Boot Camp killed/disabled iMac... any advice?

[mgridgaway]

Hi all... tried to install boot camp for the first time with less than stellar results. Apparently, when Apple says you have to use at least SP2, they aren't joking😛. The install ran perfectly until the partition choosing came up, and since I was unsure of which partition to choose, I just stopped the installation. Well, according to the Apple Care rep I just talked to, Boot Camp apparently "disabled" everything when it was installing and now I have to take it to an Apple Store to get it fixed. Serves me right for not following directions. Still, I can't believe there's no work around to this on the user end. Basically, I can't use my keyboard at all (except to eject cds which tells me it's still slightly functional. Does anyone have any ideas on this one? Already tried resetting SMC, can't reset PRAM, etc.... thanks for your help!

 

[Amigalander]

I guess based on what you said, everything I'm thinking may be wrong, but I thought Bootcamp sets your startup drive to the Windows partition. I don't see why you can't either hold option down during boot to select your Mac partition or a CD to boot off. Resetting PRAM should set your startup drive back to the Mac. What am I missing?

 

[kolax]

As said, holding down the 'option' key during boot usually lets you select the partition to boot from.

What happens when you put in your OS X installation disc?

 

[mgridgaway]

Yep, I've tried all of that stuff... I've since read up on the subject, and a few other people have complained about it as well... seems like putting in a non-SP2 cd seriously screws everything up. I thought at the worst I'd have to deal with a buggy install.... but a bricked imac? That's pretty bad if you ask me. Oh well, like the Apple Care rep said I'm just gonna take it to the store tomorrow.... tried every single keyboard startup and none of them give me anything... sigh.

 

[kolax]

Quite a serious problem with Boot Camp if it does that. I'm wondering how it disables everything if the Apple Rep is right - I wouldn't have thought it would have changed anything to the boot process apart from change the priority partition.

Keep us updated on what the Genius does to it to make it work again.

 

[mgridgaway]

Hi all, back from the Apple Store...

To keep it short, the Genius just replaced my imac flat out. He was completely stumped... I mentioned the disabling and he took it back in the storeroom and said it was giving him crazy errors. So... I get a new mac... not a bad deal... until I go to restore my image from Time Machine and, oh guess what? It also corrupted THAT hard drive, too. So with a little help from Data Rescue II, I managed to get back the entire disk with what I believe is minimal damage to my important files (music, vids, photos.. about 80 gigs worth), except have you ever actually looked through Time Machine's file structure? The words vast and ridiculous come to mind. After searching through literally tens of thousands of folders (a majority filled with very little), I've managed to find a majority of my original files (only missing a few docs I can probably live without.... and as for my tax forms... Yikes. But oh well, it happens).

So what have I learned? Maybe Time Machine and Boot camp isn't the answer for me, especially when I all I need to backup is my docs, music, and movies every now and then. Egad, the only reason I wanted to install XP in the first was to upgrade the firmware on my TV!