01-01-2008, 02:28 AM

First post here.

Spankin' new Mac Pro. Runs great. Of course.

Spankin' new Windows XP Pro disc (yes it is 32 bit)

Boot Camp Creates partition just fine.

Windows disk spins up, shows me a really pretty blue window that says Windows at the top for about ten minutes.

Windows set up shows me a lovely blue screen with Welcome to Windows Set up and says press "enter" to install Windows.

Nothing works. Period. Nada, zip, nuttin! Disc just spins down and everything goes eerily quite.

Have to restart.

No problem getting back into OS X. Windows just simply refuses to install at all.

I read somewhere that USB devices could interfere, and have unplugged everything but the keyboard.

Now when I press enter all I get is the EULA and nothing else happens.

There is no list of drives appearing in the setup window.

This obviously is the problem. No drives show to install to.

[Edit]: Just want to add that it did occur to me the partition may have been too small. I was trying it at 32 gigs, but I changed it to half the drive (236 Gig drive, 116 partition). Still does the same thing. No drives showing in setup and only can access EULA. Nothing else. Windows XP Pro. [End edit.]

Be gentle. This my first mac (owned anyway - I did spend three years working with MANY ending in 2000) and I haven't worked with a Mac since, so it's taking a bit to remember some simple things, like how to get the stinkin' Windows disk out and switch back to Mac OS, but I did manage to get that far. Macs are like riding bikes I guess. You don't really completely forget, and thank God they don't mess with it so much that it's all changed eight years later!

Ideas anybody?

01-01-2008, 09:03 AM

32gb is definitely not too small

is it an external hdd that you are installing it on??

01-01-2008, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by NPuter

32gb is definitely not too small

is it an external hdd that you are installing it on??

No. I'm installing from the provided multi-drive to a boot camp partition on the main Mac HD (only have one right now), but I did try putting the installation disk in an external USB multi-drive, but that wouldn't even start, though it did mount (I think - it was really late, and I was getting very tired.

Possibly due to the fact that it is USB(?) and anything USB plugged in during installation seems to cause a problem.

Also, I did find in the instructions that if I'm using a power mouse (which I am), it should be plugged into the keyboard, not the computer. Something else I forgot you can do with a Mac!

I'm going to try the disk on one of my PC's just to check the disk itself (without actually following through with the install).

I'll let you know what I find with that.

Also, the BC partition is showing up on the Mac desktop. Is that normal?

I'm wondering if that has anything to do with why Windows can't see it?

01-01-2008, 07:51 PM

A bit more info, but not sure if this affects anything.

The volume (when half drive is used) created by boot camp is FAT32,.

I thought FAT32 only works on 32 gig volumes.

Could it be that Windows can't see it because the format is wrong for the partition size?

Trying a few other things....

I'll be back.

In the meantime, any suggestions are welcome!

Don't be shy.

Okay, I'm back.

The size as nothing to do with it. Burned a copy disk and it changed nothing.

Here's what I DID notice isn't right though:

When the start installation window shows up NO DISKS AT ALL SHOW UP!Not even the Mac Drive. There is no list at all!

I'm thinking this may be a newer Install disk with something different about it...

OR: There's some new updates to OSX that are conflicting. I do have two other MAC programs (brand new) that will not install correctly either due to some extension and/or security compatibility problems.

Maybe the fact that these won't install either isn't a coincidence?

01-01-2008, 09:49 PM

Well, I read a recent post on another forum of someone having nearly the same problem. He tried reinstalling OSX from his system discs, and it worked for him.

Alas, I just tried the same thing, and still no change.

XP install CANNOT see any drives.

I'm lost...

01-02-2008, 12:31 AM

Whew! I finally found a much better tutorial on the installation portion of things, which explains that the first screen you see will NOT show the drives.

I'm SUPPOSED to see the EULA first and agree to it.

So all along the problem has REALLY been that I don't know what to press to say, "Yes, I agree."

Enter has not done anything so far.

If anyone has an answer to this for me, let me know.

In the meantime, I'm going to muck around a bit.

01-02-2008, 01:21 AM

HA!

The problem was neither Boot Camp, nor Windows!

IT WAS MY STINKIN' MONITOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The screen was formatted so I couldn't see the stupid keyboard command instructions at the bottom!

I've never installed Windows from a disk before, so I kind of needed those!

One little click of a button on the monitor and PRESTO! I can now see the whole screen along with the commands

Now I see a VERY pretty yellow bar, actually in motion!

WHY is it ALWAYS something so simple?

There is more to my signature than just words....

01-02-2008, 02:59 AM

Success!

I definitely bears pointing out that if you do get the "disk error, press any key to restart" message, that you should absolutely try burning a copy of the CD even if you just took it out of the box!!!

This DID happen to me, but fortunately I had already read in several forums, including this one I believe, that installing from a copy usually works.

It did.

Lucky me.

Now I must lament spending nearly three grand to get away from PC's just to wind up with a beautiful new Mac polluted with this evil OS!

Ah well. It'll take a couple of years to replace all the software I have, but I WILL most certainly get it done!

Hope this helps somebody in the future!