BOOTCAMP - Disk Error - Press Any Key to Restart

Okay so this has been giving me problems for the past hour or two..

I just did a fresh install of Mac OSX 10.5.8 Leopard, and started bootcamp. I have a brand new copy of Windows XP Professional with SP2 so that shouldn't be a problem..

Well, I get all the way to windows being installed and it restarting, but once it restarts it says "Press any key to boot from CD" then four seconds later "Disk error, press any key to restart."

Obviously any key doesn't work.

Now I am aware that this is a formatting error. It should be formatting with NTFS but instead it formats with FAT32 and does NOT give me that option to change the formatting process.

I can't really go out and get another copy of XP, because let's face it. This isn't cheap stuff we're dealing with.

If you have a solution, it's well appreciated! Thanks in advance!!

Bump. Still looking for help :S

Hoping your still here on the thread with me, I'm desperate for help and appreciate your response.

Yes, I can go back into booting windows, but it skips allowing me to choose formatting.

It automatically formats with FAT32 and then gives me Disk Error.

I've removed it, and partitioned again (I've tried using 29GB partition because I've read that FAT32 won't partition anything over 32GB but still got the Disk Error)

Any other solutions? I've tried removing the partition, re-partitioning and re installing windows maybe three or four times.

iLog.Genius said:

Sorry, I'm a little confused now. If you're able to get into the Windows installer, follow my steps to see if you might have skipped something. If you're not able to get into the installer, we might have to be looking at external problems.

Click to expand...

Haha, I've been confused too

Okay, I'm able to get to the windows installer and actually install XP. After XP installs it reboots my computer and then goes to a black screen and says:

"Press Any Key to Boot from CD...."

Four seconds later it then says:

"Disk Error. Press any key to restart."

If I'm fast before it says Disk Error I can boot from the CD again but it brings me back to the Windows XP installation.

Once it says "Disk Error Press Any Key to Restart" it does NOT allow any key to restart I have to actually hold the start button down.

Okay, problem though is that it doesn't ask me to format.. If it did I'd choose NTFS.

iLog.Genius said:

Do you see these two screens?

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Click to expand...

I saw the first one, but not the second one.

Let me try that. Back in a few.

Okay, so I went into Bootcamp did everything normally but when it asked me where to install XP I did what you said, deleting the partition that bootcamp created, but there was no-where else to install XP afterwards.

Alright I'll go try that now.

Alright Windows installed, and I didn't get the Disk Error. It then gave me another black screen with this:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.

Seems like one thing after another.

How do I fix this now?

By the way, I REALLY appreciate the help that you've given me so far!!

iLog.Genius said:

Weird you're having all these problems.

Check out this link for help on your error:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477

Click to expand...

Yeah no kidding. Luckily your method for the partition worked and now I don't have the Disk Error anymore. Now I just have to deal with this Hal.dll.

Do you know how to fix this? The link pretty much told me what I was figuring - Re-installing windows again and seeing if that works.

By the way, not sure if it makes a difference but when I was choosing what to format with, I chose the NTFS (quick).

Should I have chosen the other one which wasn't the (quick)?

hypermog said:

Are you installing a disc that is embedded with service pack 3? It might have a hard time reading the SATA drives in the macbook if it doesn't.

Click to expand...

No, it's a Legal copy of Windows XP Professional 2002 with Service Pack 2. Basically just what Apple says it's supposed to be.

I've actually installed Parallels desktop (trial) and tried it out. Great program, minus the fact that I can't do one of the things I originally wanted to do with bootcamp.

That's PC Gaming So I guess I'm back to trying to work out bootcamp.