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Level 1

5 points

"Non-system disk Press any key to reboot"- Trying to install Win 7 on Mac Mini

Hello. I'm trying to install Windows 7 on a new-model Mac Mini ('Late 2012'), which I just bought from Apple. [Specs: 1 TB Fusion drive, 2.6 GHz intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM, OS X Mavericks (latest), Graphics: Intel HD graphics 4000, Screen: LG Flatron 24"].

After following instructions on Bootcamp, I tried installing it through my external USB Apple Superdrive (DVD), but for some reason as soon as the system finishes getting things ready and reboots to begin installing Windows 7, I get a black screen with an error message as follows: "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key". Pressing the keys on my keyboard does nothing (even though it's a wired model, not a wireless one.) I'm forced to do a hard shutdown using the power button and hold down the Option key in order to get the system to show the Mac HD where OS X is. It also shows the Windows DVD as another option, but when I select it and the system boots, I just get the same error message again. So I go back to a hard shutdown and reboot to go into OS X again.

Not sure what to do, I did some online research and in one post in the Frequently Asked Questions for Bootcamp, it says for installing Win 7 and Win 8, the computer won't work with external USB drives (*totally nuts in my opinion - Apple has to fix this stuff if they want to entice Windows users into buying their sleek, quiet hardware). Instead, the post recommends creating a Windows 7 ISO file from my Windows 7 DVD and putting it on a USB thumbdrive that Bootcamp is going to use to put all the Apple/Windows drivers on for the installation process. I'm also told I have to unplug my Superdrive (no explanation given for why). So I do all this and get Bootcamp Assistant running again. Unfortunately, as soon as the system reboots after going through all the usual preparation steps, I get another black screen with a new error message: "Non-system disk Press any key to reboot". So I'm at a loss for what to do next.

(I've also have an iMac that I bought more than a year ago that I also put Windows 7 on, with no problems that time. Go figure.)

If anyone here has an good answer for how to proceed, I need to know. Thanks in advance!

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Sep 14, 2014 11:20 PM

84 replies

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Jan 24, 2015 9:18 AM in response to nicimini

East coast of US has been snowy. 😉

A Suspicious MBR is expected, because of the us of a mixed configuration. Alt Boot does not provide the CSM-BIOS environment that the Windows Installer needs. Alt/Boot makes sense during an EFI installation.

In BCA there are three options, and if you use the last one which is either 'Install Windows...' or 'Remove Windows...' it should provide further details. If you get stuck at a black screen, it is because you may have a USB3 device (but you have USB 8GB disks). You should try all USB ports on the back of the Mini to try the Windows installer.

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 24, 2015 10:05 AM in response to Loner T

hi there again, thanks,

well, i ran bca, got to the 'remove windows', let it re-make the partition and boot.

it has gone to black screen with something i've never seen before, a white circle with a diagonal line across it at 45 degrees.

like a 'no entry' road sign here in the uk.

so i took out the usb stick, reset NVRAM and SMC ; tried again just to get to yosemite, apple logo came up, time bar got about quarter of the way then black screen with same no entry sign.

just trying to boot into recovery now.

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 24, 2015 11:56 AM in response to Loner T

hmm tricky,

booting into either mac hd or mac hd recovery (alt boot) leads to black screen and no entry sign.

booting into apple recovery (alt cmd r) leads to globe (fixed not spinning) and frozen mouse.

nothing conected into back of mini except usb for keyboard and usb dongle for wireless mouse and ethernet cable.

NVRAM and SMC reset, then reboot, leads to black screen and no entry sign.

reboot in cmd s

lots of text, updates and scrolls down. then stops, much of the text becomes illegible and the no entry sign pops up.

one legible bit says MAC framework successfully initialized

last bit of semi-legible text seems to say 'waiting for root device'

any idea what is going on? !!

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 24, 2015 12:10 PM in response to Loner T

ran same thing again. just before the no enry sign appeared it was saying

'iousbfamily having trouble enumerating a usb device'.

it repeated 10 times then

pci pause :sxdc

then no entry sign

next time i disconnected the keyboard as soon as it started to boot up and got no more 'iousbfamily' issue.

it went straight to

pci pause : sxdc

waiting for root device

no entry

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Jan 24, 2015 12:41 PM in response to nicimini

You have two separate issues.

usb dongle for wireless mouse

This will not work with the Windows/BC installer. Either you need a straight BT mouse, or a USB-wired one. This should be removed prior to the next Windows installation attempt.

like a 'no entry' road sign here in the uk.

Please install http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202796 on an external volume. This would happen if the GPT was corrupted (intentionally) or the incorrect Windows destination partition was picked. Once it boots from an external disk, please post the output of

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/diskN (where N points to your internal disk).

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 25, 2015 6:39 AM in response to Loner T

that took a while, but i'm now booted on a sandisk stick and here is the sudo output

Last login: Sun Jan 25 13:48:59 on ttys000

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *121.3 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 121.0 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_HFS 999.3 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.1 MB disk1s3

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *15.9 GB disk2

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk2s1

2: Apple_HFS Untitled 1 15.0 GB disk2s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk2s3

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

Password:

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=121332826112; sectorsize=512; blocks=236978176

gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 236978175

start size index contents

0 1 PMBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 32 Pri GPT table

34 6

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

409640 236306352 2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

236715992 262144 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

236978136 7

236978143 32 Sec GPT table

236978175 1 Sec GPT header

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0s1

gpt show: /dev/disk0s1: mediasize=209715200; sectorsize=512; blocks=409600

gpt show: /dev/disk0s1: MBR at sector 0

start size index contents

0 1 MBR

1 409599

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0s2

gpt show: /dev/disk0s2: mediasize=120988852224; sectorsize=512; blocks=236306352

gpt show: /dev/disk0s2: MBR not found at sector 0

start size index contents

0 236306352

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ sudo gpt --v -r show /dev/disk0s2

gpt: illegal option -- -

usage: gpt [-rv] [-p nparts] command [options] device ...

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0s2

gpt show: /dev/disk0s2: mediasize=120988852224; sectorsize=512; blocks=236306352

gpt show: /dev/disk0s2: MBR not found at sector 0

start size index contents

0 236306352

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0s3

gpt show: /dev/disk0s3: mediasize=134217728; sectorsize=512; blocks=262144

gpt show: /dev/disk0s3: MBR not found at sector 0

start size index contents

0 262144

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Jan 25, 2015 7:28 AM in response to nicimini

The red Macintosh HD means something happened to the CoreStorage volume. Can you post the output of diskutil cs list? There used to be a CS volume which included disk1s2, but somehow has been corrupted. The output of the command will show what OS X thinks the CS volume is. The corrupted CS LV/LVG can be fixed using Disk Utility.

There is no GPT for disks of type disk0sN since they are parts of a larger disk. The only disks which have GPT are disk0 and disk1.

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 25, 2015 7:30 AM in response to Loner T

hi, yes i thought the red looked ominous,

Last login: Sun Jan 25 13:48:59 on ttys000

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *121.3 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 121.0 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_HFS 999.3 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.1 MB disk1s3

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *15.9 GB disk2

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk2s1

2: Apple_HFS Untitled 1 15.0 GB disk2s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk2s3

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

Password:

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=121332826112; sectorsize=512; blocks=236978176

gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 236978175

start size index contents

0 1 PMBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 32 Pri GPT table

34 6

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

409640 236306352 2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

236715992 262144 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

236978136 7

236978143 32 Sec GPT table

236978175 1 Sec GPT header

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0s1

gpt show: /dev/disk0s1: mediasize=209715200; sectorsize=512; blocks=409600

gpt show: /dev/disk0s1: MBR at sector 0

start size index contents

0 1 MBR

1 409599

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0s2

gpt show: /dev/disk0s2: mediasize=120988852224; sectorsize=512; blocks=236306352

gpt show: /dev/disk0s2: MBR not found at sector 0

start size index contents

0 236306352

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ sudo gpt --v -r show /dev/disk0s2

gpt: illegal option -- -

usage: gpt [-rv] [-p nparts] command [options] device ...

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0s2

gpt show: /dev/disk0s2: mediasize=120988852224; sectorsize=512; blocks=236306352

gpt show: /dev/disk0s2: MBR not found at sector 0

start size index contents

0 236306352

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0s3

gpt show: /dev/disk0s3: mediasize=134217728; sectorsize=512; blocks=262144

gpt show: /dev/disk0s3: MBR not found at sector 0

start size index contents

0 262144

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 25, 2015 7:31 AM in response to Loner T

sorry, previous output was still in memory

here's the new

Last login: Sun Jan 25 14:04:31 on ttys000

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

+-- Logical Volume Group E5679389-004F-483A-9EA6-A817BDF88F4B

=========================================================

Name: Macintosh HD

Status: Offline

Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

Free Space: -none-

+-< Physical Volume BA168C26-2BAA-4F04-90B9-8CDCE4D22456

| ----------------------------------------------------

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Checking

| Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

+-< Physical Volume 5E890DC7-BF52-4FB3-982E-C04886278E63

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

(No properties)

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Jan 25, 2015 7:35 AM in response to nicimini

You can first try Disk Utility and click on the read Macintosh HD and check if you are allowed to Repair and Verify the CS LV/LVG. If not, then make sure you have an available TM backup that you can use to erase the internal disk and do a full restore from TM, and then retry your BC/Windows installation.

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 25, 2015 7:49 AM in response to Loner T

latest output; it only offered me 'ignore' or 'repair' when i selected the red hd.

Last login: Sun Jan 25 15:11:55 on ttys001

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$ diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

+-- Logical Volume Group 0462B505-E160-44E4-978E-77AD19EA0708

=========================================================

Name: Macintosh HD

Status: Online

Size: 1120849764352 B (1.1 TB)

Free Space: 0 B (0 B)

+-< Physical Volume 539D4882-A8D9-4E4A-83BC-9F48434FDC2C

| ----------------------------------------------------

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

+-< Physical Volume 1A9A9A2F-2177-4027-9270-81BC9DB877B7

| ----------------------------------------------------

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 999860912128 B (999.9 GB)

+-> Logical Volume Family 1A5CBDC4-AD8C-433E-A19B-5CB6C6FBF2C8

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

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: None

Conversion Status: NoConversion

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: No

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

+-> Logical Volume 0CF4FE87-5308-41E6-A4E4-2A8EA3DE638F

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

Disk: disk3

Status: Online

Size (Total): 1114994507776 B (1.1 TB)

Conversion Progress: -none-

Revertible: No

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

nics-iMac:~ sandisk$

i guess that's a whole lot better(?)

i'll do the TM back-up although there's not much on it.

do i then run a straight bca install or am i likely to encounter the same issues as before.

i.e should i run the sudo gdisk terminal commands as well?

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Jan 25, 2015 7:59 AM in response to nicimini

This looks much better. The 'Repair' rebuilt your CS volume as disk1s2 is back in the CS volume. Can you now try and boot from the internal Fusion disk?

If you can boot from the internal disk, try the BC/Windows installation again.

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 25, 2015 9:05 AM in response to Loner T

no luck. the mini booted into yosemite just fine, all the back-up was there.

ran bca with an 8gb sandisk. all went as you'd expect, downloaded windows support software, auto reboot, the light on the sandisk is 'breathing' but the screen (23" alloy apple cinema 2005 viintage) is black. when i did the test bca install of the windows cd on my old mac pro last week the screen came up fine (that was a 20" alloy cinema display).

😟 !

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Jan 25, 2015 9:12 AM in response to Loner T

Loner T wrote:

You have two separate issues.

usb dongle for wireless mouse

This will not work with the Windows/BC installer. Either you need a straight BT mouse, or a USB-wired one. This should be removed prior to the next Windows installation attempt.

Did you switch to a regular wired USB or a straight BT mouse?

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 25, 2015 11:11 AM in response to Loner T

yes, usb wired mouse.

well i'll be ******. as i type this ( i just switched the 23" inch screen for the old 20" inch, a last ditch desperate measure for which i could see no real logic) up comes the blue windows screen.......

i can hardly bloody believe it.... i mean why? if there was a fault with the 23" screen surely it just wouldn't work.... how does it choose to be so picky about what software it will allow to be run. once i've set windows up properly i'll try with the bigger screen again. ah, maybe it's a different driver for win 7 than the smaller screen.

i feel so bad for having put you through all this when it was just a screen issue.

it's weird, if it was a driver issue then why does the bigger screen run fine on the windows bootcamp on the mac pro.( just tried it).

and then, even odder, just put the big screen back on the mac mini and it’s absolutely o.k.

so in effect the 23” screen was blocking (or not allowing) the installation of windows on the bootcamp partition, but is now happy to run with it after it has been installed under the 20” screen.

once again, you have been a rock throughout this process, and although the issue has turned out to be for something pretty random, without your help i would have given up long ago. can’t really thank you enough.

happy trails

"Non-system disk Press any key to reboot"- Trying to install Win 7 on Mac Mini