Boot Camp: No Bootable Disk

[beckett]

I am running Leopard on a 1st gen macbook.

I used boot camp assistant to partition the disk, and then went to install windows. I didn't back up bc I am an ass. Then I got to the part where I had to choose a partition. I reformatted the Boot Camp partition to NTFS. I then realized that the partition is too small. I have to get back into Leopard to fix the partition problem.

Now, I can't reboot to Leopard. Holding alt or the apple key or both does not prevent the windows dvd from booting. When I eject the DVD, it tells me "no bootable disk."

I never installed Vista. I don't understand how I could have overwritten anything or caused any data loss.

Thanks in advance.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Can you boot to your computer's restore disk?

 

[-tWv-]

I am running Leopard on a 1st gen macbook.

I used boot camp assistant to partition the disk, and then went to install windows. I didn't back up bc I am an ass. Then I got to the part where I had to choose a partition. I reformatted the Boot Camp partition to NTFS. I then realized that the partition is too small. I have to get back into Leopard to fix the partition problem.

Now, I can't reboot to Leopard. Holding alt or the apple key or both does not prevent the windows dvd from booting. When I eject the DVD, it tells me "no bootable disk."

I never installed Vista. I don't understand how I could have overwritten anything or caused any data loss.

Thanks in advance.

First, try to boot into your mac osx install dvd and go into disc utility. See if your osx volume is visible. If it is, then verify it and see if it needs repairs. If it does repair it, if it doesn't then try to repair the permissions. After that, close disc utility and go into startup disc. You should see your osx volume there. Select it and then hit restart. It should boot into leopard and you should be able to use boot camp assistant to restore the disc to one partition, and the partition it again to the size you need.

 

[beckett]

Leopard Install Disk Won't Boot Either

Same error message. I get the friendly chime, then I get the cursed windows blinking dash, and then the "no bootable disk" message.

I have tried holding down X, CTRL, and apple/command after hitting power, and it just won't give me any choice to select OSX.

I have an appointment at a mac store tomorrow bc I desperately need this machine to be operable, but that is a last resort for me for a number of reasons.

Any other ideas?

 

[-tWv-]

Same error message. I get the friendly chime, then I get the cursed windows blinking dash, and then the "no bootable disk" message.

I have tried holding down X, CTRL, and apple/command after hitting power, and it just won't give me any choice to select OSX.

I have an appointment at a mac store tomorrow bc I desperately need this machine to be operable, but that is a last resort for me for a number of reasons.

Any other ideas?

Alright well I have one, It sounds really dumb though.
Maybe you should continue with the vista install. Maybe leopard changes settings that makes the osx disk not bootable when you are supposed to be installing windows to make sure the windows install goes to the right place. I have no idea I'm just throwing this out there. Try completely going through and installing vista from the vista disk. Then you should be able to boot into that. Then install the bootcamp drivers for windows from your osx install disk. Then open up the bootcamp program that gets installed and try to select your osx startup disk from there and restart. If this magically works you can restore the disk to a single volume with boot camp assistant and then repartition the disk to a larger size and install vista again. I know this seems dumb but it's the only thing I can think of. Now remember, I have no credible proof to back anything up and since you didn't back anything up I don't want you to try what I said and lose all your data and then be mad at me. So do whatever you think is right.

You could do what I said,

Or,you could just wait for an appointment if you don't want to try to do that.

Or, wait and see if someone else sees this thread and offers a solution that makes a little more sense.

EDIT: I don't know how it is with first gen macbooks, but with the uMB you have to hold option to get it to show bootable disks

 

[beckett]

Thanks, but I can't do that; I would have to reformat the partition that my data's on since the boot camp partition is too small. Thanks anyway

 

[-tWv-]

Oh, so the partition is too small to even install vista. I see, I would wait until the appointment at the apple store and see what they say. After the appointment if you could report back with what they said would be great, just for future reference.

Sorry I couldn't help more, I know how frustrating that can be, I had problems with bootcamp the first time and I fortunately had an easy fix. I didn't read the directions or print out the boot camp install guide so the windows installation was messed up because the disk wasn't formatted right. I also couldn't boot into leopard but I was very new to a mac so I didn't know you had to hold a button down to get it to show the bootable discs. Just shows how much I have learned in 5 months. I hope you get this resolved without any data loss, and I guess there's one good thing that you learned, always back up your data. Tell me how the appointment goes.

 

[ayeying]

Hold down "Alt/Option" when you hear the chime. Select Macintosh HD, done.

 

[-tWv-]

Hold down "Alt/Option" when you hear the chime. Select Macintosh HD, done.

Yeah this is what I have to do on mine. So give that a try. When you start installing windows it automatically boots into the windows partition even if there is nothing bootable there. That's why I had problems with my first try at using bootcamp. Try this and it should show two disks, one is the osx disk and one would be the windows partition that has nothing on it.

 

[beckett]

me = dumb

ayeing, I was about to reply to your advice by telling you I had already done that, as I said in my original post. Then I thought, maybe I started holding alt before the chime, and maybe this will be the difference-maker. I followed your advice. Done. Thank you. Genius bar avoided.

 

[-tWv-]

ayeing, I was about to reply to your advice by telling you I had already done that, as I said in my original post. Then I thought, maybe I started holding alt before the chime, and maybe this will be the difference-maker. I followed your advice. Done. Thank you. Genius bar avoided.

Thats ok. I made the same exact mistake when I first used bootcamp. That's what I was telling you about. I edited on of my previous posts and said that I had to hold to option key down to get it to show bootable devices, but I guess you didn't see that before ayeing said it.

 

[dantech]

The Answer

It is simple if you know what to do, I had the same problem.

1.Make sure your mac has the screen with no bootable disc.
2.Take out the charger if it is in and pull out the battery.
3.Now hold down the power button for 10 sec. WITHOUT THE BATTERY!
4.Put your battery in and turn it on, while it is turning on you can now press the option key.
5.Select Macintosh HD
6.To stop it from repeating go to system Preferences->Startup Disk->Macintosh HD
7.It will restart and you will be good!