iMac booting up to "No boot disk - press any key"

[dilap]

My Mac keeps booting up to this message, and pressing alt keys or any other startup combo doesn't make a difference, the Mac just ignores them! Only thing is that the "X" key boots to a black screen, then the normal no boot disk stuff. Is a Late 2006 iMac so Apple Care is not an option.

 

[MacVidCards]

reset nvram

 

[dilap]

reset nvram

Tried this, Mac just ignores keyboard combos.

 

[Bomb Bloke]

It seems the system is currently trying to boot to a new Boot Camp partition (created via the Boot Camp Assistant). Typically this is when you'd insert your Windows installer media and proceed to set up the new OS.

To get it to boot back to OS X without doing that, you'd typically need to get the unit to accept a key press on startup (Option, or Alt, should take you to the boot picker). In my experience, the way to go is to turn the unit on, tap the button in concern rapidly, then press and hold it when the chime sounds.

If using a wireless keyboard, start tapping before even starting the computer, and if you're still having trouble, switch to a USB model. Even a keyboard off a regular PC should do.

 

[dilap]

It seems the system is currently trying to boot to a new Boot Camp partition (created via the Boot Camp Assistant). Typically this is when you'd insert your Windows installer media and proceed to set up the new OS.

To get it to boot back to OS X without doing that, you'd typically need to get the unit to accept a key press on startup (Option, or Alt, should take you to the boot picker). In my experience, the way to go is to turn the unit on, tap the button in concern rapidly, then press and hold it when the chime sounds.

If using a wireless keyboard, start tapping before even starting the computer, and if you're still having trouble, switch to a USB model. Even a keyboard off a regular PC should do.

Yeah unfortunately my install media isn't working and I can't get it to work. As I said in my post alt keys don't work. Bought a FireWire cable of Amazon for target disk mode, any idea what I could do with acces to the file system?

 

[Bomb Bloke]

Target disk mode is unlikely to assist you here. To boot the affected unit into it, you (naturally) need to use a key combo, and doing so won't allow you to change the default boot volume. Booting another system into target disk mode would only help if that somehow enabled you to share bootable Windows installation media to this unit, but that'd be a rather round-about way of doing things.

What's this "install media" you've currently got, and what do you have in the way of other computers?

You have tried other keyboards and whatnot, right? If you don't have immediate access to one, borrow one!

If your current keyboard happens to be wireless, make sure it hasn't eg been turned off or gone flat!

 

[dilap]

Target disk mode is unlikely to assist you here. To boot the affected unit into it, you (naturally) need to use a key combo, and doing so won't allow you to change the default boot volume. Booting another system into target disk mode would only help if that somehow enabled you to share bootable Windows installation media to this unit, but that'd be a rather round-about way of doing things.

What's this "install media" you've currently got, and what do you have in the way of other computers?

You have tried other keyboards and whatnot, right? If you don't have immediate access to one, borrow one!

If your current keyboard happens to be wireless, make sure it hasn't eg been turned off or gone flat!

Ah, forgot to mention that I can boot into Target Disk Mode, and NetBoot! Tried other keyboards and they didn't work. How could I fix it in Target Disk Mode, as I do have access to it. Install Media is a Windows 7 ISO SP1, using a USB Stick. I know the problem with that, as I enabled USB support on a mac that doesn't support USB Boot, causing it to not recognise it as a boot disk. Could I not use Disk Utility to remove the "Windows" partition?

 

[Bomb Bloke]

Using Disk Utility to remove the Windows volume (eg, by booting an OS X installer disc by holding C on startup) may force the system to fall back to the one you want. I can't say for sure, as Boot Camp Assistant's file system changes aren't as simple as "adding another volume" - the system may still try to boot from within the hybrid partition scheme it creates, which isn't so easy to scrub. In fact, using Disk Utility to attempt to undo the Assistant's work will leave your file system in a state where neither the Assistant nor Disk Utility will allow you to put things back how they originally were; you'll be stuck with the space unusable until you wipe the entire drive and set up the partition scheme from scratch.

Which isn't as hard as it sounds, so long as you have a suitable drive to back up to (or better yet, a drive with a current backup already on it), but I wouldn't put that idea at the top of your list just yet.

I would try using Disk Utility via another mac to "restore" your ISO to a DVD. You might then be able to boot your stricken machine off that (again, by holding C on startup). Bear in mind it'll need to be a 32-bit copy of Windows; your system won't handle a 64-bit release.

Once Windows is installed, installing the Boot Camp support software on top of it will add a Boot Camp notification area icon which allows you to change the default startup volume.

 

[vkd]

Try obtaining a DVD installation disc for Mac OS and boot that.

 

[Bomb Bloke]

Actually, come to think of it, I've got a memory that the "exit" option available on the installer's menu bar menu lets you change your default startup volume before quitting (which reboots the computer).

So yeah, if you can get the thing to boot to an OS X installer disc, that should be sufficient to sort things out. Again, hold the C button on boot while the disc's inserted.

 

[dilap]

Actually, come to think of it, I've got a memory that the "exit" option available on the installer's menu bar menu lets you change your default startup volume before quitting (which reboots the computer).

So yeah, if you can get the thing to boot to an OS X installer disc, that should be sufficient to sort things out. Again, hold the C button on boot while the disc's inserted.

Try obtaining a DVD installation disc for Mac OS and boot that.

Yeah! Tried with Tiger yesterday and the Mac ignored it. I have a bad optical drive. Funnily enough when trying to get a correct version of Windows on DVD, I found Snow Leopard! First try, holding C and it booted to that! Was able to restart to Lion!! Tried to do this last night with Tiger but as I said it didn't work. Thanks!