Bootcamp doesn't work on new Mac Pro 2009

[seisend]

Hey guys,

got a new Mac Pro with the standart 640 GB harddrive on monday. I put the 640GB HD into the bay 4 and installed a RAID0 out of 3x1TB Caviar Blacks for OS X. Now what I wanted to do is install Bootcamp (Windows) on my empty 640GB HD in bay 4. When I start the Bootcamp assistant, I got an error right in the beginning and it says like "you can't partition an external harddrive" - "please reboot your system with your internal harddrive". I thought "what the hell", I don't even want to install Windows on a external Harddrive so here is what I did and not worked:

delete the hole 640GB HD (a few times)
format it fat32 (a few time)
format it OS Journaled extended (a few times)
unplugg all external harddrives
reboot
overwrite the disc with zero's

- my 640 HD in bay 4 works fine, I putted files on it to test and the hd utility says the drive is alright.

Didn't found a solution on google or in this forum.

Does anyone know what's the problem here ?

thanks

 

[nanofrog]

Hey guys,

got a new Mac Pro with the standart 640 GB harddrive on monday. I put the 640GB HD into the bay 4 and installed a RAID0 out of 3x1TB Caviar Blacks for OS X. Now what I wanted to do is install Bootcamp (Windows) on my empty 640GB HD in bay 4. When I start the Bootcamp assistant, I got an error right in the beginning and it says like "you can't partition an external harddrive" - "please reboot your system with your internal harddrive". I thought "what the hell", I don't even want to install Windows on a external Harddrive so here is what I did and not worked:

delete the hole 640GB HD (a few times)
format it fat32 (a few time)
format it OS Journaled extended (a few times)
unplugg all external harddrives
reboot
overwrite the disc with zero's

- my 640 HD in bay 4 works fine, I putted files on it to test and the hd utility says the drive is alright.

Didn't found a solution on google or in this forum.

Does anyone know what's the problem here ?

thanks

As it's a separate drive, you don't use Boot Camp. No need to partition it, as it's not shared with another OS.

Just drop in the Windows disk, and restart the machine. When you get to the disk selection area, you're going to need to install the AHCI drivers (you should be able to find these on the BC disk). Hit REFRESH, then select the drive. Format it (depends on need/&version). Continue with the installation.

You do need the BC disk for the remaining Windows drivers as well, after Windows is installed. Just read the BC instructions if you need help (.pdf, section 3 IIRC).

 

[seisend]

As it's a separate drive, you don't use Boot Camp. No need to partition it, as it's not shared with another OS.

Just drop in the Windows disk, and restart the machine. When you get to the disk selection area, you're going to need to install the AHCI drivers (you should be able to find these on the BC disk). Hit REFRESH, then select the drive. Format it (depends on need/&version). Continue with the installation.

You do need the BC disk for the remaining Windows drivers as well, after Windows is installed. Just read the BC instructions if you need help (.pdf, section 3 IIRC).

Ahhh, you're right thanks !

I already installed Windows via Bootcamp on my MBP.


So what are the steps?

1. Format harddrive DOS Fat32
2. Insert Windows Disc and restart
3. Boot from windows DISK?
... what are AHCI drivers ?

I am gonna install Windows XP 32bit Professional with the full HD capacity for now.

thanks nanofrog

 

[nanofrog]

So what are the steps?

1. Format harddrive DOS Fat32
2. Insert Windows Disc and restart
3. Boot from windows DISK?
... what are AHCI drivers ?

I am gonna install Windows XP 32bit Professional with the full HD capacity for now.

thanks nanofrog

NP.

1. Insert Windows Disk
2. Restart machine, and let it begin booting off the DVD
3. Once it's loaded to the point you an possibly select a drive, you need to remove the Windows disk, and insert the BC disk.
4. Install the AHCI drivers (you'll have to hunt for them)
5. Remove the BC disk, and reinsert the Windows disk
6. Hit REFRESH (if you don't, you'll get an error message)
7. Select the drive
8. Select FORMAT, and choose the file type
9. Complete the Windows installation
10. Insert the BC disk again, and run the Windows driver tool (setup.exe)

Done.

BTW, you may want to make sure you have the latest version of BC (2.1 IIRC), so you don't have to hunt down newer drivers as much, if at all (i.e. chipset) after you're up and running.

Also, is there a specific reason for XP?

 

[seisend]

Thanks again, I'll try it when I'm on my beast at home. I'll let you know if it worked.

 

[nanofrog]

Thanks again, I'll try it when I'm on my beast at home. I'll let you know if it worked.

You can still get the Win7 RC if you want (download ends Aug. 20, 2009). Expires Jun. 1, 2010, but starts shutting down every 2 hrs Mar. 1, 2010.

Good luck.

 

[seisend]

You can still get the Win7 RC if you want (download ends Aug. 20, 2009). Expires Jun. 1, 2010, but starts shutting down every 2 hrs Mar. 1, 2010.

Good luck.

I thought about that too, I heard it works nice. But are XP programms running well on seven ? Had Vista installed and had problems with programms cause windows vista didn't support it. Do you have it? 32 or 64bit?
It would be nice, if I just can replace the RC later with the original copy and keep all programms installed.

hmm... so many questions

 

[nanofrog]

I thought about that too, I heard it works nice. But are XP programms running well on seven ? Had Vista installed and had problems with programms cause windows vista didn't support it. Do you have it? 32 or 64bit?
It would be nice, if I just can replace the RC later with the original copy and keep all programms installed.

hmm... so many questions

I run 64bit Vista and Win7. (Linux 64 as well). I don't have much in the way of XP programs, but they seem to be ok for the most part. There have been a couple that wouldn't work though.

How long has it been since you used Vista?

IIRC, you can keep the programs and settings when you get the final release. (See MS's site). Presumably, you'll really only install the product key, provided there's been no other changes between the RC and RTM releases. Some issues could pop up between versions I'd think though, (disabled features, as the key tells the installer what to give access to).

 

[seisend]

I run 64bit Vista and Win7. (Linux 64 as well). I don't have much in the way of XP programs, but they seem to be ok for the most part. There have been a couple that wouldn't work though.

How long has it been since you used Vista?

IIRC, you can keep the programs and settings when you get the final release. (See MS's site). Presumably, you'll really only install the product key, provided there's been no other changes between the RC and RTM releases. Some issues could pop up between versions I'd think though, (disabled features, as the key tells the installer what to give access to).

Well I used Vista a few months after release. It was running really slow and some programms didn't worked. So I decided to downgrade to XP again. Since then I never used Vista again on an own computer.

OK. So I think I'll give seven RC 64bit a try and install it. If some programms won't work, I'll be making probably a small XP partition to run them. How does it look with the BC drivers? Do they work with seven or did u have troubles?
I used Windows mainly for gaming sometimes. Got some little tools and programms on it too.

 

[nanofrog]

Well I used Vista a few months after release. It was running really slow and some programms didn't worked. So I decided to downgrade to XP again. Since then I never used Vista again on an own computer.

It's come a long way since it first released (a disaster at that time, especially locating 64bit drivers).

OK. So I think I'll give seven RC 64bit a try and install it. If some programms won't work, I'll be making probably a small XP partition to run them. How does it look with the BC drivers? Do they work with seven or did u have troubles?
I used Windows mainly for gaming sometimes. Got some little tools and programms on it too.

Mine is actually installed on a PC, so definitely no BC involved. It works well though, and is easier to install, as you won't have to locate drivers for everything under the sun (they're included this time, and particularly useful for things the BC drivers won't include, such as printers). As it uses the drivers built for Vista (which eventually showed up in 64bit flavors), it's by far better this time around. What Vista should have been IMO.

I've helped a few other members with this, and the above steps worked for them. So far, they've not reported an issues with the installation proceedure, or Win7 itself.

 

[drummerlondonw3]

As it's a separate drive, you don't use Boot Camp. No need to partition it, as it's not shared with another OS.

Just drop in the Windows disk, and restart the machine. When you get to the disk selection area, you're going to need to install the AHCI drivers (you should be able to find these on the BC disk). Hit REFRESH, then select the drive. Format it (depends on need/&version). Continue with the installation.

You do need the BC disk for the remaining Windows drivers as well, after Windows is installed. Just read the BC instructions if you need help (.pdf, section 3 IIRC).

I never knew that, great tip

 

[seisend]

It's come a long way since it first released (a disaster at that time, especially locating 64bit drivers).


Mine is actually installed on a PC, so definitely no BC involved. It works well though, and is easier to install, as you won't have to locate drivers for everything under the sun (they're included this time, and particularly useful for things the BC drivers won't include, such as printers). As it uses the drivers built for Vista (which eventually showed up in 64bit flavors), it's by far better this time around. What Vista should have been IMO.

I've helped a few other members with this, and the above steps worked for them. So far, they've not reported an issues with the installation proceedure, or Win7 itself.

OK. I am gonna load seven.iso on a DVD and do it the same way as I would install XP (steps you posted) except for the BC drivers maybe. I'll give it a try, thank you ! If there will be issues with Win7, I'll be surely posting it here

 

[nanofrog]

OK. I am gonna load seven.iso on a DVD and do it the same way as I would install XP (steps you posted) except for the BC drivers maybe. I'll give it a try, thank you ! If there will be issues with Win7, I'll be surely posting it here

Just make sure disk doesn't end up an .iso file. I've made that mistake not too long ago.

 

[gugucom]

... what are AHCI drivers ?

They are advanced performance drivers for the SATA controller in your Mac Pro. When you go to profiler in OS X and bring up ATA you will see that your disks will all be connected by AHCI protocols.

Windows natively uses legacy drivers instead of AHCI when you install it on a Mac. It is much easier to select AHCI on a BIOS machine. On an EFI machine as the Mac, you have to tweak it with some nasty tricks to run the AHCI drivers. It is not a simple matter of just installing them. You actually have to edit your Master Boot Record inside the GUID or MBR partition table. I will come to that later.

With legacy drivers installed your RAID array prevents Windows from recognizing other SATA drives as internal. The array absorbs the addressing in those legacy drivers I suppose. You can remove the RAID and do everything you want. After installing Windows you can put the array back in and it will run. So one way of doing this is to clone OS X to a single disk and fit that disk. Then you do your Windows stuff. When you are finished with Windows you remove the single disk and refit your array.

Now to the AHCI drivers. You need to download Intel Matrix Storage Manager http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2101 from this adress. You also need the floppy disk facility that you find there as well. You can also use an older version which nanofrog posted here http://www.ShareCow.com/Download.aspx?request=b64424d0-2cd3-4c81-b46f-390b8e7ca359 When you have made those downloads put the folder with the floppy facility on a USB stick or burn it on CD. If you are hell bent to use XP you will actually need floppies because XP will not let you use other means. Generally XP isn't desirable on a Mac Pro because it is only supported in 32-Bit and not in 64-Bit which will render most of your RAM (above 2 GB) memory useless. The 64-bit varieties of Vista and Win7 have 32-bit emulations installed which will allow you to run any 32-bit program. So they are much better to use. A word of warning to 2006 and 2007 Mac Pro owners. Your machines use a 32-bit EFI. It will not be able to read Windows install DVDs with multiple images like the anytime upgrade DVDs. The 32-bit EFI boot loader freezes when you try to load an install disk with multiple images. The only known workaround at this time is reducing those disk to single image with the vLite program.

When you are installing Windows you should load the AHCI drivers from the floppy facility (actually from your USB stick). In Vista and Win7 you do this from the installation window where you can format or partition drives. In XP you have to hit the F6 key in the beginning when XP starts to load from the optical disk. When you have installed Windows load your drivers from the hybrid Leopard disk. All Leopard disks have a Bootcamp driver image on them which is acessible under Windows only. For 64-bit Windows you need to execute Bootcamp64.msi with admin rights. You find it in the drivers/apple folder on the leopard disk. If it is not there you have a very old version and need to source those drivers somewhere from the internet. There are torrents and downloads from rapidshare. Google Bootcamp 2.0.1 for that. In Win7 you have to apply compatibility patch to Vista drivers before you can load the program. Right click the file and select the routine for compatibility.

When you are done and have installed all the updates you need to activate the AHCI drivers. They will not be running at that stage. Copy the instructions from Ludachris at http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?s=&showtopic=126089&view=findpost&p=939694 . Download the patch from Johnsock. The next step is editing the registry as directed by Ludachris. Next go to disk utility in OS X and make a list of the identifiers of your installed partitions. There is an info button which tells you the internal name of each partition. Make a paper record of the partiton name and that code. You will need this later when you have no access to disk utility. Finally here make a backup with Winclone or at least set a restore point for Windows to get back to that stage if you screw up the next step.

The next step is executing Johnsocks patch program. Pay particular attention to patch the right partition/disk. For this you will need the codes that you have noted. The program tries to find your Windows disk but you have to make sure it finds the right one. It often suggests a wrong disk. When you are done with patching your MBR you shut down Windows and restart it. Then you bring up the Windows device manager. Go to ATA devices and click properties and update drivers. Disregard all automatic searching and force the system to load the AHCI driver from your USB stick, CD or floppy. For non Nehalem Mac Pros the right controller is ESB2 for Nehalem I believe it is ICH10. If the system tells you the driver is wrong disregard that and force the driver to load. Then shut down Windows and restart. If you have done the patch right and selected the right controller for your chipset Windows should now use basic AHCI drivers. If you got it wrong windows will malfunction on load. You can use special load options to go back to the last known good configuration which you hopefully established by setting the restore point in the last paragraph or you can restore Windows by Winclone. Start all over with this paragraph until you got it right.

We are now ready for installing the Intel matrix storage manager. Run your downloaded executable file and restart Windows. In Vista and Win7 you have to run it as administrator. Now you should be all set.

 

[seisend]

mac pro doesn't open the superdrive when I press the eject button (doesn't matter how long I press) , what do to ?

( I want to insert the Mac OSX disc for the AHCI drivers)

 

[gugucom]

If you are in Windows go to the drive in Windows Explorer and right click it. Tell it to eject the disk.

 

[seisend]

If you are in Windows go to the drive in Windows Explorer and right click it. Tell it to eject the disk.

I am right now installing Windows 7 and want to open the superdrive to install the ahci drivers like nanofrog said.

"3. Once it's loaded to the point you an possibly select a drive, you need to remove the Windows disk, and insert the BC disk."

 

[gugucom]

I don't know where you are in Windows loading. It has to restart the Mac two times and the best way of doing it is pushing the alt button and select the Windows hard drive. If you havn't got to that point where Windows is fully loaded you need to kill the Mac by hard stop and reboot into Windows hard drive until it is all done. Then eject the disk.

 

[nanofrog]

I am right now installing Windows 7 and want to open the superdrive to install the ahci drivers like nanofrog said.

"3. Once it's loaded to the point you an possibly select a drive, you need to remove the Windows disk, and insert the BC disk."

Hmm... You could put the BC drivers on a USB stick, to make things easier.
(Just in case you can't find a way to make it eject).

 

[seisend]

Hmm... You could put the BC drivers on a USB stick, to make things easier.
(Just in case you can't find a way to make it eject).

I dropped all files with ending AHCI on an external harddrive. It automaticly copied the hole Bootcamp folder on the harddrive.

I had no files with the specific name AHCI. only endings like "chde09ahci". Installing them didn't work out.

 

[gugucom]

read post #14

 

[nanofrog]

I dropped all files with ending AHCI on an external harddrive. It automaticly copied the hole Bootcamp folder on the harddrive.

I had no files with the specific name AHCI. only endings like "chde09ahci". Installing them didn't work out.

Download this. It's the AHCI drivers that I expanded, and then made a .zip of. Expand it, and save it to a USB stick.

It's not the newest version which just came out (v.8.9.0.1023 on 7/17/2009) , but they'll get you up and running. You can then download the latest version from the link gugucom posted, and update within Windows (.exe file).

 

[gugucom]

Nanofrog, how did you extract the AHCI files from the .exe file? I may want to do this for the latest version.

 

[nanofrog]

Nanofrog, how did you extract the AHCI files from the .exe file? I may want to do this for the latest version.

I found it in the Readme.txt file.

-A Extracts all files (does not install driver) to <path> if -P is also supplied; otherwise, the files are extracted to the default location.

IATA89ENU.exe -A will extract to the default location (C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager). Add -P and set a different path if you want to place the extraction in another location.

It's rather easy, but it may be even easier to download the floppy version, as its already a .zip file of the basic drivers (to keep on hand for OS installation). Installing the .exe version (after Windows is installed and running), you do get the Intel Storage Manager Utility, if you desire it.

 

[gugucom]

Thank you for explaining that.

It's rather easy, but it may be even easier to download the floppy version, as its already a .zip file of the basic drivers (to keep on hand for OS installation). Installing the .exe version (after Windows is installed and running), you do get the Intel Storage Manager Utility, if you desire it.

I thought that was the best way to do this and have advised so in my Howto. Btw, force installing the IMSM on a Mac without modding the MBR will give you a BSOD.