Macbook not booting after failed Windows 7 Install

[BurntToast]

Heya all,

My first Mac ever, a shiny new Macbook Pro 17" came in the mail today. W00t!

Because I need Windows for work, the first thing I did was run the bootcamp assistant. I partitioned about 100gb of my 750gb drive for Windows. I inserted my Windows 7 (x64 Ultimate disc) and OSX seemed to think that was ok.

It rebooted and I got to the standard Windows install screen that I've breezed through a thousand times. Sadly on the step of expanding files, the installer crashed. I definitely choose the correct partition for Windows.

When the computer reboots I now get a grey screen for about 15 seconds, followed by a black screen with a blinking cursor on on the top left.

I've tried removing the Windows CD by booting while holding down the trackpad. The result is the same.

I've also tried booting while holding the option key, with and without the Windows disc in, but I still just get the black screen and blinking cursor.

I'm new to OSX, but not Windows or Linux. Anyone have any idea how I can repair my installation? Currently I can't boot either OSX or Windows. It seems I am well and truly boned =)

 

[Exhale]

The behavior seems to suggest a hardware based failure.

 

[avro707]

I've been in a similar situation as you.

Try to eject the CD, and then see if you can force the machine to boot from the Mac OSX CD - then try to reset the startup disk to Macintosh HD.

That should get you into Mac OS X again.

As for getting Windows to run, I can't help you - mine doesn't work except for within VMWare.

 

[rabid]

Hi - I had the same problem with my new Mac...........

1) Try rebooting whilst holding the option key down (next to cmd key) which should get you to an option screen for rebooting from OSX

2) If you reinserted your newly created USB key when booting - it will be labelled Windows....boot from that and follow the rest of the process to install windows (I used the iClarified website instructions - google for Win7 or Win8 RP)

Hope this helps someone like me ;-)

best wishes,
rb

 

[arashb]

Create an iso of your disc and then use the Boot Camp Assistant to create a bootable USB and try that.

 

[KPOM]

Heya all,

My first Mac ever, a shiny new Macbook Pro 17" came in the mail today. W00t!

Because I need Windows for work, the first thing I did was run the bootcamp assistant. I partitioned about 100gb of my 750gb drive for Windows. I inserted my Windows 7 (x64 Ultimate disc) and OSX seemed to think that was ok.

It rebooted and I got to the standard Windows install screen that I've breezed through a thousand times. Sadly on the step of expanding files, the installer crashed. I definitely choose the correct partition for Windows.

It appears Windows might have overwritten something in your partition. Since you haven't done anything yet in OS X, my suggestion is to reboot, holding down CMD-R to boot your system into Lion Recovery. From there, you can run Disk Utility. Try Repairing Disk Permissions to see if that works.

If that does not work, you can re-boot into Lion Recovery, format the drive and reinstall Lion (you'll need to have a Wi-Fi connection).

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

Once you get Lion back up and running, if you have an external drive, I'd suggest downloading Carbon Copy Cloner and making a cloned image of your Mac hard drive.

Once you restart Boot Camp Assistant, please note that while it creates a partition, it does not format the drive. Therefore, when you run Windows installation, be sure to select the Windows partition and format it using the setup utility. Again, be sure you are selecting the