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iMac 27" CDBoot: Couldn't find Bootmgr ?

A

Aitelqadi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 4, 2013
10
0
Hey guys, I've been through hell lately trying to fix this issue. I had windows 7 installed before, but I deleted it because there was an issue in the system which prevented me from using 3DsMax, anyways, after I deleted it, I tried to install it again through bootcamp, but I was stuck at the blinking-dash problem. So what I did was, I searched around and found a fix for it the "MBRFAT" fix. After I did that, to my surprise, the blinking dash disappeared. But of course, a newer problem came out, the "CDBoot: Couldn't find Bootmgr". By the way, I am using an external dvd-reader, because my internal one isn't working (Another problem that I faced while trying to install, so i was forced to buy an external dvd reader). I tried to search around for a fix, some people said I should hold option key and get in the windows 7 install, but it didn't work. Others said I should attempt to install from a USB, it didn't work (I removed the partition, and re-did it through a USB, the option for creating a USB install iso wasn't there but I found a fix for it on youtube, by changing some strings).
I've tried every fix out there, but I seem to find no way to fix this ****** problem. And "NO, I WILL NOT USE VMWARE, OR ANY VIRTUAL WINDOWS PROGRAM."
 
X

xcodeSyn

macrumors 6502a
Nov 25, 2012
548
7
Aitelqadi said:
please help out :(
Click to expand...
I don't know what "MBRFAT" fix is, could you explain what you did since it may have affected the outcome differently? Did you remove any USB drives connected other than the DVD reader during the install process? Also have you tested the Windows Install disc elsewhere, is it bootable in other machines? Your original symptom seemed to indicate that something (maybe either a hardware component or bad disc) was preventing the Windows Installer to load. But I can't tell why you had the second error since I don't know what you did for "MBRFAT" fix. Also did you re-create the Windows partition in Boot Camp Assistant right before the install process? One more, were there any major differences between those two installs other than using internal vs external DVD drive?
 
A

Aitelqadi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 4, 2013
10
0
xcodeSyn said:
I don't know what "MBRFAT" fix is, could you explain what you did since it may have affected the outcome differently? Did you remove any USB drives connected other than the DVD reader during the install process? Also have you tested the Windows Install disc elsewhere, is it bootable in other machines? Your original symptom seemed to indicate that something (maybe either a hardware component or bad disc) was preventing the Windows Installer to load. But I can't tell why you had the second error since I don't know what you did for "MBRFAT" fix. Also did you re-create the Windows partition in Boot Camp Assistant right before the install process? One more, were there any major differences between those two installs other than using internal vs external DVD drive?
Click to expand...

This is the mbrfat fix I was talking about : http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3173


I've tried installing with only the dvd-reader attached, but it doesn't work. Then I tried with the mbrfat usb attached, it gave me the cdboot error. Then I tried doing it again with the dvd-reader + mbrfat usb + usb with the windows iso on it. Still didn't work. When trying to fix it, I always restored the windows partition, and re-created it. When using the internal DVD Drive I had no issue whatsoever, the install was smooth and I had the windows installed in no time. But when using the external dvd drive, the blinking dash appeared, I tried to install it again and again, but didn't work. So I did the mbrfat thingy, etc etc.
 
X

xcodeSyn

macrumors 6502a
Nov 25, 2012
548
7
Aitelqadi said:
I've tried installing with only the dvd-reader attached, but it doesn't work. Then I tried with the mbrfat usb attached, it gave me the cdboot error. Then I tried doing it again with the dvd-reader + mbrfat usb + usb with the windows iso on it. Still didn't work. When trying to fix it, I always restored the windows partition, and re-created it. When using the internal DVD Drive I had no issue whatsoever, the install was smooth and I had the windows installed in no time. But when using the external dvd drive, the blinking dash appeared...
Click to expand...
I think your problem is quite easy to fix. First, put away your "MBRFAT fix" USB drive and you don't need it at all given that you had no problem using your internal DVD drive for installation, also set aside your USB drive with Windows ISO. I think Boot Camp is hard coded to look for the internal DVD drive first. If it doesn't find it for newer Macs without internal optical drive, it would search for an external optical drive and then a USB boot drive. Unfortunately in your case, your internal DVD drive still exists as far as Boot Camp is concerned even though it may have been non-functioning. This is why the machine was stuck because it was searching for the Windows Installer from your internal DVD drive and couldn't find it.

The solution is straightforward, insert the Windows DVD in your external drive, disconnect all other external drives, if any, and as soon as Boot Camp Assistant finishes Windows partition and restart. Wait for the chime and press the Option key until the gray boot drive menu appears, wait a while until the DVD icon named Windows shows up. Use keyboard or mouse to select the Windows disc icon and wait for the "Windows is loading files" message to appear, then you're in business.

The reason this did not work before is that you had other USB drives also connected, and Boot Camp could not handle more than one USB drive during the install process. As long as you only have your external DVD reader connected to your machine, it should work fine. I don't have an iMac but Mac Pro and I had to use the approach I described to install Windows from an external drive when intentionally skipping the internal one. If your DVD reader is using USB 2.0 connection, be patient and it may take quite a while for the disc to load the necessary files. Let us know how it goes. Good luck.

Edit: Apparently the solution offered here doesn't apply to iMac and MBP that have a built-in SuperDrive. Not only that Boot Camp has hard coded the internal drive as the only source for Windows Installer, but it would not look for another source of Windows Installer in these models. Only options are to use eithe the internal drive or one of the VM tools to load Windows Installer as mentioned in later posts.
 
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A

Aitelqadi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 4, 2013
10
0
xcodeSyn said:
I think your problem is quite easy to fix. First, put away your "MBRFAT fix" USB drive and you don't need it at all given that you had no problem using your internal DVD drive for installation, also set aside your USB drive with Windows ISO. I think Boot Camp is hard coded to look for the internal DVD drive first. If it doesn't find it for newer Macs without internal optical drive, it would search for an external optical drive and then a USB boot drive. Unfortunately in your case, your internal DVD drive still exists as far as Boot Camp is concerned even though it may have been non-functioning. This is why the machine was stuck because it was searching for the Windows Installer from your internal DVD drive and couldn't find it.

The solution is straightforward, insert the Windows DVD in your external drive, disconnect all other external drives, if any, and as soon as Boot Camp Assistant finishes Windows partition and restart. Wait for the chime and press the Option key until the gray boot drive menu appears, wait a while until the DVD icon named Windows shows up. Use keyboard or mouse to select the Windows disc icon and wait for the "Windows is loading files" message to appear, then you're in business.

The reason this did not work before is that you had other USB drives also connected, and Boot Camp could not handle more than one USB drive during the install process. As long as you only have your external DVD reader connected to your machine, it should work fine. I don't have an iMac but Mac Pro and I had to use the approach I described to install Windows from an external drive when intentionally skipping the internal one. If your DVD reader is using USB 2.0 connection, be patient and it may take quite a while for the disc to load the necessary files. Let us know how it goes. Good luck.
Click to expand...



Ok so I removed all the USB's, and left only the DVD-reader in. I redid the partition, and installed, the computer restarted, I held the option button, I selected Windows, and the blinking dash appeared. :( I tried to restart and do it with the dvd-reader+mbrfat usb, didnt work. Third try was with the usb-windows iso. Didn't work. Any other suggestions?
 
X

xcodeSyn

macrumors 6502a
Nov 25, 2012
548
7
Aitelqadi said:
... the computer restarted, I held the option button, I selected Windows, and the blinking dash appeared...Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...
There are several possibilities. Your DVD disc may be defective or you may have to physically remove your internal optical drive to make the install work. This can also be tested by disconnecting the DVD reader and use your USB with Windows ISO drive instead. Repeat the same steps only with the Windows ISO USB drive connected, and when using the Option-boot, you'll select an USB icon of EFI Boot instead. If this also fails and assuming the USB drive was prepared correctly, it means you have other component in your iMac blocking the installation. Please list what hardware components installed inside and connected outside, including all drives and any add-on items such as network or bluetooth dongle, not Apple standard items.

Let's start with only the USB Windows ISO drive instead of DVD. Did you just say that your third try was exactly like this or different? If it doesn't work, no need to add more drives since you would just add more items blocking the Windows Installer.

Edit: When you use either DVD or USB Windows ISO drive to boot, do not add anything more to the computer if it fails the first time, Try rebooting with the same steps. Try this way at least 3 times each before giving up, sometimes it may take more than once to get it working.

Another question: how is your external DVD reader powered? USB or a separate power connector to the wall socket? If USB powered, you need to have at least two USB connections to get enough power. This is why sometimes it's so hard to diagnose the problems without detailed info on both hardware and software involved.
 
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A

Aitelqadi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 4, 2013
10
0
I tried installing with only the USB attached, when holding option, I only see iMac and Recovery, no USB. I have 2 razer USB components: Keyboard+Mouse, and last is the DVD-reader when using it. The external DVD reader is USB powered. I'll try to remove the mouse and keyboard and only leave the DVD reader in now.

*EDIT*
I'll try it out with a different iso file, I probably got another copy of windows somewhere in my room.
 
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X

xcodeSyn

macrumors 6502a
Nov 25, 2012
548
7
Aitelqadi said:
I tried installing with only the USB attached, when holding option, I only see iMac and Recovery, no USB. I have 2 razer USB components: Keyboard+Mouse, and last is the DVD-reader when using it. The external DVD reader is USB powered. I'll try to remove the mouse and keyboard and only leave the DVD reader in now.

*EDIT*
I'll try it out with a different iso file, I probably got another copy of windows somewhere in my room.
Click to expand...
USB keyboard and mouse are fine, they shouldn't interfere with installation. USB reader needs to have enough power to be recognized and work. You have to follow the instructions in Boot Camp Assistant to make a bootable USB Windows drive, can't just copy the ISO to the drive. Also make sure the ISO source is from the legit Microsoft source, otherwise it may not work. I am also concerned that you may have no choice but to remove the internal optical drive before it would work using the external drive. Just one step at a time.
 
A

Aitelqadi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 4, 2013
10
0
xcodeSyn said:
USB keyboard and mouse are fine, they shouldn't interfere with installation. USB reader needs to have enough power to be recognized and work. You have to follow the instructions in Boot Camp Assistant to make a bootable USB Windows drive, can't just copy the ISO to the drive. Also make sure the ISO source is from the legit Microsoft source, otherwise it may not work. I am also concerned that you may have no choice but to remove the internal optical drive before it would work using the external drive. Just one step at a time.
Click to expand...


Well, I do have the legitimate copy, but I downloaded an iso file from Microsoft's website just to make sure that it wasn't a problem with the file itself. And it didn't work, so I can 100% assure you it's not a problem with the file, I also made the windows 7 usb through bootcamp. Are there any other suggestions before going on to removing the internal optical drive?

*EDIT*
My iMac is mid 2011 27"inch.
You asked for the hardware components info, I really have no idea how to get you that, but I opened the system report and found disc burning, with the USB dvd-reader and the internal dvd-reader showing http://puu.sh/4kjEc.png
 
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X

xcodeSyn

macrumors 6502a
Nov 25, 2012
548
7
Aitelqadi said:
Are there any other suggestions before going on to removing the internal optical drive?
Click to expand...
I should have done some Google search when my earlier advice did not work since I have never owned an iMac.:eek: It turned out iMac and MBP are very different animals than Mac Pro or Mac Mini. According to this link, installing Windows using Boot Camp only works with Apple's internal optical drive (Superdrive), not even with an external Superdrive, let alone other brands of external drive. As the link suggests, the only way to circumvent the internal Superdrive is to use the VM approach. These two links, link 1 and link 2, offer two different VM tools to install Windows without using a DVD drive. Both are written for MBP, but also apply to iMac with internal Superdrive. If you don't want to try the VM approach, then replacing your internal drive is the only option left. I think your ISO is fine, but it doesn't matter because your iMac can only install Windows with its internal drive by design, thanks to Apple.

The Boot Camp approach is getting more buggy everyday simply because Apple is trying to use the one-size-fits-all app to accommodate all shapes of different hardware/firmware Mac designs. It may break down sooner or later but that's a different story. I wish you good luck with your choice.
 
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A

Aitelqadi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 4, 2013
10
0
xcodeSyn said:
I should have done some Google search when my earlier advice did not work since I have never owned an iMac.:eek: It turned out iMac and MBP are very different animals than Mac Pro or Mac Mini. According to this link, installing Windows using Boot Camp only works with Apple's internal optical drive (Superdrive), not even with an external Superdrive, let alone other brands of external drive. As the link suggests, the only way to circumvent the internal Superdrive is to use the VM approach. These two links, link 1 and link 2, offer two different VM tools to install Windows without using a DVD drive. Both are written for MBP, but also apply to iMac with internal Superdrive. If you don't want to try the VM approach, then replacing your internal drive is the only option left. I think your ISO is fine, but it doesn't matter because your iMac can only install Windows with its internal drive by design, thanks to Apple.

The Boot Camp approach is getting more buggy everyday simply because Apple is trying to use the one-size-fits-all app to accommodate all shapes of different hardware/firmware Mac designs. It may break down sooner or later but that's a different story. I wish you good luck with your choice.
Click to expand...



The VM approach is only temporary to get bootcamp to work right? I mean I won't have to open the software itself to run windows, because I really dislike that, I'm planning to play Battlefield and run softwares like 3dsmax on it, and a virtual windows software can't handle it. But if it's temporary to get bootcamp to work, I'm definetaly going to try it out.

Also, I tried following the steps, when he says to type that thing in the terminal, and afterwards do the "/Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-rawdiskCreator create /dev/disk0 3 windows7 ide", I don't understand, am I supposed to put that in the terminal? and if so, I did paste it there, but it didn't work. What am I missing here ? The disk number he said I should locate is 4.
 
X

xcodeSyn

macrumors 6502a
Nov 25, 2012
548
7
Aitelqadi said:
This is what I get http://puu.sh/4krVk.png
Click to expand...
I noticed the difference between your screenshot and the guide's, and have no idea why they are different. But this guide seems to match yours but uses different command lines. Maybe it is a better one to follow? Since I've never used this approach, so can't really help you with it. It seems to use the VM tool to load the Windows ISO into your Boot Camp partition, then use the rEFIt to boot into your Boot Camp and start Windows install directly from there.

Your last option is to replace your internal optical drive if you know how. It could be any brand as long as it has the same connector interface (SATA?). It's a plug and play component, so no need to use Apple's overpriced OEM drive. Just consider it as last resort.
 
A

Aitelqadi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 4, 2013
10
0
xcodeSyn said:
I noticed the difference between your screenshot and the guide's, and have no idea why they are different. But this guide seems to match yours but uses different command lines. Maybe it is a better one to follow? Since I've never used this approach, so can't really help you with it. It seems to use the VM tool to load the Windows ISO into your Boot Camp partition, then use the rEFIt to boot into your Boot Camp and start Windows install directly from there.

Your last option is to replace your internal optical drive if you know how. It could be any brand as long as it has the same connector interface (SATA?). It's a plug and play component, so no need to use Apple's overpriced OEM drive. Just consider it as last resort.
Click to expand...

Huge thanks to you for helping me out until the end. I was able to pull it off with the last link you gave me. Thanks so much !!! :).


http://i.imgur.com/P34B699.jpg
 
A

Aitelqadi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 4, 2013
10
0
xcodeSyn said:
I am really happy for your success. It's quite a journey and hopefully it would help others in similar situations.
Click to expand...


Aye! I'm probably going to make a video on the whole process, cause the topic itself is kind of difficult to follow, and I was only able to pull it off with the help of the comments. So a video will be much easier to follow for other people.
 
X

xcodeSyn

macrumors 6502a
Nov 25, 2012
548
7
Aitelqadi said:
Aye! I'm probably going to make a video on the whole process, cause the topic itself is kind of difficult to follow, and I was only able to pull it off with the help of the comments. So a video will be much easier to follow for other people.
Click to expand...
Excellent idea! I agree with you that the guide wasn't very specific on details, but fortunately the comments provide more details from people's own experience. I am a bit surprised that there were quite a few people having the same problem. Seems to me a lot of MBP owners ditched their SuperDrive for SSD, and later got stuck when trying to install Windows using Boot Camp.
 
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