Flashing underscore when booting Win 7

[SomeSwede]

Hi.

I recently installed Windows 7 Ultimate on my 2007 iMac, and so far everything is running flawlessly EXCEPT that every time I boot in to Windows I am greeted with a flashing underscore for about 55 seconds before the boot process continues.

Has anyone any idea what the cause and solution to this little irritating problem might be?

I used the drivers included on the SL DVD in case anyone is wondering.

Here is a short video clip showing the whole boot process: http://data.fuskbugg.se/skalman01/090909170017.3gp

 

[Fgozalo]

Hey there,

as previously read on another topic, the most likely cause to it is that if you downloaded your copy trhough torrents or alike, the underscore means that a bios hack is being loaded before the actual boot up.



thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/785207/

PS': Sorry for my English, it's not first language nor second.

 

[ryannazaretian]

Hey there,

as previously read on another topic, the most likely cause to it is that if you downloaded your copy trhough torrents or alike, the underscore means that a bios hack is being loaded before the actual boot up.



thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/785207/

PS': Sorry for my English, it's not first language nor second.

That's not necessarily true. I have the flashing underscore on my Vista Ultimate 32bit setup, and it's a legitimate copy that I bought through my University.

From what I understand, it is the bios trying to find a start path to boot from. Maybe it's a little slower due to a bios emulation problem or that the bootloader is messed up.

 

[ayeying]

That's not necessarily true. I have the flashing underscore on my Vista Ultimate 32bit setup, and it's a legitimate copy that I bought through my University.

From what I understand, it is the bios trying to find a start path to boot from. Maybe it's a little slower due to a bios emulation problem or that the bootloader is messed up.

You would see a flashing underscore for a little while, but not 55 seconds as the OP suggested. I have about 1-3 seconds on my legit Vista Business 64-bit on my macbook air

 

[SomeSwede]

Hey there,

as previously read on another topic, the most likely cause to it is that if you downloaded your copy trhough torrents or alike, the underscore means that a bios hack is being loaded before the actual boot up.



thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/785207/

PS': Sorry for my English, it's not first language nor second.

That would make sense i guess.

And i suspect that this forum is the wrong place to look for a better bios hack, so i'll thank you for your reply and look elsewhere for a solution.

 

[Stridder44]

Hey there,

as previously read on another topic, the most likely cause to it is that if you downloaded your copy trhough torrents or alike, the underscore means that a bios hack is being loaded before the actual boot up.



thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/785207/

PS': Sorry for my English, it's not first language nor second.

I don't think it would be from the copy being downloaded from torrents. I think it would be from the activator cracks, which have a BIOS hack.

 

[mr666]

What is a "BIOS hack"? If the BIOS is a chipset, how does the installer hack it? Would that cause the BIOS to need a flash to get back to its original condition? I wonder if your term "BIOS hack" is accurate.

I have installed 7 on two different computers using the same DVD with the issue occurring on one but not the other. Does that mean the installer hacked one but didn't hack the other? I rather doubt it, since the one with the issue has no BIOS to hack.

 

[balamw]

What is a "BIOS hack"?

Some "pre-activated" copies of Windows look for a particular OEM's BIOS instead of activation. They can be fooled by installing a bit of software before Windows that will imitate the required BIOS.

It's very similar to how OS X can be fooled that it is running on a Mac when installing a hackintosh.

B