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User profile for user: jim-mcg
jim-mcg Author
User level: Level 1
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Uninstall and reinstall Bootcamp files in Windows 10 partition?

Loner T had a suggestion concerning a prior post, but I had already looked at the post he suggested consulting, with no luck. No other responses. So I'm trying another tack before I go back to Win 7.


I upgraded Win 7 Ultimate partition to Win 10 Pro 10 days ago and installed relevant 8.1 drivers on Macbook Pro 17" early 2011. Apple does not support Windows 10 on these machines, although several have reported that they have been able to install it using 8.1 drivers - as I did. Everything works in Win 10 EXCEPT:


1. When logging into my account, sometimes the computer crashes as it loads the bootcamp control panel thumbnail, yielding a BAD_POOL_HEADER blue screen, after which Win 10 reboots. It is possible, of course, that the problem actually lies in the attempt to load another program. However:


2. When loading the Bootcamp thumbnail does not crash the computer, attempting to get access to the control panel often does crash it, yielding - again - the BAD_POOL_HEADER blue screen, followed by an automatic reboot.


All drivers are 'best for the machine', etc. Memory - 16 GB - is fine, and has no problems under Win 7 or OS X 10.11.3.


Bootcamp version is 3.0, which is what worked with Win 7, although there are much more recent versions.


I guess that this is not a common problem. Any suggestions concerning what can be done before I abandon Win 10 and revert to Win 7? I'm even willing to uninstall Bootcamp in the Win 10 partition and try to load it again using the automated 8.1 install, but I haven't heard of anyone who has tried this and had any success with it. (I like 10 and am tired of being told while in Win 7 that I should update to Win10. But I don't want to waste time with nuisance Bootcamp crashes in 10.)

MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2011), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Feb 7, 2016 6:43 PM

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25 replies
User profile for user: Loner T
Loner T
User level: Level 9
59,471 points

Feb 7, 2016 9:44 PM in response to jim-mcg

The Intel GPU drivers seem to cause much grief on pre-2012 Macs when running W10.


1. Can you check if the Windows installation is EFI (use msinfo32 and look at BIOS Mode).

2. W7 is usually installed using legacy BIOS/MBR on 2011 Macs. The hardware exposed via the CSM-BIOS layer is not the same as one exposed via EFI. For example, the CSM layer hides the integrated Intel GPU. Can you check which Display Adapters you currently have in Device Manager? Please also check Hidden devices using View -> Show Hidden Devices checkbox.

3. W7/W8.1 drivers are not different in the 5.x series of BC driver packages.

4. W10 has stricter enforcement of drivers and will not load unsigned drivers that were allowed in W7/W8.1 5.x series.

5. The W8.1/W10 BC6 series of drivers are the ones needed.

6. You need not install any BC6 drivers and just use Windows generic drivers, but quite a bit of your Apple-specific hardware does not function the same across OS X and W10 using this approach.

7. Most users have individually installed drivers as a workaround, in some cases using Admin rights and compatibility mode.

8. Event Viewer would be the best place to look for the driver which causes this exception.

9. Windows Automatic Update seems to be broken in W10. It installs drivers that it thinks are appropriate for your hardware, but such drivers cause crashes, reboots, BSoDs, etc.

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User profile for user: jim-mcg
jim-mcg Author
User level: Level 1
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Feb 8, 2016 10:22 AM in response to Loner T

Many thanks for the detailed response, Loner T. You (or someone else) might not be able to help any more, but just in case, I went through your list and got this information:


1. It’s legacy, not EFI

2. The AMD Radeon 66-6700 series driver alone is installed; there are no visible or hidden intel gpu drivers.

3-5 and 7. I installed all drivers in the 5.1.x series manually, following Apple’s instructions for Bootcamp installation of 8.1 at https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201457 plus advice from those on the web who had installed Win 10 after Win 7. I did not use compatibility mode. From within Win 10, I requested updates for each driver manually installed from the 8.1 driver package. There were very few cases where a new driver was installed. After those few updates, all drivers were checked (twice, in fact), and in all cases, I was informed that each is a ‘best for’ or ‘latest’ driver. Would Win 10 provide that information if the relevant driver(s) were unsigned – would the driver have installed at all? Everything works well when the machine successfully boots – with the exception of Bootcamp itself: I can only rarely get access to the Bootcamp control panel, and even when I do, initiating a request often crashes the machine.

6. I need the drivers for the Apple-specific hardware. It’s hard to do without them.

8. I tried Event Viewer. One driver load error (WudfRd for device ACPI…) does not initiate a reboot. What does: “WUDFPf (part of UMDF) did not load yet.” Another error: “The following boot-start or system-start-driver(s) did not load: dam” That one often initiates a bunch of red-flagged errors and bug checks. I’m unfamiliar with Windows OS, so don’t know what these errors are. A quick check on the net wasn't very helpful.

9. I disabled automatic update after installation.


Incidentally, I have Win 10 running successfully on a Retina Macbook Pro; I could check which drivers are installed on it, although I’d guess that the Apple-specific hardware drivers (including the GPU driver) would be different.


Any advice welcome...

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User profile for user: Loner T
Loner T
User level: Level 9
59,471 points

Feb 8, 2016 10:31 AM in response to jim-mcg

From Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5621,


Post Date: Feb 11, 2014

File Size: 924.9 MB

System Requirements

  • MacBook Air (11-inch & 13-inch, Mid 2011)
  • MacBook Air (11-inch & 13-inch, Mid 2012)
  • MacBook Pro (15-inch & 17-inch, Mid 2010)
  • MacBook Pro (13-inch, & 15-inch, Early 2011)
  • MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011)
  • MacBook Pro (13-inch,15-inch & 17-inch Late 2011)
  • MacBook Pro (13-inch & 15-inch, Mid 2012)
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012)
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012)
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch and 15-inch, Early 2013)
  • Mac Pro (Early 2009)
  • Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
  • Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
  • Mac mini (Mid 2011)
  • Mac mini (Late 2012)
  • iMac (27-inch, Mid 2010)
  • iMac (21.5-inch & 27-inch, Mid 2011)
  • iMac (21.5-inch & 27-inch, Late 2012)
  • iMac (21.5-inch) Early 2013
  • Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1, 64 bit


Can I suggest you download this package from Apple, and instead of using individual drivers, run setup.exe in the Bootcamp folder and report any issues that you see? Please notice that these drivers support W7 and W8.1, both. Create a Windows System Restore point, before you apply these, in case you need to roll back to the current state.

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User profile for user: Loner T
Loner T
User level: Level 9
59,471 points

Feb 8, 2016 12:56 PM in response to jim-mcg

Can I suggest you run the same setup.exe again? The reason for that is because of inter-dependency between various drivers. When new, with no other drivers in place, there is no cleanup required. Since you had older drivers, it is worthwhile to run it again and check.


You can also check if Device Manager shows any devices with yellow triangle and exclamation marks. Also, click on View -> Show Hidden devices to check if you can sport any other issues.

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User profile for user: jim-mcg
jim-mcg Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Feb 8, 2016 1:32 PM in response to Loner T

I ran it again. Before running it, for some reason the screen started dimming a few minutes after initial startup (but after I reported success with running setup.exe.) Running it and rebooting seems to have cured that - at least, a few minutes after rebooting.


Before running it again and while the screen was dim, I checked the device driver list: no issues. After running it, I checked it again: no issues.


Again, a good suggestion. Thank you.


Which raises a question: I had downloaded the full 5.1.5621 suite when installing Win 10 but didn't use the setup.exe option, installing drivers manually instead. Should everyone who upgrades run setup.exe, despite some contrary opinions from users?

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User profile for user: Jamiemacintyre120789
Jamiemacintyre120789
User level: Level 1
4 points

Feb 9, 2016 1:52 PM in response to Loner T

First of all jim-mcg sorry to hijack the thread, but Loner T is brilliant and what ever the problem is he will help you solve it.


Hi Loner T, judging by the amount of people on here posting for your help, you wont remember me but a year ago you helped me sort out my partition tables after I upgraded my Macbook pro to Mac OS X Yosemite and lost my windows 7 partition that I use with Boot camp - never had any problems since so thanks a lot for your help, I am just wondering however now if you have encountered the problem the other way around - I am considering using the free upgrade offer from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and I am just wondering if people you have come across have done this in windows and then lost their Mac OS X partition - or upgraded Windows but its lost the Windows partition, your thoughts would be most appreciated.


Jamie

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Uninstall and reinstall Bootcamp files in Windows 10 partition?

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