“Some Mac users are reporting problems with Apple’s Boot Camp, the software that lets Intel-based Macs run Windows. Ironically, some users have said been stuck with Windows, with their hardware left unable to reboot the Mac OS,” Matthew Broersma reports for Techworld. “In a discussion thread on Apple’s technical support Web site, more than a dozen users reported that Boot Camp successfully partitioned their hard drive and allowed them to install a working version of Windows, but then would no longer allow them to switch back.”
“‘It all worked fine until I wanted to start up OS X. Then the startup screen never progressed. I actually left and came back an hour later and it was still just the gear thing spinning around,’ wrote a user from Chicago. ‘Now I’m stuck with a XP/Apple (scary!)’ wrote another user,” Broersma reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Yugo Engine in a BMW” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Public Beta. Luckily, it seems that only a dozen or so poor souls have been stuck with the nightmare of Macs that can only run the inferior of the two operating systems on their drives. Also, according to the report, some of the afflicted said “they had been able to fix the problem using command-line tools or Apple utilities such as Repair Disk [Disk Ultility].”
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A fate worse than death.
Yes, public beta.
Suckers. That’s what you get for putting garbage into the castle. You get stuck in the room with all the garbage.
I repeat – this is BETA software – besides I hear this is a hoax anyway
Again, I must ask… “Why in the world would you ever want to put Windows (any lame version) on your Mac?!?!?!?!?!”
Easy! Just boot from your OS X install disk and do a repair. How hard is that?
Could you run windows on a 2nd or external hard drive instead of a partition on the main drive? I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else is why I ma asking.
ˆf ypu want a Mac, buy a MAc. Leave Windoze alone.
Awesome question, ipodBoy… Why didn’t I think of that question?
As has been pointed out, hazards such as these occur with any software defined as BETA…
Fate worse than death? Worse than that! – I was dumb enough not to back up first.
For me, I think the issue was that it wasn’t the correct version of XP. It was in retail packaging, but didn’t say sp2, and I didn’t know how to check – throwing caution to the wind, I blew it.
I should have been warned when it wouldn’t let me set up my sub 32gig partition as fat32, and that it only showed a single partition.
The odd thing is that it reported the c: partition as around 113gig on a 250 gig drive. Maybe there’s hope my mac is still in there somewhere?
I did a quick NTFS format, and tried the install. It did its stuff, but never finished. Upon rebooting it kept trying to reinstall windows. So, now the mac partition is dead, the windows partition is dead and I appear to have lost 50gig of music, and 4000 pictures 🙁
So heres the tech challenge for all you smart(er) folks.
Is it possible to at least recover my photos?
Details:
> I only did a quick format, so I’m assuming the blocks are just marked as empty, not actually wiped out
> Its NTFS, so I can’t use Mac recovery software if I boot off cd right?
> I can get it to boot in target disk mode. Will a PC be able to read it off firewire?
What I’m thinking is (if it will work) hook the mac to my PC in target mode, use PC data recovery software to yank the files off to the PC, Wipe the Mac and reinstall OSX, drag my files back. (I have NO spare Mac to do this with, so using any other Mac is NOT an option!)
What are the odds? Any ideas or USEFUL comments?
Thanks!
This problem is fixable. This happened to me when I installed on a MacBook Pro with the mighty mouse plugged in. I later read that there was a problem with installing with the mouse attached. Just boot from the OS X install disk, run Disk Utility, and repair your mac partition. Then reboot. Install Windows without the mouse and it will be FINE.
The Dark Side is strong
It’s called RTFM…..READ THE $^$^ING MANUAL!!! I’ll bet these fools just took off runnin’ without reading the directions.
I’ve got it on my machine and no problems whatsoever….
I hate windows as much as anyone. Unfortunately there are 2 programs that will not run on a Mac that I depend on. for these 2 programs I have tried Virtual PC (connectix whre are you…but it back), and will try boot camp. I don’t want to, but I am forced to….
if these programs had Mac versions I would dump windows, and make my laptop a microsoft free zone…
so STOP asking WHY… Ask any Real Estate Broker about running MLS on a MAC… not possible. These folks would love to run OS X, but cannnot.
All good reasons.
what a horrible fate – TRAPPED in a PC on your Mac. It’s like being in the Phantom zone from the movie Superman!
Any Mac user should know that installing Microsoft software will f&ck; up your Mac……I use VPC, Word and Excel, but I always Quit them right after I’m done because otherwise I end up with problems, especially if I let the Powerbook go to sleep with VPC running in the background.
MDN word: high
If you didn’t back up your HD before installing Boot Camp, you must have been high.
I bet most of those people didn’t know which partition was the C drive and just installed it on the Mac one….
And that would leave you with just a PC computer….cause 99.9% of the time it’s usually user error.
This just tells me that a lot of Apple users are as clueless as Doze users when it comes to not backing up before doing something major. Consider me unsympathetic.
own3d…lol
Thats what they get! *Laughing uncontrollably*
What’s a C Drive?
I like what this guys said when this was brought up in a different website
“There will always be idiots who don’t follow the simple instructions, or think they “know better” and make up their own shortcuts. Those who are “unable to boot back into OS X” are the same ones who DIDN’T choose the C: partition, and so overwrote their OS X. This is hardly the problem of the Boot Camp software…. it’s not possible to save every idiot from themselves. The instructions could not be simpler, and 99.9% of installations have had no problems- all it requires is READING THE BLOODY DIRECTIONS. Do you think these whiners are honest enough to admit that they didn’t? Heck no- it’s all Apple’s fault!”
Now THAT is a nightmare scenario! “Trapped in Windows — on my Mac!”