08-11-2010, 04:53 PM

Hello people. I will start off stating I am a new mac user. I'm attempting to install windows 7 on this imac while I become more comfortable with Snow Leopard.

I have made the attempt 3 times and get the same result each time. Namely, i get to the end of the install "Completing Installation" and the mac restarts. Then I get the window "Starting Windows" and before the desktop shows the screen goes completely black and nothing else happens. I have to pull the power cord to shut the machine off.

I'd really appreciate your help. Thanx

08-11-2010, 04:55 PM

Can you tell us a bit about the disc you used to install Windows 7. Specifically, was it a retail packaged version? Upgrade version?

08-11-2010, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by cwa107

Can you tell us a bit about the disc you used to install Windows 7. Specifically, was it a retail packaged version? Upgrade version?

I purchased Windows 7 Home Premium full today. It was $60 off retail price Staples.

eta I used the 64 bit disc.

08-11-2010, 06:32 PM

And I'm assuming you are installing via Bootcamp?

08-11-2010, 07:19 PM

Yes, I am using Bootcamp.

08-11-2010, 07:30 PM

What happens if you start windows into Safe Mode? (this is done by mashing the F8 after choosing Windows in BootCamp)

08-11-2010, 09:17 PM

Originally Posted by ComfortablyNumb

I purchased Windows 7 Home Premium full today. It was $60 off retail price Staples.

eta I used the 64 bit disc.

That's alright - should be working just fine.

I would remove the Boot Camp partition using Boot Camp Assistant. Reboot when it's finished, then go back into OS X and run the Boot Camp Assistant again. Make sure the partition size you're making is at least 10GB.

Then, kick off the install again. This time, after it finishes the phase where it reads "Starting Windows" and then goes to black, LET IT SIT. Do not touch the machine at all, just let it do its thing for at least 15 minutes. It might look like it isn't doing anything, but in reality it's completing the final phase of the install and it could take awhile. On a normal PC you'd see the HDD indicator flashing, but since the iMac doesn't have an HDD, it's going to appear as though it's locked up. Just let it go for awhile. Restarting may damage the install.

08-12-2010, 09:41 AM

OK, I used boot camp assistant to restore the drive. I restarted the mac and went back to boot camp assistant and partitioned the drive again. Now when I start the install the mac reboots and goes directly to "windows is loading files". It doesn't ask which partition to install to or to format the drive.

Then, kick off the install again. This time, after it finishes the phase where it reads "Starting Windows" and then goes to black, LET IT SIT. Do not touch the machine at all, just let it do its thing for at least 15 minutes.

On 2 occasions I let it sit for 1/2 hour with no change ie the screen remained black.

eta I'm wondering if this may be the problem with the display going black I was having.
eta2 In Disk Utility there is a boot camp drive and it is formatted MS-DOS (FAT32). It also shows 1.8 mb used, number of files 0.

08-12-2010, 10:12 AM

Originally Posted by thedoc

What happens if you start windows into Safe Mode? (this is done by mashing the F8 after choosing Windows in BootCamp)

I don't mean to disregard your suggestion, but I'm not sure how to proceed at this point. Since I don't get asked where to do the installation, as I pointed out in my previous post.

08-12-2010, 11:02 AM

I do not know the answer to your problem but you didn't say for what purposes you were using windows, other than as a bridge until you were comfortable with Snow Leopard. You might consider installing Win7 in a virtual machine as an alternative to all the mucking about with Boot Camp - you can do so using VM Ware Fusion, Parallels or if you don't feel like spending any more money, Sun's free program VirtualBox. All of these will let you run Windows in a Window or full-screen on a Mac. Fusion and Parallels will even do a suitable job of supporting graphics hardware and 3D functions (VirtualBox is a little behind) - for surfing, email, MS Office and similar productivity apps, it's actually a BETTER way (IMJ) to learn the differences between Mac and Windows because you can run the programs side-by-side, do cut-and-paste and drag/drop between them.

If, on the other hand, you need full access to all the hardware features of your graphics adapter for CAD, video editing or hard core gaming, then Boot Camp is definitely better. For me, however, the rebooting got to be such a pain (as opposed to simply launching the Windows program I wanted in a window), I ultimately gave up on Boot Camp and stuck with the virtual machine ... and now, I almost never use them. Plus you can put other OS's in the VM's too - like Linux.

Anyway, it's a little off topic but something for you to consider. And ... love the Pink Floyd reference!

Cheers

08-12-2010, 11:59 AM

Hi Sammy and thanks for your suggestion, but I'd really like to dual boot. I do play some games, although I wouldn't call myself hard core. I also do a fair amount of work from home and I'm really used to windows.

And ... love the Pink Floyd reference!

giving my age away there.

08-12-2010, 02:31 PM

All right, I finally got windows installed.
I used the fix I found here.
I used the trial version of Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X and deleted ATIKMDAG.SYS. I rebooted to windows and finished the installation process. Then I did an update which reinstalled the ATI driver.

Thanks to everyone for your help.

08-12-2010, 07:53 PM

Thanks for posting back and letting us know how you resolved it. This has come up before with regard to the 27" iMac i5 machine and the wayward driver that has to be deleted before the install completes.

To other folks tuning in.... that driver is the ATI catalyst setup for the DESKTOP graphics card. However, as we all know now, the iMac GPU (ATI) does not use the Desktop chipset, but instead uses the mobility chipset. One of those gotcha things that can drive (no pun intended) a person batty.

Have fun with your machine and visit often.

Regards.

08-12-2010, 07:56 PM

Yes, thank you for contributing to our "knowledgebase" here at M-F. Definitely one that I'll make a mental note of.

08-13-2010, 09:08 AM

I know I'm a bit late to the party on this one but here's Apple's KB solution which takes a slightly different but simpler approach.
Boot Camp: iMac displays a black screen during installation of Windows 7