2007 MBP will not recognize keyboard startup commands!

[majordude]

Installed 10.7 yesterday. Tried to add Windows 7 to Bootcamp. It didn't like that.

At first it asked to boot into option 1 or 2 but there were no options. Forced the MBP to eject the Windows 7 disk but now it says there are no bootable disks available.

I have 10.7 on a USB. If I could get my $%^&*( MBP to "see" it I could fix the problem.

BUT I cannot!

I hold Command+R, C, D etc. and NOTHING HAPPENS. It just boots into the Windows 7 burp ("cannot find boot disk"). I tried an external keyboard but the same thing happens.

Basically this baby is bricked.

HELP!

 

[Voca]

plug in the OSX USB, press the power button and hold OPTION. It should show you all your bootable partitions and drives. Just select OSX, reformat the HDD and reinstall. Do not partition the drive into 2 or more partitions. You wont be able to install BootCamp.

 

[BrettApple]

What Voca said. Assuming your USB drive is indeed bootable (Eg. cloned installer or via DiskMaker X) holding option on boot up should show it and any other disk it can start from such as Time Machine, OS X/Windows/Linux DVD or whatever you've got.

Any particular reason you're going with Lion? I had a 2007 MBP and by far Lion was the slowest version of OS X I ran (graphically at least). Compared to Tiger, Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks. Granted I put an SSD in it after Mavericks. Anyway, best of luck. It's pretty much impossible to "brick" a MacBook software wise.

It's also possible if your OS X partition is intact you should be able to boot directly to it with the Option key. Then use Boot Camp Assistant to kill off that troublesome Windows partition and start again. I've never really had an issue using Boot Camp over the years. Just have to be careful.

It sounds like the Mac is just booting into the BIOS emulation mode for Windows every time it gets started, thus the no bootable devices deal. It's normal for starting up Windows off the DVD installer.

 

[majordude]

Thanks for the advice. It's showing a lock (and hell if I know what password it's looking for!). Sigh.

 

[majordude]

Figured it out. Removed the memory, did Command+Option+R+P and it didn't ask for a password.