Windows booting problems.... does it happen to Macs?

[Rustman]

Well, I'm already on the waiting list for the Mac Pro refresh. I'm just so sick and tired of the hardware and software problems that seem inherent with every Windows platform I've ever owned. I'm on my way.

One of the most irritating and frankly galling problems to befall a Windows installation is when the boot record (or MBR as it's known) decides to hide from Windows and ignore the fact there is a perfectly fine installation of Windows resident on the system, it's just "lost" where it is. So, instead of actually giving you a simple point/click/browse solution to "show" the boot where Windows is you have to muck about with arcane magical fixes that would confuse even hardened PC pros.

Now, the point of all this rant is to ask a simple enough question. Does OS X ever suffer from incredibly opaque errors like this, at boot up? I've heard about a sad Mac face, but that's about it. What system hassles await me once I get as far away as possible from Microsoft products hopefully later this year.

 

[theman]

Believe me, I've seen all of them:

- Windows Could not start because the following directory is missing or corrupted: C:\Windows\Config\System

- NTLDR is missing

- No hard disk detected

- Blank black screen

- Strange characters randomly scattered all over the screen

- Your drive needs to be checked for consistency

- Windows automatically running Chkdsk and deleting itself.

- Every BSOD imaginable

- And my favorite (nothing to do with windows though, it was the motherboard): "The bios does not be installed. Press <g> to continue."


I am not aware of so many problems with macs, that's why I bought one after I got all these errors on one windows PC over the course of 2 years (I probably got one of these errors every 2 months or so and had to spend weeks reinstalling and fixing everything up. I RMA'd almost every part of that computer and I still don't know what is wrong with it. I hope my new mac will be a lot easier on me.

 

[MikeTheC]

To be honest, you don't normally see such poor behavior in ANY operating system apart from Windows, FWIW.

 

[Rustman]

Believe me, I've seen all of them:

- Windows Could not start because the following directory is missing or corrupted: C:\Windows\Config\System

- NTLDR is missing

- No hard disk detected

- Blank black screen

- Strange characters randomly scattered all over the screen

- Your drive needs to be checked for consistency

- Windows automatically running Chkdsk and deleting itself.

- Every BSOD imaginable

- And my favorite (nothing to do with windows though, it was the motherboard): "The bios does not be installed. Press <g> to continue."


I am not aware of so many problems with macs, that's why I bought one after I got all these errors on one windows PC over the course of 2 years (I probably got one of these errors every 2 months or so and had to spend weeks reinstalling and fixing everything up. I RMA'd almost every part of that computer and I still don't know what is wrong with it. I hope my new mac will be a lot easier on me.

It has been the constant BSOD because of a wobbly driver here and there that has pushed me over the edge. When I tried out Vista one night and attempted to use an old Creative driver (Creative being a virtual unknown of course :/ ) Vista rebooted and insisted on resetting itself on every reboot. Even safe mode refused to allow me to fully remove the driver and so that install was the first and final time I'll put myself through that misery again.

I've never understood why a driver would kill the system dead so much. Why it couldn't just unload it and tell me about it I'll never know. Well... ok I do know. It's made by a company that depends on legacy kit so much that every time I cold boot a PC it reminds me of the early 80's.

The whole "file missing" thing is just so helpful and cute and cuddly, dontcha think?

 

[seenew]

only problems I've ever had with OS 10.4 is an occasional kernel panic, which are program-specific, and are usually easily fixed with software updates. No boot problems to date.