For the record...
... Whereas I have successfully run Windows 7 Professional on my mid-2007 MacBook Pro (2.2ghtz) previously, and
... Whereas I have searched the internet (and these forums) up, down, left, right for solutions, to no avail, and
... Whereas I now feel I have exhausted all resources after 4 days,
I come to you, MacRumors Forums, for support.
Since I was running low on space on my Snow Leopard partition, and had ample on my Windows partition (and Winclone was not operating properly) I erased, resized, and attempted to reinstall.
First Attempt
I did the typical Boot Camp Assistant method; single partition => dual partition => install. The computer booted to the CD, failed at 0% file expansion, citing missing installation files. I exchanged the disc.
Second Attempt
I booted by holding 'c', which resulted in a grey-screen for about 5 minutes before my MBP spat out the disc and defaulted to booting to Snow Leopard.
Third Attempt
I booted again by holding 'c', and while it finally chose to boot from the disc, it returned an error saying 'No bootable device.' At this point, I'm questioning the reliability of my disc drive.
Fourth Attempt
So, I attempt to create a dummy partition to boot from (MS FAT-32 format), and copy the contents of the disc to the partition. Finder couldn't copy the files due to a read error; by this time, I'm convinced my superdrive has bit the dust. I found a newer Mac, and loaded the contents from it's drive onto my partition.
I booted from the dummy partition, only to get a "No bootable device" error again.
Fifth Attempt
Same process as the 4th attempt, except that I used 3G NTFS to format the dummy drive to NTFS and copy the installation files there. Again, No bootable device.
Sixth Attempt
I decide to download rEFit and boot from a USB drive. After confirming rEFit was properly installed, I found a Windows PC, restored the installation disc to a USB thumb drive with an NTFS format. I boot into rEFit, select my thumb drive, and receive a "Firmware refused to boot from this drive" error.
Seventh Attempt
By this time I'm getting a little frustrated. I revert back to my superdrive after resetting both my PRAM and PMU, which resulted in a successful boot into the Windows 7 installer. However, after 15% into 'Expanding Files' the drive spins down and the installation simply stops with no notice or BSOD. I read up on the issue, noticing that most of the problems were due to unnecessary hardware... well, there is no other hardware. Just my power cord.
Eighth Attempt
So I try again. Boot from disc => install => disc spins down at 36% this time. I leave it overnight thinking it must just be slow, but after a 8-hour rest, it's still at 36% (the installer is *not* frozen; the three dots are still cycling and the mouse is responsive.)
So I'm at a loss at what my options are at this point. Does anyone have any suggestions? The data that was on the drive was all replaceable, but I need Windows unfortunately. This has all been a huge headache.
... Whereas I have successfully run Windows 7 Professional on my mid-2007 MacBook Pro (2.2ghtz) previously, and
... Whereas I have searched the internet (and these forums) up, down, left, right for solutions, to no avail, and
... Whereas I now feel I have exhausted all resources after 4 days,
I come to you, MacRumors Forums, for support.
Since I was running low on space on my Snow Leopard partition, and had ample on my Windows partition (and Winclone was not operating properly) I erased, resized, and attempted to reinstall.
First Attempt
I did the typical Boot Camp Assistant method; single partition => dual partition => install. The computer booted to the CD, failed at 0% file expansion, citing missing installation files. I exchanged the disc.
Second Attempt
I booted by holding 'c', which resulted in a grey-screen for about 5 minutes before my MBP spat out the disc and defaulted to booting to Snow Leopard.
Third Attempt
I booted again by holding 'c', and while it finally chose to boot from the disc, it returned an error saying 'No bootable device.' At this point, I'm questioning the reliability of my disc drive.
Fourth Attempt
So, I attempt to create a dummy partition to boot from (MS FAT-32 format), and copy the contents of the disc to the partition. Finder couldn't copy the files due to a read error; by this time, I'm convinced my superdrive has bit the dust. I found a newer Mac, and loaded the contents from it's drive onto my partition.
I booted from the dummy partition, only to get a "No bootable device" error again.
Fifth Attempt
Same process as the 4th attempt, except that I used 3G NTFS to format the dummy drive to NTFS and copy the installation files there. Again, No bootable device.
Sixth Attempt
I decide to download rEFit and boot from a USB drive. After confirming rEFit was properly installed, I found a Windows PC, restored the installation disc to a USB thumb drive with an NTFS format. I boot into rEFit, select my thumb drive, and receive a "Firmware refused to boot from this drive" error.
Seventh Attempt
By this time I'm getting a little frustrated. I revert back to my superdrive after resetting both my PRAM and PMU, which resulted in a successful boot into the Windows 7 installer. However, after 15% into 'Expanding Files' the drive spins down and the installation simply stops with no notice or BSOD. I read up on the issue, noticing that most of the problems were due to unnecessary hardware... well, there is no other hardware. Just my power cord.
Eighth Attempt
So I try again. Boot from disc => install => disc spins down at 36% this time. I leave it overnight thinking it must just be slow, but after a 8-hour rest, it's still at 36% (the installer is *not* frozen; the three dots are still cycling and the mouse is responsive.)
So I'm at a loss at what my options are at this point. Does anyone have any suggestions? The data that was on the drive was all replaceable, but I need Windows unfortunately. This has all been a huge headache.
