No bootable device Bootcamp MacPro

[superparati]

Hi,

Today I finally installed Windows 8 on my MP. After few manipulations/setup I moved the internat hard drive from the bay 2 to bay 4.

Now when I want to boot on windows I select the bootcamp partition from system preference I have a black window saying no bootable device please .....

Before moving the hard drive to a different bay everything was fine and now no.

Do you know why and if there is a way to fix it without reinstalling the OS?

By pressing all at the boot I can boot on windows by selecting the EFI boot partition where windows is installed.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[h9826790]

Did you try to put it back to bay 2?

If it solve the issue, is there any reason you can't leave it in bay 2?

 

[superparati]

Hi h9826790, yes I tried but nothing better.

Now I'm doing a chkdsk check with the command: chkdsk /b
ideally After that my idea is to clone the Bootcamp partition and put it back with Winclone.
Let see how it goes.

 

[thornslack]

Are any of your hard drives a Samsung ssd?

 

[superparati]

nop thornslack. I've a Crucial and after its only classic HDDs.

 

[superparati]

I hard stop the command chkdsk - too long.
I think it faster to do a clean install but again Apple seems to not offer a very smooth and easy way now to install Windows via Bootcamp.

I tried again by
- Downloading a fresh ISO Windows 8.1 pro version from the officiel website
- Create the windows boot disk with Bootcamp assistance
- Once the USB key ready BCA asks me where I want to install windows - I select my disk which is a full 1To disk.
- shut down the machin and remove OS El capitan
- Rebooting the MP with only connect the HDD and the windows installer.
- I've the black display saying no bootable device....


I think there is something to do with the widow EFI because if I press alt and select the EFI Boot disk (external disk) it works whist it should be automatic.

How did you install Window 8/10 on your MacPro flashed into 5.1?
Did you have to do something special in order to boot straight to the windows hard drive?

I'm lost.

Thanks

 

[slughead]

You could try rEFIT

 

[superparati]

By pressing alt I can boot on the window OS but I don't understand why from with the bootcamp assistance I can't boot straight into the installer.
And even if I install the OS I'll have to select the disk with ALT in order to boot on either Mac or Window which is very annoying.

Thanks.

 

[DeltaMac]

You can change the default boot disk to either Windows, or OS X from the Boot Camp control panel whilst booted to Windows.
So, if you prefer booting automatically to Windows, you can set the boot disk to do exactly that, as a default.
Then, if you want to boot back to OS X, just do an alt-boot, choose OS X, and go from there

 

[ActionableMango]

Now when I want to boot on windows I select the bootcamp partition from system preference I have a black window saying no bootable device please .....

I had this problem and I couldn't find anyone that knew anything. Unfortunately it took me months by myself to figure it out.

Your Windows drive has at least 3 partitions: EFI System Partition (ESP), Recovery, and Main. If you did a Win10 upgrade from Win7/8 instead of a clean install, you have a 4th partition located after the Main partition that is a second Recovery partition. The ESP is the bootable partition. If your Mac mistakenly thinks that the Main partition is the bootable partition, you'll get a long delay at bootup followed by that black screen with the no bootable device message.

So how did these get mixed up? Moving the drives forced OS X to rescan the volumes to determine which partition is the bootable partition, and unfortunately it "blessed" the wrong partition. So now it thinks the Main partition is the bootable partition when it should be the ESP. ("Bless" is how OS X sets volume bootability.)

With the wrong partition blessed, you've got six options (that I am aware of) for how to fix it or get around it:

• This is what I recommend. Install rEFInd (not rEFIt) in OS X and just use that for boot selection. I avoided this for years because it seemed weird, but after installing it I instantly regretted not using it from day one. It is soooo fast and it has a lot of other benefits as well. Every multi-OS Mac user should be using this. Problem is for ElCap or later you have to disable SIP to install it in OS X.
• Install BootChamp in OS X and use that for boot selection. The problem is you have to disable SIP for ElCap or later. Also, the developer stopped development around the ElCap timeframe, so I don't know if it works in Sierra or future versions of OS X. It definitely works in Yosemite and ElCap, but I consider this method to be deprecated.
• Use the bless command in OS X Terminal to manually bless the Windows ESP. This is probably the "proper" way to fix the problem on a Mac--i.e. the way to fix the problem while not changing anything else like installing a bootloader. The following is an example only--you need to replace the bold bits with whichever device and volume is your Windows ESP. Also for ElCap or later I think you have to disable SIP first, and I hear SIP prevents even the root user from using bless.

bless -device /dev/disk0s1 -mount /Volumes/EFI -setBoot -nextonly​

• Install EasyUEFI Free in Windows. In the Boot Order pane it will list the computer's current configuration for what your bootable volumes are. The goal here is to have a single entry for Windows, pointed to the ESP (which is usually the 100mb or so FAT32 volume right before your large NTFS volume). If you see an entry for the incorrect Windows volume (usually a big NTFS volume), delete it--it's causing problems. If you see an entry not pointing to any Windows volume, delete it. Add a new entry pointing to the ESP. Change the order of the entries to your preference (either OS X at the top, or Windows at the top). Leave any non-Windows entries alone.
• There is also a Windows command line method, bcdedit, but I never tried it.
• There is also a Linux command line method, efibootmgr, but I won't bother to write it up unless someone asks. If you are the type of person who prefers fixing this in Linux, you already know more than me and I've given you the command to look up.

Every system is different, and I'm making assumptions about your system. Doing any of these is potentially very problematic, especially if you get something wrong. So I strongly suggest backing up your important files first.

EasyUEFI is the fastest/easiest method, but it also has the highest potential for effing things up.

 

[superparati]

This evening I've installed again windows 8.1
Installation OK. The computer restart properly on windows each time it's needed.
I did install the Bootcamp drivers and then do a reboot; Everything looks fine.

Then I wanted to come back on Mac OS. I used the bootcamp app and select the Mac OS boot partition. The MacPro restarts ... on the windows partition.
The only way to reboot on OX X was to hold the key alt at the boot and select Mac OS. I try to reboot once again to make sure my computer will reboot on Mac OS, and he did it. Great.

Now I tried to reboot on windows by selecting the bootcamp partition from the System preference. the boot ended up on a Black screen no bootable device....
If I want to boot on windows I have to hold "alt" and then select the EFI Boot. Work.

There is something wrong when I switch back to Mac OS which killed something and I don't know.

Here is some information about my hard drives & partitions from the terminal

reservoir:~ server$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *256.1 GB   disk0

   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

   2:                  Apple_HFS SSD MP                  255.2 GB   disk0s2

   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk1

   1:         Microsoft Reserved                         134.2 MB   disk1s1

   2:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                1.0 TB     disk1s2

reservoir:~ server$ sudo gdisk -l /dev/disk1

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1


Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their

partition table automatically reloaded!

The protective MBR's 0xEE partition is oversized! Auto-repairing.


Partition table scan:

  MBR: protective

  BSD: not present

  APM: not present

  GPT: present


Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Disk /dev/disk1: 1953525168 sectors, 931.5 GiB

Logical sector size: 512 bytes

Disk identifier (GUID): AA0B7834-78DC-4C54-B3A0-34BA48101168

Partition table holds up to 128 entries

First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1953525134

Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries

Total free space is 3437 sectors (1.7 MiB)


[B]Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name

   1            2048          264191   128.0 MiB   0C01  Microsoft reserved ...

   2          264192      1953523711   931.4 GiB   0700  Basic data partition[/B]

reservoir:~ server$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

Disk: /dev/disk1    geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

        Starting       Ending

[B] #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 1: EE    0   0   2 - 1023 255  63 [         1 - 4294967295] <Unknown ID>[/B]

 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused   

 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused   

 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused   

reservoir:~ server$

With gdisk command I have two partitions and only one used with fdisk.
There is something wrong here but I don't know what.

Hi DeltaMac,
As you can see I tried but it didn't work as I expected.


Hi ctionableMango,
I need to read carefully your advice but so far I would like to avoid the usage of rEFInd.
The best option is to test the bless / systemsetup command and select the /dev/disk1s2 which is Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP and as volume name is BOOTCAMP.

I'll try tomorrow. But it seems for me more an error of pointing the right partition.

 

[ActionableMango]

Hi ctionableMango,
I need to read carefully your advice but so far I would like to avoid the usage of rEFInd.
The best option is to test the bless / systemsetup command and select the /dev/disk1s2 which is Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP and as volume name is BOOTCAMP.

Well that advice was prior to your reinstallation of Windows. Based on your Mac's current behavior, I'm guessing that the Windows installation deleted all boot manager entries and added just one new one for the new Windows ESP, which is working fine. So you don't need to fix that any more.

Now it would seem like the boot manager entry for OS X is gone, so that's the one that needs to be fixed. Which based on your text capture is the volume EFI on /dev/disk0s1.

This is a lot of guesswork though.

 

[superparati]

Hi ActionableMango ,

Don't you think if the boot manager was bad I wouldn't have been able to reboot on Mac OS?
Selecting the Mac OS partition from the El capitan system preference works fine. I reboot properly on macOS.
But if I select Bootcamp partition, the computer reboot and ended up on the black screen saying no bootable device. The only way to go back on the windows partition is to select the EFI Boot when I press ALT on the keyboard.

 

[ActionableMango]

Hi ActionableMango ,

Don't you think if the boot manager was bad I wouldn't have been able to reboot on Mac OS?
Selecting the Mac OS partition from the El capitan system preference works fine. I reboot properly on macOS.
But if I select Bootcamp partition, the computer reboot and ended up on the black screen saying no bootable device. The only way to go back on the windows partition is to select the EFI Boot when I press ALT on the keyboard.

Oh man, you would think so, huh? I went round and round so many times on this. When developing theories for troubleshooting, people naturally make assumptions based on consistency. But the EFI boot process on a Mac is very inconsistent which in turn can be very misleading. It is explained fairly well here. The server for that webpage isn't up right now...I hope it comes back because it was the only source I ever found explaining the EFI boot process that also includes the Mac.

You can verify the problem (or verify its not the problem) by installing EasyUEFI in Windows and looking at the list of entries.

 

[superparati]

I'll install easyUEFI and share the result here
But before I'll try the command bless.

And for your information the page you are talking about is available here via web archive. very helpful!

Thank you for your advice!
[doublepost=1476211412][/doublepost]By doing the bless -device /dev/disk0s1 -mount /Volumes/EFI -setBoot -nextonly command the computer boot on the windows disk.

Then I can go back to the Mac OS disk however if I select the bootcamp disk from the system preference I have the black screen no bootable device.

How did you fix the EFI?

 

[ActionableMango]

I'll install easyUEFI and share the result here
But before I'll try the command bless.

And for your information the page you are talking about is available here via web archive. very helpful!

Thank you for your advice!
[doublepost=1476211412][/doublepost]By doing the bless -device /dev/disk0s1 -mount /Volumes/EFI -setBoot -nextonly command the computer boot on the windows disk.

Then I can go back to the Mac OS disk however if I select the bootcamp disk from the system preference I have the black screen no bootable device.

How did you fix the EFI?

Thanks for the link, I think I will PDF it for my own archive. Unfortunately now that I've seen the page, it isn't the one I was thinking of. I distinctly remember a flowchart, and the author being mad that with a Mac you couldn't really follow the flow chart--at least one of the steps was inconsistent or arbitrarily chosen at the moment. The first time I noticed an inconsistency was when one of my scripts stopped working because every single time I'd boot into OSX the drive devices were numbered differently--the script was counting on the devices to keep their names of course.

At first I got around the problem by using rEFIt and instantly loved rEFIt so much that it became my preferred way to switch between operating systems anyway. I like its speed, features, and configurability. Later I fixed the boot entries with EasyUEFI.

You could probably also get around the problem by reinstalling OS X.

 

[superparati]

A simple reinstallation or do I need to erase the ssd before reinstalling macOS?
Do you think a clone could work?

Obviously I'll backup all my files before

Why I would prefer to solve this issue is because I'm not sure if rEFIt can manage unsupported graphic card at the boot.
If i can select the OS without having to select it from the alt menu that would be perfect

Other question how did you fix the EFI with easyUEFI? I've downloaded the software but so fare I don't know what to do with.

Thanks for your advice!
[doublepost=1476216261][/doublepost]Attached a screenshot from easyUEFI software.
What do you think?

 

[ActionableMango]

A simple reinstallation or do I need to erase the ssd before reinstalling macOS?
Do you think a clone could work?

Obviously I'll backup all my files before

Why I would prefer to solve this issue is because I'm not sure if rEFIt can manage unsupported graphic card at the boot.
If i can select the OS without having to select it from the alt menu that would be perfect

Other question how did you fix the EFI with easyUEFI? I've downloaded the software but so fare I don't know what to do with.

Thanks for your advice!
[doublepost=1476216261][/doublepost]Attached a screenshot from easyUEFI software.
What do you think?

Wow so far yours looks great. Mine was all messed up with duplicate entries, missing entries, and entries pointing to nowhere. I deleted all of them and just made two new entries--one to rEFInd and one to Windows, with rEFInd as the default.

But now I have no confidence that my solutions are your solutions. Can you click on the Mac OS X entry and do a screen shot again? I'm curious where it is pointing.

If you want to try the bless method again, I think I had the syntax wrong. This page has waaaay better information specific to the Mac:
https://bombich.com/kb/ccc4/what-makes-volume-bootable

If you have boot screens, you will see rEFInd. I assumed you have boot screens since you mentioned holding ALT and selecting an OS. I have a flashed GTX980 myself. So if you want to try that, it should work for you.

For OS X reinstall option, just do a reinstall from the recovery partition. That will "install in place" and should keep your settings/apps intact:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5574545?tstart=0

EDIT: I just now noticed that your Windows drive doesn't have enough partitions for an EFI install (there's no EFI partition). So I'm guessing you reinstalled it as BIOS. Totally fine, I'm just noting that it's different since based on your first post you mentioned selecting EFI.

 

[superparati]

I'm using til now the ATI 4870 and hopefully once the solution found I'll be able to put back my Ti which is not flashed.

I'll do a screenshot of the macOS SSD.
I just reinstall El capitan on a fresh partition and guess what same problem

The bless command should it be that one?
sudo bless --folder "/Volumes/Backup/System/Library/CoreServices"


Screenshot coming soon.
I just realise that know I can't see anymore the EFI Boot where Windows 8 was installed from the select disk menu ALT. so funny - meaning I can't boot on Windows.

 

[ActionableMango]

I don't know. It's hard to tell what's going on now. Your screen shot looks perfect to me. Our situations are far more different than I thought. rEFInd + cleaning things up in EasyUEFI worked for me, but we have different goals since I have boot screens.

I'm trying to help you but it's all theory now and unfortunately it seems that I'm not being as helpful as I originally thought I could be. I never saw Windows disappear from the ALT list at bootup. In fact, I had the opposite problem where 2 (or more!) would show up there for a single Windows installation. It would seem that your Windows entry is gone now for some reason, and ALT cannot scan for it at bootup. These were not problems that I experienced.

Being stuck with OS X and no Windows option now, all I can suggest is to install BootChamp to see if that will recognize a bootable Windows partition.

 

[superparati]

I did yesterday a clone of my Bootcamp partition with Winclone and right now I'm restoring the partition into the same but clean disk.
Let's see the result

It's very hard to explain and try to solve without facing with the problem I understand don't worry. I try all solutions before thinking to buy an officiel graphic card just to have the boot screen at the beginning of the boot.

To be continued....

 

[thornslack]

If you just want to access your windows volume, at least in my predicament, simply pull your other volumes. My win 10 ssd will boot up fine if it is the sole boot drive in the system, but if my OS X raid ssds are also installed I get the black screen no bootable device error. Might help you troubleshoot at least. I never quite figured this out on my system but this thread has been very intriguing. I suspect I could reexamine now with this info and get a solution, as everything used to work but after a tweak I've been stuck switching drives when I need to switch OSs. Neither the apple bootcamp assistant in windows nor bootchamp were able to resolve the problem. And since I use a non efi gpu I can't alt boot. Oddest of all is the inability to boot back into OSX through the boot camp utility, though a pram reset would work. Best of luck OP and thanks @ActionableMango for his insight into the issue.

 

[h9826790]

I did yesterday a clone of my Bootcamp partition with Winclone and right now I'm restoring the partition into the same but clean disk.
Let's see the result

It's very hard to explain and try to solve without facing with the problem I understand don't worry. I try all solutions before thinking to buy an officiel graphic card just to have the boot screen at the beginning of the boot.

To be continued....

If you have Winclone, may be you can use it to switch your Windows partition in Legacy boot, and see if that fix your problem.

 

[superparati]

The clone of the bootcamp partition didn't work. Winclose was stuck at the beginning of the process.

I try different solutions:
Install Windows first and then OS X but didn't work. Because the efi boot partition is on the main hard drive with OS X and because I did a clean install the efi boot was only designed for macOS.

I ended up by again erasing bootcamp - install by selecting the EFI boot from the boot screen with atl. Once done after the os was fully setup I did reboot on the recovery partition to disable SIP - install bootchamp and voila. How to loose one week .

By using bootchamp the computer restarts straight on Windows.

Thanks for sharing your experience with me! I learnt a lot ^^

 

[thornslack]

Hey folks, bumping this thread. Ever since moving to Win 10 I lost my functionality for switching between OSX and Win 10. I used to use bootchamp in OSX and the boot camp control panel in Windows to switch back and forth on my unflashed TitanX and things were hunky dory on Win 7. After upgrading to Win 10 I had things working for a little while but was running into corruption issues on my Windows volume which precipitated a fresh install and the behavior has been off ever since. I do have a flashed GTX 780 for necessary moments, but the end goal is to have a stable system in place that will allow me to have just the Titan installed.

I run Windows 10 on its own SSD in an Apricorn Velocity 6G PCIE sled. My OSX 10.11 volume is on two SSDs in raid 0 on the backplane.

If the Win 10 SSD is installed, I cannot boot into OSX. The system will boot into Win 10 regardless of if I have OSX previously selected as the boot disk in the preference pane in 10.11. Once in Windows, if I use the bootcamp control panel and tell it to reboot into OSX, it simply reboots into Windows. So the only means of booting back into OSX is to physically remove the Apricorn sled with the Win10 SSD when I want to switch OS's. In that scenario OSX boots up no problem.

Now I was pretty positive I had installed EFI Windows 10 when I reinstalled, but in looking at the attached EasyUEFI screen shot it would seem it is not an EFI install. Does that seem to be an accurate assumption? Would anyone have any insight as to how to regain more control over switching between these two OSs? Thanks SO much as always!