner T,

in terminal:

$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 750.0 GB disk0s2

3: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 249.9 GB disk0s3

Then, within grub rescue:

grub rescue> ls

(hd0) (hd0,gpt3) (hd0,gpt2) (hd0,gpt1)

I am not real sure where to go from there. Grub rescue's list includes hd0,gpt3; which seems to be the Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP partition. Does this mean it is bootable?

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Answer 12

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 19, 2014 8:32 PM in response to ice1080

Power cycle your Mac and hold the Alt key. If you see Windows select it and try. I am tempted to suggest removing GRUB totally and allowing Apple Bootmanager to come up. Traditional bootcamp requires the CSM BIOS layer, I have not seen an GRUB loader do that.

Also, please see this... http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/71555/boot-windows-from-grub-rescue-comm and-prompt

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Answer 13

ice1080 Author

Level 1

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Sep 20, 2014 8:26 PM in response to Loner T

When I choose Windows from the Apple Bootmanager, the same thing happens with the no such partition and into grub rescue. I have no problem at all removing GRUB. I only installed it for when I was messing with Linux and really have no use for it now. I read the article but it seems to just be saying to install Ubuntu again or boot Windows from an external source. I can do this if needed but I didn't know if this was like a permanent solution. If possible, I'd rather get it setup without the need of anything external, like I had it before. Is this possible?

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Answer 14

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 20, 2014 9:16 PM in response to ice1080

1. As a test, I suggest removing GRUB.

2. Post the output of sudo fdisk /dev/disk0 just to confirm that the MBR looks good.

3. Confirm that you can see the bootcamp volume in Finder and files in the volume are visible.

4. Confirm that Bootcamp can be selected in Startup Disk.

5. Select the Bootcamp disk, restart and test.

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Answer 15

ice1080 Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 21, 2014 7:18 PM in response to Loner T

1. According to what I found online, the only way I could find to remove GRUB was to type the following in terminal

sudo fdisk -0 /dev/disk0

2.

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [ start - size]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 409639] <Unknown ID>

2: AF 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 409640 - 1464844248] HFS+

*3: 07 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [1465516032 - 488007680] HPFS/QNX/AUX

4: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

3. I can still see bootcamp in Finder and am still able to open the files. I can as well still use Parallels with my Windows partition.

4. I can still select Bootcamp from Startup Disk

5. When I select the Bootcamp disk and restart, I get a black screen with a blinking cursor. The only way to get back to OS X is to hold the power button and restart with the option key selected. Unfortunately now only OS X is shown in the boot manager...

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