Can't run imac after attempting bootcamp

[Sabrina2000]

I have an imac with snow leopard osx and tried to run bootcamp to get windows os on it.

Not mac savy at all - I'm a long time windows user and very new to mac but wanted to try mac with windows which I need for work.

Ran Bootcamp assistant, had correct new windows xp cd, not sure what happened as regards partitioning drives -can't rememebr now but think I tried to create a very large windows drive which would have taken over 50% of the drive space ( maybe 60-7o-%)....got into trouble after it formatted the hard drive....had to repeat that step, involved deleting a drive and then re-creating or partitioning another drive ...not sure what on earth happened or what I've done.

In the end got a blue screen error message saying I had to switch off the comp; kept switching off but when I switched back on it would apparently start up windows and then go to the same blue screen error.

Tried the command (?) key after searching the net so I could go to mac hard drive but every time I select mac hard drive it says I need to switch off and back on - I do that, and then I'm back to the windows blue error screen, and then if I restart and go back to mac hard drive on start up by pressing the command key, it tells me to switch off again!

THIS IS THE ERROR MESSAGE I AM GETTING NO MATTER WHAT I DO :

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.......check to be sure you ahve adequate disk space......

Tech Info: ***STOP :
0 x0000008E(0x C0000005, 0 x80635423, 0 x F7606894, 0 x 00000000)
_________________

When I set up the partiion space I selected a huge chunk for windows as I want to be running windows most of the time ( particular software I need to run) and will use mac side for occasional basic internet surfing.


THE MESSAGE I GET WHEN I SELECT BOOT FROM MAC HARD DRIVE IS : YOU NEED TO RESTART YOUR COMPUTER; HOLD DOWN THE POWER BUTTON UNTIL IT TURNS OFF AND THEN PRESS THE POWER BUTTON AGAIN.

When I do that I'm back to the blue error screen.....I'm just going around in circles here and frantic now that I've totally messed up a new imac.....

I JUST MANAGED TO GET THE CD OUT , BUT NOW WHEN I START THE COMP I GET THE SAME MESSAGE I WAS GETTING WHEN I TRIED TO GO INTO MAC HD - YOU NEED TO RESTART YOUR COMP !! WHERE DOES IT END\???

 

[Huntn]

Not that this will make you feel any better, but I think what you are going through is rare. You are making posts here, can you run MacOS on your iMac or is this a different computer you are making posts with?

Not knowing how knowledgeable your are... If this is a new iMac you should have started with one drive. Bootcamp will partition your drive so as far as the Mac is concerned there is now two drives but in actuality it's just one hard drive. This is where you first had problems? When Bootcamp is done partitioning the drive, it will ask you to insert the Windows disk you have and the Windows Installer will take over installing Windows. At the end of the process, Bootcamp should install drivers so your Mac hardware can function with Windows Software.

 

[Sabrina2000]

hi there

it's a different computer I'm posting from- my terribly slow, but ever ready, dell windows dimension desktop; the idea was to shift all my work to the mac and start using it, but I needed a windows drive on it to be able to run a particular software program which I use for my work.

As far as computers go, especially macs, my knowledge is zero+.

I started with the win xp cd in the drive ( I think) and went through bootcamp in disk utilities - I selected I think about70% for windows, thinking that would be best for a faster speed and more memory in windows which I would be using most of the time. But when it came to partioning the drive I had to create and delete a drive ( I think) in the end otherwise it wasn't going to work.....not sure really what I did.
I have managed to get the cd out finally but now when I start up I get a message saying "you need to restart your computer". And if the cd goes in, it ends up in a blue error screen message.

Problems are since I've attempted bootcamp/windows - prior to that it was fine.

Thanks for considering - will appreciate any guidance.

 

[darkcurse]

First question, do you currently have any important information on the Mac side that you absolutely must recover?

Second question, are your XP discs SP3? I think anything other than SP3 would not work. Then again I think Apple has removed XP as an "officially" supported OS through bootcamp.

What you'll want to do assuming the first question is "No" is. Put in your Snow Leopard/Recovery disc and basically reformat and reinstall OSX. Then go through the Bootcamp installation process again. Make sure you only mess with the partition named BOOTCAMP this time as deleting or changing any other partition is really bad news.

 

[balamw]

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.......check to be sure you ahve adequate disk space......

Tech Info: ***STOP :
0 x0000008E(0x C0000005, 0 x80635423, 0 x F7606894, 0 x 00000000)

Both of these errors are kernel panics and usually a sign that something is terribly wrong at the hardware level. Most likely RAM. You didn't happen to install any new third party recently. Did you?

You should try to boot from the OS X install DVD or the one labeled "Hardware Test" and run a full hardware diagnostic before trying what darkcurse suggests.

Do you have access to another Mac that has a FireWire port? or can you borrow one from a friend? If so, you can use that to put your iMac in Target Disk Mode and pull off any data you might need from the OS X partition before wiping it.

B

 

[Sabrina2000]

thank you thank you for replies !
first of all it is a "new" imac, bought last Jan but rarely used except for occasional internet surfing so no docs or work on there or anyhting at all which needs to be saved.

secondly, didn't see a bootcamp drive as far as I recall, but I may be wrong.

I did have to create an additional partition which involved deleting a partition ......I guess that was all because I tried to select too much HD for windows, thinking that was a good thing....roughly about 70% was selected for windows.

Did buy an old g mac (?) recently , the one with the flexi monitor - so do have another mac on stand by if necessary......but really keen to get this imac up and running with windows on it so can start shifting work on to it as my current windows comp is sooooooo slow and has very limited memory.

What's the max space I should be aiming for windows when I re-bootcamp? The windows section will be the one I'll use the most, with the mac reserved for internet surfing /itunes and photo booth.

Thanks again.

ps - not sure what "third party" means, but no I didn't instal anything extra during all of this/ or prior.....but I did do something to the partitions/created a new one after deleting an exisitng one because it wouldn't let me instal windows otherwise

 

[wrldwzrd89]

thank you thank you for replies !
first of all it is a "new" imac, bought last Jan but rarely used except for occasional internet surfing so no docs or work on there or anyhting at all which needs to be saved.

secondly, didn't see a bootcamp drive as far as I recall, but I may be wrong.

I did have to create an additional partition which involved deleting a partition ......I guess that was all because I tried to select too much HD for windows, thinking that was a good thing....roughly about 70% was selected for windows.

Did buy an old g mac (?) recently , the one with the flexi monitor - so do have another mac on stand by if necessary......but really keen to get this imac up and running with windows on it so can start shifting work on to it as my current windows comp is sooooooo slow and has very limited memory.

What's the max space I should be aiming for windows when I re-bootcamp? The windows section will be the one I'll use the most, with the mac reserved for internet surfing /itunes and photo booth.

Thanks again.

ps - not sure what "third party" means, but no I didn't instal anything extra during all of this/ or prior.....but I did do something to the partitions/created a new one after deleting an exisitng one because it wouldn't let me instal windows otherwise

You don't need to monkey with the partition map Boot Camp Assistant creates in order to install Windows. Have you printed and read the directions Boot Camp Assistant generates for you? If not... do that now. If you don't have a printer connected, you can always print the directions to a PDF, then read them on another computer or print them out from another computer. At worst, you'll need to format the BOOTCAMP partition to NTFS so that Windows can install itself there... and the directions explain how this is done for all Windows versions.

 

[balamw]

Have you printed and read the directions Boot Camp Assistant generates for you? If not... do that now.

Also available here: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/Boot_Camp_Install-Setup_10.6.pdf

thank you thank you for replies !
first of all it is a "new" imac, bought last Jan but rarely used except for occasional internet surfing so no docs or work on there or anyhting at all which needs to be saved.

"new" meaning actually purchased new from an Apple Authorized Retailer or "new" as in second hand bought from someone else?

ps - not sure what "third party" means, but no I didn't instal anything extra during all of this/ or prior.....but I did do something to the partitions/created a new one after deleting an exisitng one because it wouldn't let me instal windows otherwise

I meant third party RAM, i.e. memory chips that didn't come with the computer from Apple. This has all the hallmarks of bad or poorly installed RAM.

Assuming your iMac is still under warranty and you live somewhere near an Apple Store, I'd take it in and have them help you reinstall Mac OS X from scratch and run hardware diagnostics on it.

There's no hard limit on how much space you can allocate to Windows. Some folks around here actually dedicate their whole internal hard drive to Windows, so that was unlikely to be the source of the problem.

B

 

[Sabrina2000]

Thanks for further input, really helpful.

Yes, it's a new ( very big screen) imac as in bought direct from an authorised apple dealer, but out of warranty as it's past the 12 months ( bought end January 2010). Of course I should have attemtped all this before the 12 months warranty was up ( I didn't buy extra cover or anything).

ok, now i understand the third party software thing, no we did not instal anything extra on it.....just used it for basic internet surfing, all the while plucking up the courage for the bootcamp thing.

Did print off the instructions in advance, yes, but after selecting about 70% for windows I got stuck - I found the instructions didn't cover the scenario I was in so I was toying with partitions as I went along and hoping it would work - kept thinking " it's apple, it can't go wrong, surely they know what I'm bound to do if I selected 70%").

I do find it frustrating that the general internet consensus from apple users when bootcamping for windows is that you should not aim for more than 30-50% of the hard drive - I don't know much (zilch) about computers but it doesn't make sense to me. I would have thought that something as sturdy and wonderful as an apple should be able to manage a 100% windows drive if
needed. I don't think I'll risk it again though.....I will probably - reluctantly - stay on the safe side this time and go for 30% ( though I'd prefer 50%). All I need the windows for is to run a basic amicus attorney programme for work purposes.....nothing else really. I'll probably want microsoft works on it and outlook express, plus internet explorer, and that's about it. I will be saving a lot of document files which is why I was keen to get as much space as possible out of windows for this, and of course I wanted speed ( it'll be an absolute luxury after all these years of being limited to 256 MB RAM and having to put up regularly with "windows is paging memory and some applications may be denied".

THANK YOU AGAIN for much appreciated help on this issue......resources like this are amazing.

 

[balamw]

All I need the windows for is to run a basic amicus attorney programme for work purposes.....nothing else really. I'll probably want microsoft works on it and outlook express, plus internet explorer, and that's about it. I will be saving a lot of document files which is why I was keen to get as much space as possible out of windows for this, and of course I wanted speed ( it'll be an absolute luxury after all these years of being limited to 256 MB RAM and having to put up regularly with "windows is paging memory and some applications may be denied".

I would strongly encourage you to consider virtualizing Windows instead of Boot Camp. You can do everything you need in Windows under Virtualbox, VMWare Fusion or Parallels. On a typical iMac you would have 4 GB of RAM so you can dedicate 2 GB to each OS to be 100% comfortable. It'll be plenty peppy compared to any machine with 256MB of RAM. Plus since the Mac OS X drive can be shared with the VM you can use as much or as little space as you want flexibly.

First steps first. Boot from the Mac OS X install disc that has the Hardware Test on it and run that. Post what you find.

Then, reinstall OS X from scratch on the whole drive. Make sure that is working.

Then, install the VM software of your choice and install your XP and apps into that.

Final question: What is the source of your XP install disc? If it came with another computer that might help explain why the install went wrong. Some discs are customized for the hardware they ship with and that may cause problems like this.

B

 

[Sabrina2000]

thanks - I did consider the virtual parallels world once but just couldn't quite get to grips with it all and failed miserably on a trial run - I'm sure I was just being thick or something ....but in the end thought I'd be reasonably safe with bootcamp. Anyway, I'm now successfully bootcamped ! The standard bootcamp instal options seem to be limited to 30 or 50% of the HD. I went for 50% in the end, and no problems....though the windows blue screen did flash up once on shut down a few minutes ago but then started up again with no problems....so hopefully all ok.

The win xp cd was bought specially for bootcamp purposes with sp2 on it. Bought original cd.

It is all SUPER SUPER fast (!!!) compared to the machine I'm typing on right now....will take a bit of getting used to ! All I've got to do now is copy/transfer all my stuff over, figure out Amicus transfer (I've got Amicus installed but unsure about briefcase issues- but that's a whole load of something else) , and slowly ( or quickly) get used to using a new comp after about 14 years.

One issue I'm faced with immediately, and not sure if it's appropriate to mention it here but here goes: I seem to have IE 6 by default but on some pages ( which I go to via google) I get " IE cannot open the internet site....operation aborted" ....and this seems to be because they want me to upgrade my IE - so tried downloading IE8 but then get a message at the end of installing updates : " IE instal did not complete because your comp failed to instal a required update; pls click on the download button to manually instal"....I click on the download button but then all that happens is I'm prompted to instal IE8 and it happens all over again - so not sure what to do here and whether this has somehting to do with it being a mac computer, or whether it's some other issue. If I should raise this somewhere else, please let me know. Presumably it is IE8 I should be aiming for.

ps 1 - should I still run a hardware test?

ps 2 - sorry about this, just wanted to ask if anyone has any views as regards using a windows keyboard and mouse on the now bootcamped imac - I've bought an ergonimic windows mouse and an ergonomic windows keyboard ( so used to windows keyboards still) and would love to use them but vaguely anxious in case I'm hoping for too much and asking for more issues than I can comfortably chew.