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Please Help - Issues with Windows 7 on 4,1 Mac Pro

PowerMac G4 MDD

PowerMac G4 MDD

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 13, 2014
1,900
277
Hi everyone,

So I have a 2009 Mac Pro (8-core; 2.26 Ghz) on which I tried installing Windows 7. In the past, I have been able to install Windows on my 2009 MBP just fine; but as soon as I tried with this 2009 Mac Pro, I ran into issues.

First off, I DID get Windows 7 up and running with Bootcamp drivers. However, the first thing I noticed was that Windows was constantly reading my HDD for some reason. It was reading it so much that I noticed lots of lag spikes and a horrible din coming from the HDD. Now, I have used plenty of actual Windows PCs where this has been an issue (since Windows loves its background processes), but this was just hinder the Mac Pro's abilities quite a bit. Probably would be best to get an SSD.

The BIGGEST issue, though, is that Windows was plaguing my machine and making it think that Windows was the only OS there. I was not able to boot back into my Mac disk at all - even after selecting it from the Bootcamp menu in Windows. And, when I would take the Windows drive out and try booting into my Mac drive (then the only drive in there), I would get a black screen and blinking white cursor - all leading up to a message saying that there was no bootable device. I had to do a PRAM reset in order to boot back into Mac.

Later on, Windows decided to do updates... and that put it into some never-eding boot cycle.

Why am I having such bad luck with Windows? I know it's a bad operating system, but it's interesting that I've only had bad luck on my two Mac Pros (2006 and 2009). Is there a diagnosis for this question?

-Thanks
 
Demigod Mac said:
This.
BootCamp is far, far more reliable and easier to troubleshoot when Windows has its own dedicated drive.
I never want to go back to partitioning again.
Click to expand...

I do have my own drive, but it's an HDD. I was saying that it would maybe be better to get an SSD because it would be faster and not make noise. Windows seems to 'r@pe' my hard drive, if you know what I mean by that.
 
PowerMac G4 MDD said:
The BIGGEST issue, though, is that Windows was plaguing my machine and making it think that Windows was the only OS there. I was not able to boot back into my Mac disk at all - even after selecting it from the Bootcamp menu in Windows. And, when I would take the Windows drive out and try booting into my Mac drive (then the only drive in there), I would get a black screen and blinking white cursor - all leading up to a message saying that there was no bootable device. I had to do a PRAM reset in order to boot back into Mac.
Click to expand...

If you hold Option at boot you should be able to choose which bootable hard drive you want to boot off of. What version of Boot Camp are you using on Windows?
 
Altemose said:
If you hold Option at boot you should be able to choose which bootable hard drive you want to boot off of. What version of Boot Camp are you using on Windows?
Click to expand...

Hey - I didn't think I'd run into you here! Not sure if you remember, but I left the PowerPC forums around the time those $46 PowerBook G4s were listed. Once in a while, I come back to snoop around, but I don't know whether I will be back for good or not. I mostly look around MacRumors in general just for help.

I'm not using a flashed card, so I have no boot screens. It's a shot in the dark. Knowing that my main drive WOULD be the first one, I have tried just hitting 'return' after several seconds, but it doesn't work. Windows keeps doing this to my machine: it takes over my entire computer and makes it the default operating system. Not only does Windows not run well (since it seems to be mysteriously reading my hard drive like crazy), it also will keep my Mac from booting back into Mac - even if I select 'restart into Mac OSX' from the Bootcamp menu that's within Windows. If I remove the Windows HDD completely and leave my Mac OSX disk so that it's the only disk in there, it gives me that black screen w/ blinking cursor and then eventually tells me that there's no bootable device. Either re-installing Mac OSX onto the disk or doing a PRAM reset fixes the aspect of booting back into my Mac disk.
 
PowerMac G4 MDD said:
Hey - I didn't think I'd run into you here! Not sure if you remember, but I left the PowerPC forums around the time those $46 PowerBook G4s were listed. Once in a while, I come back to snoop around, but I don't know whether I will be back for good or not. I mostly look around MacRumors in general just for help.
Click to expand...

I was actually quite shocked to see your username, let alone in this dark sub-forum... :D

If I recall correctly, the boot selector is going to choose whatever was last set as default. Try hitting the arrow key left or right then enter and see if it starts in OS X. Furthermore, did you use Boot Camp Assistant to download the software, or did you download it right from Apple? If you are running 32 bit Windows 7, try downloading and installing the Boot Camp 4 software here. If running 64 bit Windows 7, try downloading and installing the Boot Camp 5 software here. I have seen client machines come in with issues with the Boot Camp Control Panel that were fixed simply by reloading a fresh copy of the software.
 
:) Yeah, I lurk around other forums in search of help, mostly. I'm still into old Macs, but I've been busting my butt over school work lately, so I felt it would be best to drop my involved usage of the forums. I also have to focus on college and career interests, and I don't want my hobbies to get in the way. It would be a different story if my career interests involved computers.

If I recall correctly, the boot selector is going to choose whatever was last set as default. Try hitting the arrow key left or right then enter and see if it starts in OS X. Furthermore, did you use Boot Camp Assistant to download the software, or did you download it right from Apple? If you are running 32 bit Windows 7, try downloading and installing the Boot Camp 4 software here. If running 64 bit Windows 7, try downloading and installing the Boot Camp 5 software here. I have seen client machines come in with issues with the Boot Camp Control Panel that were fixed simply by reloading a fresh copy of the software.[/QUOTE]

I downloaded the support software through the Bootcamp setup. Windows installed just fine, but it always seems to plague my system. While in Windows, you have the choice to boot back into Mac OSX via the in-Windows Bootcamp dashboard (or whatever one might call it); but it still decided to boot back into Windows. It seems to me that neither the manager nor the lack of a flashed GPU are factors here. Windows just seems to take over my machine when I try installing it; it's evident in that, when I remove the Windows disk entirely, it still acts as though Windows has is present. That blinking cursor and startup shouldn't be happened if no Windows disk is present. I may have made the mistake of simply booting into Windows while the Mac HDD was still in there. I know that you kind of have to remove the Mac OSX disk when installing Windows (which I did), but I only did so when it came time to install. I think I booted into the Windows installer and accidentally left the Mac disk in there. However, I cannot confirm whether or not that actually makes a difference. Windows could plague my system even without a Mac disk inserted at all.

Another issue could be that my Mac disk is an SSD, but IDK what that would do. I have also read about some who had issues booting back into Mac because they had accidentally formatted with MBR, but it shouldn't matter if I am using an entirely different disk for Windows.
 
Last edited:
Altemose said:
I would still try reloading the Boot Camp Support Software under Windows and re-testing. Either way, it is good to see you still around.
Click to expand...

That's where we did it, but I could try again. I've heard that a bad disc can mess things up, so maybe I ought to try it with a flash drive. I've had issues with discs in the past.

Nice to see you as well. Give the guys back at the PowerPC forum my word! ;) Maybe sometime I'll drop by and see if people remember me.
 
PowerMac G4 MDD said:
That's where we did it, but I could try again. I've heard that a bad disc can mess things up, so maybe I ought to try it with a flash drive. I've had issues with discs in the past.

Nice to see you as well. Give the guys back at the PowerPC forum my word! ;) Maybe sometime I'll drop by and see if people remember me.
Click to expand...

Let me know how that goes. We gained a few members but I am sure they would enjoy seeing you back there again!
 
Altemose said:
Let me know how that goes. We gained a few members but I am sure they would enjoy seeing you back there again!
Click to expand...

Looks like I gave away the HDD I was going to use... oops. May be some time, but I'll let you know - whenever it actually happens.

Yeah, I'm sure the guys back at the PPC forum would enjoy seeing me on again.
 
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