Huge problem using BootCamp. I may have ruined everything. New to Mac.

[theDionysianOne]

Ok, so here goes:

So, I purchased an iMac on eBay. It didn't come with the recovery disk, but it was cheap because there's a minor scratch on the screen that I don't care about, so I bought it for $250.

Reason I wanted it: I recently purchased a Zoom R16 multi-track recorder that comes with Cubase LE5 that supposedly works with OS X 10.5 and up. Turned out that it works up to, but not past, OS X 10.6.7.........mine is OS X 10.6.8

So, I was reading into using BootCamp to run Windows XP, just so I could use Cubase LE5 on a computer as mobile as an iMac, that I could also store finished work etc on the Mac OS for safe keeping, w/out fear of virus destruction, or OS failure. Which has happened to me on Windows, and really ticked me off.

Nothing I read said that I would ruin everything if I used Windows XP SP1. All I read was that BootCamp works with SP2. So I figured,"no big deal, I have a Windows XP SP1 disk, I'll just update it to SP2 before installing the BootCamp drivers that I downloaded online (since it didn't come with the recovery disk)."

Well, I've seemed to have ruined everything. Here's how: After deciding to partition the drive for 24GB on the Windows side, and something like 130GB or so on the Mac side, I proceeded with the partition and insertion of the Windows XP SP1 disk. It rebooted and installed just fine on the specified partitioned space. (Side note: I did not have an ethernet cable plugged in for internet or anything....don't know if it matters, just figured I'd throw it out there in case you were wondering about it at any point).

So, I put the burned disk that contained the BootCamp data into the iMac, and began installing the setups. It was working fairly well. Graphics were improving just like I read on the net. But, I hit a brick wall trying to actually run the setup for BootCamp. It said I needed an updated Windows Installer. So it asked if it should update it, but no internet yet due to no BootCamp to allow the wireless function. So that's a no go. Even plugging in the ethernet cable for internet use was useless. Need BootCamp to set up the ethernet driver. So, I figured, "well, I've done this before...I'll just use a USB drive (as I was able to install the USB drivers) to place the SP2 update upon, then update with that. It's worked before using Windows laptops and desktops, why not now?" Well, that didn't work. For some reason, it won't update from a USB. It says there's not enough memory space to do so. It requires 4GB. BUT MY PARTITION ALLOWS FOR 20GB (EVEN AFTER TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE SPACE THAT XP TAKES UP)!!! So, that's something I don't understand.

From there, I figured, "well, I'll look this up online!" Found countless sites (now, but for some reason, not before I decided to try this) stating that you ABSOLUTELY MUST Have a SP2 version of XP, or you'll ruin everything, and need to reinstall OS X (Snow Leopard) again. Well, I don't have Snow Leopard, it didn't come with it (eBay). However, I will be able to get a copy of Snow Leopard from work. So all may not be lost, but read on....

Well, from here, I had the idea that "what if I DID have a copy of Windows XP SP2? Perhaps I could just install it on the partitioned space, and proceed sort of 'business as usual' when it comes to BootCamp." So, I managed to get a copy of Windows XP SP2 Pro, and attempted to install it. This is where it gets confusing.....

First, I had to log on to Windows as usual to eject the disk that was in there. Then I hit restart, but, for some reason, every time you try to restart Windows SP1 on this machine, it will just freeze up at the "Windows is restarting" screen, & you'll have to hold the power button in to turn it off. So it restarts, and I'm trying to hit F8 to boot from CD, and it doesn't pick it up. (BTW: I'm using a basic Windows keyboard by Gear Head™) So it boots all the way as normal. Frustrating. So, I had to open My Computer and click on the disk drive containing Windows SP2. Then it asks if you want to just update, or do a new install. So I picked new install. Entered in the key. Then it begins to prep the install. Tries to restart, but again, you have to hold the power button in to turn it off. Restart always fails for some reason. So I did. Started it up again, and it took a while. First you get the white/light grey screen, then it ejected the disk, so I inserted it again. Then it goes to the black screen that says "press any key to boot from CD..." pressing keys seemed to work. As the continuation dots (....) seemed to stop...but then they kept going............just really really slowly. Then, whaddya know! It started installing Windows! So I figured after it started setting it up, I could wipe the partitioned space, and install SP2 and fix the whole problem......in a perfect world. But, once the bar at the bottom said "setting up windows" or whatever, I got the blue screen of death. Now, every time I start it: it tries to install Windows and goes to blue screen of death.....whether or not a windows disk is in the drive.

So
......

Now what? Please help. So you know, I'm not afraid of getting into computers. I mean, inside. If I have to switch hard drives, I will. I'm not a newbie to gutting computers. I am when it comes to Mac. But its all hardware. It's just a matter of figuring it out.

 

[Makosuke]

That was pretty long, but I think I followed what you did and what went wrong, so I'll start off with a few questions to make sure I'm not missing anything:

1) You didn't mention what model of iMac you have, just for reference.

2) Where did you find the confirmation that Cubase LE 5 won't run on 10.6.8? Steinberg's knowledge base claims that LE 5.1.1 works with both Snow Leopard and Lion, and I've honestly never heard of something that's Lion compatible and will run on 10.6.7, but not 10.6.8 (the opposite, actually).

Even if so, it seems like the easiest solution is to either buy a copy of Lion for $40 and run Cubase that way, or if you must stick with 10.6 (is your iMac too old to run Lion?), buy a copy of 10.6 for $29, install that, and then only update to 10.6.7. Either seems a lot easier than goofing around with XP, particularly since XP is about to be EOL'd and become even more of a security liability than it already is.

3) If you want XP regardless, since it sounds like you now have a proper XP SP2 disc the easiest thing would honestly be to just wipe your failed install and start fresh. First force a boot back into the MacOS (hold down option while powering on the computer to bring up the boot select menu), then use the Boot Camp application to remove your Boot Camp partition, and then use it to re-create one and this time install from your SP2 disc, which should work.

If there's some reason you're having trouble doing that, explain why (unless I missed it in your explanation, in which case I apologize).


Other possibly useful tips, for general reference: This isn't entirely clear from the instructions, but while you can partition a hard drive using Apple's Disk Utility and then try to install Windows on one of the partitions, this won't work; the partition MUST be created with the Boot Camp application for it to work (it does some low-level modifications to deal with the lack of a BIOS, I believe).

Also, if you have access to another Windows computer, you can use nLite to slipstream SP3 (or SP2) into your SP1 Windows install disc, which effectively creates an SP3 install disc for future use. Quite handy (particularly in situations like this), and saves a lot of time if you do multiple installs.

 

[theDionysianOne]

1) You didn't mention what model of iMac you have, just for reference.

iMac 5,2 w/ Intel Core2 Duo (1.83 Ghz)

2) Where did you find the confirmation that Cubase LE 5 won't run on 10.6.8? Steinberg's knowledge base claims that LE 5.1.1 works with both Snow Leopard and Lion, and I've honestly never heard of something that's Lion compatible and will run on 10.6.7, but not 10.6.8 (the opposite, actually).


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3152729?start=0&tstart=0
The problem is the driver compatibility from ZOOM. As it's not really the Cubase LE 5 that has the problem, it's using a ZOOM R16 as the control interface with Cubase LE 5. Sorry about forgetting to type that detail.

3) If you want XP regardless, since it sounds like you now have a proper XP SP2 disc the easiest thing would honestly be to just wipe your failed install and start fresh. First force a boot back into the MacOS (hold down option while powering on the computer to bring up the boot select menu), then use the Boot Camp application to remove your Boot Camp partition, and then use it to re-create one and this time install from your SP2 disc, which should work.

If there's some reason you're having trouble doing that, explain why (unless I missed it in your explanation, in which case I apologize).

I didn't know I could do that. Also, I don't have a Mac keyboard. But, thanks to the heads up you gave me, I looked it up and discovered that the Alt key is the same as the Option key. So I'm back into the Mac system & I've deleted the partition for now.

Other possibly useful tips, for general reference: This isn't entirely clear from the instructions, but while you can partition a hard drive using Apple's Disk Utility and then try to install Windows on one of the partitions, this won't work; the partition MUST be created with the Boot Camp application for it to work (it does some low-level modifications to deal with the lack of a BIOS, I believe).

Yes, I was using the Boot Camp application. Normally, once Windows IS installed, you just put in the Snow Leopard disk and the drivers install. That also gives you the button that allows you to shut down and start up in Mac. But, since I don't have a copy of Snow Leopard, I found the Boot Camp drivers online and burnt them to a disk along with WinRAR (which I needed to unzip the Boot Camp drivers & install them).

Hopefully what I typed up there in the quote clears it up.