Macbook Pro Late 2011 running High Sierra, Windows 10 flashing cursor on boot after installing Paragon NTFS 15

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Level 1

8 points

Macbook Pro Late 2011 running High Sierra, Windows 10 flashing cursor on boot after installing Paragon NTFS 15

Macbook Pro Late 2011 15" has been dual booting Windows 10 and High Sierra just fine. Windows 10 partition was running out of space. I installed Paragon HFS+ on Windows to see my MacOS / OS X partition. Installed fine, but it couldn't find the partition.

So, I booted into High Sierra and installed Paragon NTFS 15. My hope was to move some files from the Mac side to the Windows side to decrease the Mac partition. Paragon NTFS 15 seemed to work. I decided to use it to select Windows as my default boot OS. But when the Macbook restarted I got the "no bootable device" black screen.

Booted back into Mac and uninstalled NTFS 15 but problem still lingers.

I've had something similar happen before about 8 months ago, and somehow fixed it by following several posts from Loner T here on the Apple Communities Discussions. I tried following along again. Booted from my Windows 10 official CD, made my way to command prompt, and did "some stuff" with diskpart and list disk and I think I've made the problem worse now because the "No bootable device" screen has changed to a single flashing white underscore cursor on a black screen.

My goal is to free up as much space on my Mac partition and shrink that partition as much as possible to get more space for Windows. I don't want to fresh install Windows as I have a lot of customizations going on already.

I've included some terminal output and screenshots that might help:

Last login: Thu Nov 16 11:22:22 on console

Jamess-Mac:~ Admin$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk1 200.7 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_HFS Untitled 124.3 GB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 174.7 GB disk0s4

/dev/disk1 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +200.7 GB disk1

Physical Store disk0s2

1: APFS Volume JMH SSD MacBook Pro 154.2 GB disk1s1

2: APFS Volume Preboot 19.0 MB disk1s2

3: APFS Volume Recovery 518.1 MB disk1s3

4: APFS Volume VM 8.6 GB disk1s4

/dev/disk2 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: CCSA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV5 *4.3 GB disk2

Jamess-Mac:~ Admin$ diskutil cs list

No CoreStorage logical volume groups found

For this image below I chose the Windows CD/DVD option, not EFI Boot

MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), macOS High Sierra (10.13.1)

Posted on Nov 16, 2017 11:59 AM

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Answer 1

jamesh53 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 21, 2017 7:02 AM in response to Loner T

So I ran

diskutil eraseVolume free free disk0s3

once, and then booted into the GParted Live CD. I used GParted to absorb the unallocated space. Then I tried booting into Windows 10 and received an "Operating system not found" error. So I booted with my Windows 10 DVD and tried repairing the disk.

I got this screen for about a second:

Then I got this screen:

So I booted into OS X and took some more pictures:

And finally booted back into GParted to see what it looked like:

I'm confused as to why GParted looks so different than Disk Utility in OS X, and I also still can't get to Windows 10 even though I can see the partition on boot and within OS X.

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Answer 2

jamesh53 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 16, 2017 2:32 PM in response to Loner T

Last login: Thu Nov 16 12:39:04 on console

Jamess-Mac:~ Admin$ sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk0s4 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

Password:

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 b0 42 dd 25
|........?....B.%|

00000020
00 00 00 00 80 00 80 00
57 1d 57 14 00 00 00 00
|........W.W.....|

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
17 81 9c 78 c8 9c 78 7e
|...........x..x~|

00000050
ff 38 d9 a1 fa 33 c0 8e
d0 bc 00 7c fb 68 c0 07
|.8...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 52 11 16
68 09 00 66 53 66 53 66
|h...hR..h..fSfSf|

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

00000110
0a 13 b9 f6 0c fc f3 aa
e9 fe 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 a1 f6 01 e8 09 00
|...u...fa.......|

00000170
a1 fa 01 e8 03 00 f4 eb
fd 8b f0 ac 3c 00 74 09
|............<.t.|

00000180
b4 0e bb 07 00 cd 10 eb
f2 c3 0d 0a 41 20 64 69
|............A di|

00000190
73 6b 20 72 65 61 64 20
65 72 72 6f 72 20 6f 63
|sk read error oc|

000001a0
63 75 72 72 65 64 00 0d
0a 42 4f 4f 54 4d 47 52
|curred...BOOTMGR|

000001b0
20 69 73 20 63 6f 6d 70
72 65 73 73 65 64 00 0d
| is compressed..|

000001c0
0a 50 72 65 73 73 20 43
74 72 6c 2b 41 6c 74 2b
|.Press Ctrl+Alt+|

000001d0
44 65 6c 20 74 6f 20 72
65 73 74 61 72 74 0d 0a
|Del to restart..|

000001e0
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
|................|

000001f0
00 00 00 00 00 00 8a 01
a7 01 bf 01 00 00 55 aa
|..............U.|

00000200

Jamess-Mac:~ Admin$

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Answer 3

jamesh53 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 16, 2017 2:40 PM in response to Loner T

You're so fast! Thanks!

This is what I got. I tried a few times since I wanted to make sure I didn't mess up my password:

Last login: Thu Nov 16 15:30:16 on ttys000

Jamess-Mac:~ Admin$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Password:

fdisk: /dev/disk0: Operation not permitted

Jamess-Mac:~ Admin$

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Answer 4

jamesh53 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 16, 2017 2:58 PM in response to Loner T

Last login: Thu Nov 16 15:54:10 on console

Jamess-Mac:~ Admin$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Password:

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 60801/255/63 [976773168 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

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

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

1: EE 1023 254
63 - 1023 254
63 [ 1 -
976773167] <Unknown ID>

2: 00 0
0
0 - 0
0
0 [ 0 - 0] unused

3: 00 0
0
0 - 0
0
0 [ 0 - 0] unused

*4: 07 0
0
0 - 0
0
0 [ 0 - 0] HPFS/QNX/AUX

Jamess-Mac:~ Admin$

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Answer 5

jamesh53 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 16, 2017 6:27 PM in response to Loner T

Last login: Thu Nov 16 15:54:20 on ttys000

Jamess-Mac:~ Admin$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

Password:

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=500107862016; sectorsize=512; blocks=976773168

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Malformed MBR at sector 0

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

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 976773167

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
391894536 2
GPT part - 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

392304176
242691200 3
GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

634995376 262144

635257520
341253464 4
GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

976510984 262151

976773135 32 Sec GPT table

976773167 1 Sec GPT header

Jamess-Mac:~ Admin$

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Answer 6

jamesh53 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 17, 2017 10:36 AM in response to Loner T

Ideally: I want to add space to the Windows partition and then have it boot back up the way I last saw it (except with more space). Can we start there?

If that's not possible, I would like to just get it to boot so I can drag files to an external drive and then I could start over with a total reformat, fresh OS X install, and then a fresh Boot Camp install. But that's not ideal because I already have Windows 10 pretty customized with software, etc.

EDIT: Also, you're super helpful. Thanks again!

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Answer 7

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Nov 17, 2017 12:17 PM in response to jamesh53

Please see Using GParted to Resize Your Windows 7 or Vista Partition . This is valid for W8.1/W10 as well. You should be able to absorb the extra disk space after converting it to Free Space using

diskutil eraseVolume free free disk0s3

This command must be run only once, otherwise you will lose data.

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Answer 8

jamesh53 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 20, 2017 6:44 PM in response to Loner T

Can you clarify where I type

diskutil eraseVolume free free disk0s3

so that I don't mess anything up? The guide that you linked me to doesn't show any instructions about typing this string of text. Thanks!

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Answer 9

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Nov 21, 2017 7:20 AM in response to jamesh53

DU understands how to interpret the APFS file system, while GParted does not, hence the difference.

Your challenge now will be repairing W10 (an unsupported OS on a 2011 Mac). Can you boot from the W10 DVD?

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Answer 10

jamesh53 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 21, 2017 8:13 AM in response to Loner T

Yes, I can boot from the W10 DVD and I can make my way to a command prompt if needed. I already tried doing startup repair and that failed. I assume there are things I need to type from command prompt.

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Answer 11

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Nov 21, 2017 8:31 AM in response to jamesh53

See Microsoft's link for Use Bootrec.exe in the Windows RE to troubleshoot startup issues . You will need to run /fixBoot, /fixMBR from the command prompt on C: (not the X: device which should be your Boot media).

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Answer 12

jamesh53 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 21, 2017 8:42 AM in response to Loner T

Great. Thanks! Working on this now. Quick conceptual question: What's the difference between the "Windows" DVD icon and the "EFI Boot" DVD icon on the Macbook's boot screen after I hold down the option key. Which one is the correct one to choose and why? Thanks!

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Answer 13

jamesh53 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 21, 2017 4:55 PM in response to Loner T

From what I can gather, I did not do that. My macbook is currently running the GParted Live CD and I assume--based on some Googling--that I need to go into terminal and type some stuff... but I really don't want to break anything. How do I "re-create the MBR" as you state below?

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Answer 14

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Nov 21, 2017 8:06 PM in response to jamesh53

Once you have completed the task of extending the NTFS partition to cover the extra space, you should boot back to the standard Windows installer for any repairs. GParted Live CD may not have the appropriate versions of the tools you need.

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Answer 15

jamesh53 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 21, 2017 9:52 PM in response to Loner T

Fixed! I had to boot into the Windows 10 DVD and within command prompt make the windows partition active. Then the /FixBoot and /FixMBR commands worked. Then I had to run /RebuildBcd and select "Yes" and it let me boot right back into Windows 10 the way I left it with all the new space available.

Question: Could I boot into GParted, delete the OS X partition completely, and then absorb that space and repeat the process so that I have my MacBook running ONLY Windows 10?

Thanks!

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