ALT-option to choose which OS to boot stopped working.

Discussion in 'Windows, Linux & Others on the Mac' started by Pavia, May 17, 2010.

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  1. Pavia, May 17, 2010

    Pavia macrumors regular

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2010
    #1
    I installed windows on my early 2010 MBP, and it's been working perfectly so far, but today when I woke up and had to use windows, nothing seems to happen when I hold down (either) ALT when booting.
    I filmed this with my phone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkdRfcxmBuU to help you see what my problem is.

    I press the power button, it makes that boot sound while I hold ALT down. Then it just shows the mouse without the two harddiscs.

    I'm completely new to mac, so I don't know if I can fix this easily, or I have to re-install windows (7). Or if it can be fixed with the OS X dvd that came with the MacBook Pro.

    If specs is needed, this is what I'm running:

    Early 2010 MacBook Pro 15"
    i7 2.66
    4 gb ram
    7200 rpm harddrive
    HR Glossy screen


    FIXED! My USB hub apparently stopped windows from showing up. Strange!
     
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  2. aly, May 17, 2010

    aly macrumors member

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2006
    Location:
    Scotland
    #2
    I had a similar problem with my old MBP (2005 - i think) that the keyboard did not seem to work on startup so I couldn't change boot drive at startup but would then work fine once Mac OSX had started up. However after a while the keyboard just stopped working altogether and it turned out to be a hardware fault. Hopefully this is not true in your case.

    I don't know a solution to your problem but a workaround is to open system preferences on the mac and go to startup disk and change it to the windows 7 partition. Restart and it will load windows. To change back to mac side, open the bootcamp control panel on windows and choose Mac OS parition, then restart.

    Hope that helps,

    Aly
     
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  3. Pavia, May 17, 2010

    Pavia thread starter macrumors regular

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2010
    #3
    Thanks for your reply :) I recently had my old logitech keyboard plugged in the USB on my MacBook Pro, could this have anything to do with the problem ?
    Edit: Windows partition doesnt show up in the start up disk preferences, so I'm going to try and run the windows 7 dvd and run either a recover or fix.
     
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  4. aly, May 17, 2010

    aly macrumors member

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2006
    Location:
    Scotland
    #4
    I doubt another keyboard would have caused the problem.

    I think the fact that the windows 7 partition doesn't show up is more likely pointing to the problem. I think going through the install procedure again is the best option. I take it you used the bootcamp assisitant to do the install? From your first post I take it that windows 7 dual boot has been working in the past? Does the windows 7 partition show up in the Finder? Or in disk utility?
     
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  5. Pavia, May 17, 2010

    Pavia thread starter macrumors regular

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2010
    #5
    The partition shows up in the finder as BOOTCAMP, and it has been working. After I inserted the windows dvd, OS X would no longer boot up, but then I unplugged everything and it worked again. But the windows partition still isn't showing up in start up disk preferences.
     
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