Bootcamp partition gone from Startup disc panel

[juliancs]

As title says. I can no longer hold option to boot into bootcamp (fairly old issue - I tihnk it's my keyboard), so I just use startup disc preference pane. Today, Windows does not show up. I downloaded bootchamp and it also gave me an error when trying to restart....any ideas at all? I can't do anything with the bootcamp partition in the disc utility.

EDIT: Opening the bootcamp assistant gives me :""Boot Camp Assistant cannot be used: You must update your computer's boot ROM firmware before using this setup assistant".

Note I was in win7 earlier today without issue....

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Which model of Mac do you have? The error message suggests that your Mac's firmware may be outdated - check for updates to the keyboard (if you have an Apple-branded keyboard) as well as for the Mac itself.

 

[juliancs]

Which model of Mac do you have? The error message suggests that your Mac's firmware may be outdated - check for updates to the keyboard (if you have an Apple-branded keyboard) as well as for the Mac itself.

A 2009 mac pro quad. I don't see how my firmware can be outdated if I have been using win7 daily for months, and this morning. Suddenly..poof.

 

[balamw]

Sounds like time to zap your PRAM before you try anything else.

You didn't mention. W7 32 or 64? It sounds like it just forgot how to boot MBR which would only be an issue for 32 bit.

B

 

[juliancs]

64bit. Unfortunately I don't know how to zap my PRAM without the keys held on bootup, which doe snot work (my keyboard only gets power at the apple logo). Is there any other way I can do this?

 

[balamw]

64bit. Unfortunately I don't know how to zap my PRAM without the keys held on bootup, which doe snot work (my keyboard only gets power at the apple logo). Is there any other way I can do this?

None that I am aware of. What happened to the original KB?

Borrow one if you have to.

B

 

[juliancs]

None that I am aware of. What happened to the original KB?

Borrow one if you have to.

B

It still works, but it's just stopped recognising commands at boot up. It randomly flashed the volume indicator on and off when pressing some keys as well. I don't know anyone nearby with a keyboard, everyone has a laptop. I still don't understand why this has happened...

 

[balamw]

It still works, but it's just stopped recognising commands at boot up. It randomly flashed the volume indicator on and off when pressing some keys as well. I don't know anyone nearby with a keyboard, everyone has a laptop. I still don't understand why this has happened...

Do you live anywhere near an Apple Store/Reseller/Service center. Might be time to give them a call.

B

 

[juliancs]

Do you live anywhere near an Apple Store/Reseller/Service center. Might be time to give them a call.

B

I do, yea and I'm still under applecare so I could get it swapped. The problem is I assume it would not be an instant swap so I would be without a keyboard for a while, which I can't afford. Buying a windoze one cheap would be an option but then I might as well throw on twenty quid and buy a new aluminium one...

 

[balamw]

I do, yea and I'm still under applecare so I could get it swapped. The problem is I assume it would not be an instant swap so I would be without a keyboard for a while, which I can't afford. Buying a windoze one cheap would be an option but then I might as well throw on twenty quid and buy a new aluminium one...

Call ahead to the store. For stuff like this they can often do an instant replacement. In the US at least.

Also note: I have a 17" white Core Duo iMac. The white KB died and I replaced it with an Aluminum one. The Aluminum one doesn't work for hitting Alt/Option. I have to use the remote (hold Play) to get the boot selector to come up. This is a known problem for early Intel Macs and the Apple Aluminum KB.

B

 

[juliancs]

Call ahead to the store. For stuff like this they can often do an instant replacement. In the US at least.

Also note: I have a 17" white Core Duo iMac. The white KB died and I replaced it with an Aluminum one. The Aluminum one doesn't work for hitting Alt/Option. I have to use the remote (hold Play) to get the boot selector to come up. This is a known problem for early Intel Macs and the Apple Aluminum KB.

B

Yea, I've heard the Alu KB's have this problem. I'm trying to get hold of the dinovo for mac but keep getting sniped on ebay. I'll go in and talk to them - the problem is it works, and they are going to plug it in and see that it works. The guys at my local shop are douches, as well.
Anyway, guess I can't game anymore. Any idea what to do if the PRAM still does not solve the bootcamp issue? I tried installing an older EFI boot version to reinstall the current version, but it did not work.

Thanks VERY much for all your help on this, by the way.

 

[balamw]

Thanks VERY much for all your help on this, by the way.

Welcome.

I'd bring the Mac in and have them zap the PRAM for you if that's possible. I think the problem is the Mac, not the KB. [Just like in my case it's the Mac that doesn't recognize the KB on boot the same KB works fine on my MB/MBP].

Worst case they may have to replace your Mac, but at least on the Mac Pro that should be trivial.

Let us know what finally fixes it.

B

 

[juliancs]

Bought the cheapest keyboard I could find today, and holding alt allowed me to choose bootcamp easily. PRAM zapped worked as well, and now the windows partition is back under the start up disc. Happy days! Now to get my mac keyboard replaced.

Thanks for the help again!

 

[balamw]

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Glad it worked!

I take it the Apple KB still doesn't work after the PRAM zap?

B

 

[juliancs]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Glad it worked!

I take it the Apple KB still doesn't work after the PRAM zap?

B

No, still funky. I suppose having a backup keyboard is not a bad thing though - if it failed on me in the middle of a scoring session. Apparently the aluminum kbs have problems all the time, so I will look out for a dinovo mac on ebay!