Boot Camp Does Not Void Warranty

[mtoddy]

i'd like to make a few points:

Well I haven't posted about it before, but when Boot Camp royally screwed up my computer (I could not get the Windows install CD out of my Mac Mini, and it wouldn't boot up correctly), I called Apple and asked for help. The tech support guy told me "we don't support boot camp" and suggested I take it to an Apple store and have them remove the CD for a fee. This made me very angry because I didn't care about boot camp at that point, I just wanted a functional computer. In the end I just bought a putty knife and opened it up myself. Anyway it might be wise to consider that while Boot Camp might not void the warranty, if something goes wrong while installing Boot Camp Apple isn't too interested in repairing it for free.

first off, as spinnetti points out in the following quote, the putty knife idea is pretty ridiculous. apple makes it easy enough to eject a cd when powering up your mac

A putty knife? You have to be kidding. You can eject the disk using regular ole' key combos - actually hitting the eject key right after the start up 'bong' worked for me.

I was one of the stupid ones too. I didn't backup and lost everything.
I think you found out what I did - YOU MUST HAVE THE CORRECT WINDOWS VERSION! I thought I had sp2, but I guess it was'nt (didn't say on the packaging).. what happened is it overwrote my mac partition, and wouldn't complete the windows install, so now my computer is dead. I'm still hoping to recover data if at all possible, but looks like I get to start from scratch

secondly, apple makes it very clear that sp2 is required. they make it clear over and over again through notices and warnings. while other versions of windows will boot, they will not boot to a point of complete functionality. but to blame your version of windows for overwriting your mac partition simply reflects your inexperience with the windows setup program. boot camp very cleanly produces separate mac and windows partitions, and if you had experience with windows setup, you would have realized this and not have overwritten your mac partition.

sometimes i wish people would actually read into things before they totally ruined everything and blame someone else...

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anyways, i attempted to install windows xp pro on my macbook pro with no service pack preinstalled. there was no keyboard functionality in windows setup. so i obtained a copy with sp2 preinstalled and voila, windows setup started exactly as it would on any pc and i installed on the boot camp-made windows partition

let me say, this installation of windows runs better than what i had running on my p4 2800 with HT and loaded with everything else. i am thoroughly amazed with it. the only software i had any trouble with at all was AIM, which is shady anyways because of AOL's new system-takeover method. it caused the computer to restart and windows disk repair actually removed all of the AIM software automatically before it booted back up. odd thing is, i reinstalled AIM and it works perfectly, like everything else.

that's all for now... just thought i'd share my success story.

 

[iEdd]

I was one of the stupid ones too. I didn't backup and lost everything. I think you found out what I did - YOU MUST HAVE THE CORRECT WINDOWS VERSION! I thought I had sp2, but I guess it was'nt (didn't say on the packaging).. what happened is it overwrote my mac partition, and wouldn't complete the windows install, so now my computer is dead.

Secondly, apple makes it very clear that sp2 is required. they make it clear over and over again through notices and warnings. while other versions of windows will boot, they will not boot to a point of complete functionality. but to blame your version of windows for overwriting your mac partition simply reflects your inexperience with the windows setup program.

Hey man, give him a break. He already called himself stupid without others doing it. Yes it does make it clear SP2 is required, but it sounds like he knew that, and assumed he had SP2. I think having a screwed OS installation is punishment enough

 

[mtoddy]

Hey man, give him a break. He already called himself stupid without others doing it. Yes it does make it clear SP2 is required, but it sounds like he knew that, and assumed he had SP2. I think having a screwed OS installation is punishment enough

i wasn't trying to be harsh... my main point when i mentioned his inexperience with the windows setup program is that windows setup allows you to select a specific partition to format and install windows on. no matter what version of windows, this is the case.

so i do apologize, spinnetti, if i sounded harsh. just pay more attention as you go through windows setup... and study the available partition list and available commands very carefully next time so you don't write over your mac partition. boot camp has already pre-partitioned things for you, so you needn't modify, delete, or create any partitions... just select the one already designated for windows and format! good luck!

 

[Ripmax2000]

Its rediculous to think that it would void your warranty if it is apple made. Apple wouldnt release anything if there was a risk of it harming the computer.

I'd have to disagree with you slightly there, remember when Apple first released iTunes for Windows?
People who had old iPods assumed they would work for them, but it made their iPods completely useless. Apple refused to support them, saying that those old iPods were sold as Mac only, and therefore shouldn't have been used in Windows at all.
Ofcourse that is a different matter, as Boot Camp is advertised to work on the machine that you will have installed it on, but the point is that Apple do at times release things that can harm the computer, and then tell you they don't support it.

 

[tfh1013]

Everyone was surprised when Apple released the public beta of Bootcamp, but it shouldn't have been a surprise at all.

Look at the option key on the MacBook Pro. It says "alt" above "option." The only reason for labeling it "alt" is if someone runs Windows on it. (Mine was manufactured in early March.) So of course installing Windows doesn't void your warranty. That was part of the original design!

So slap your forehead and say "duh." It was obvious all along and we missed it.

I don't think Apple has been planning this since 2001 though. I have a late 2001 G3 iBook with "alt" above "option"

 

[Sirin]

Who in the heck was spreading FUD that it voided the warranty?

It was no other than:

 

[Spinnetti]

I was just surfing around and tripped back over this thread...

I have boot camp working just fine now, but if you do what I did, the overwriting of the mac partition is NOT obvious - if you have the wrong version of XP, nothing happens as you expect...

I took a risk, and got hammered - my fault/no biggie, but for your average joe, this will bite you unless you do everything exactly right; there is no feedback that its going to hose you... Good lesson learned. try it yourself and you'd see what I mean.

 

[paleck]

it's always been like that, it's so if you press shift it performs the equivilent of alt on windows.

Grr...You beat me. I think the alt has been on there for sometime to facilitate switchers buy showing hem which keys are equivalent to the same ones they are used to.

 

[etoiles]

i'd like to make a few points:
first off, as spinnetti points out in the following quote, the putty knife idea is pretty ridiculous. apple makes it easy enough to eject a cd when powering up your mac

the bad part is that Apple tech support wouldn't even mention that there is an easy way to eject CD's on startup (pressing the mouse button on startup)... assuming it came up during the phone call.