"No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"

I'm very new to using the Mac operating systems, I've had my new Macbook for about a week now. I was using Bootcamp to try installing a Windows operating system to run on parellels, and now I've found myself in some trouble. I found an unlabled disc I thought might be my copy of XP but wasn't sure so I put it in my drive to try installing it on Bootcamp. My computer restarted and brought me to a black screen that says across the type: "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"
And I'm completely stuck on this screen. I've tried pressing a bunch of keys, nothing happens. I've tried using the eject key, nothing happens. It just won't let me do anything but stare at that screen. Like I've stated, I'm very new to Mac so it may be something very easy to get past, but any help would be greatly appriciated, thank you in advance to anyone who can help.

I'm very new to using the Mac operating systems, I've had my new Macbook for about a week now. I was using Bootcamp to try installing a Windows operating system to run on parellels, and now I've found myself in some trouble. I found an unlabled disc I thought might be my copy of XP but wasn't sure so I put it in my drive to try installing it on Bootcamp. My computer restarted and brought me to a black screen that says across the type: "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"
And I'm completely stuck on this screen. I've tried pressing a bunch of keys, nothing happens. I've tried using the eject key, nothing happens. It just won't let me do anything but stare at that screen. Like I've stated, I'm very new to Mac so it may be something very easy to get past, but any help would be greatly appriciated, thank you in advance to anyone who can help.

NOTE: Merged cross-posted threads.

Hold the option key as you turn on the machine, then select Macintosh HD and it will boot you back into OS X.

I had the same issue but I took my macbook to the Apple Store and they had that problem fixed in 5 minutes

To Rich 4690

Thank you so very very very much for your post!!!
I was in panick mode for hours because this happened to me.
Once I read your post I had my Macbook up and running within 3 minutes.

Also, thank you Mac Forums for this wonderful website!!!

Ooops, that should have been to rich6490... sorry about that!

I have the same problem after trying to install Bootcamp with a Windows XP disc that I now realise was an upgrade, so half way through it wanted an original Windows 98, 2000 etc disk. I couldn't eject the disk (no eject button on Mac DVDs and eject button on keyboard did nothing) so had to shutdown and reboot with mouse buton held down to eject the disk. Now it is totally stuffed since all I get is "no boot drive found etc" and nothing I have tried will get it to boot up on OSX. It doesn't show OSX when I boot up with the Option key pressed, it doesn't boot up from the original OSX DVD that came with the MacMini, it doesn't boot up from an external drive with a clone of the working Mac drive before I tried to install BOOTCAMP. I have taken the drive out and erased it, I have cloned the drive of my other Macmini on to the erased drive but still get the Windows message. There can be no Windows partition on the drive since I erased it but somehow the Macmini is expecting a Windows boot up drive. The DVD drive powers up when a disk is put in but the OSX disk doesn't go into setup mode or any Apple OSX mode. It doesn't reset the PRAM with option-command-P-R no second chime is heard, it simply goes into a Windows message how it does this with no Windows partition is beyond my comprehension. Are there any other combination of keystrokes that might get me into terminal mode whereby I could write some instruction although what is another question. It is a Macmini 1.66Ghz, Intel, 2Gb RAM 300Gb HDD, OSX10.5.6.

Anyone got any bright ideas. I'm not alone with this problem, plenty of people have come across according to the posts on the Apple discussion forum but are quite the same as my problem and none of the suggested answers have worked when I tried them.

I am totally lost at this point. It was a nice little Macmini working quite happily until I stupidly tried to put Bootcamp onto it rather than using Parallels.

Dave

I keep on running into the same problem. Can't seem to get XP or Vista installed.

Here, I had the same problem.
But my good old dad helped. He said leave the Mac!!
So I did. When it said the "Press any Key" message, i left it and it auto booted into the Windows OS without problem. There is a fault where Microsoft is concerned when it comes down to install disks.

Also, you must delete the partition only through Boot Camp Assistant, not through Windows.

Regards.

please help!!



Hey everyone.

I am having this same problem. I used bootcamp to partition 5 GB of memory in order to install XP. I got the disc from a friend and inserted it into the drive. Once it loaded up I noticed it was Windows Vista, NOT XP. So I quit the program and as the computer was restarting I manually ejected the disk. ( I think I held the mouse button down and pressed eject or used the option function) I did this because it would not eject by just pressing the eject key. Anyways I then clicked on the mac HD after holding the option key on startup and it worked fine. I got back into Mac OK but when I tried to start it up this morning a black screen popped up on startup saying,

"No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"

SOOO I read this forum, manually turned off the computer and got it back into running Mac by using the hold option key on startup and click Mac HD again. I removed the partition via bootcamp thinking the problem would be fixed, only to restart the computer to still get that same black screen saying "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key" on startup.

Any idea how I can get my computer to load Mac OS X normally without having to do this annoying option key function every time?

Thanks

MAc info=Mac OS X version 10.5.8
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB41.00C1.B00

hey everyone

sorry I just searched apple and found the answer

"Then, the first thing I did was open the System Preferences and change the Startup Disk (just click on the Macintosh HD.) "

seemed to work fine, i will let u know if i have any more trouble...

Thanks!

Next time, buy your copy of Windows. You can't borrow one from a friend, not only would that be illegal, you'd also have problems with product activation that would preclude you (or your friend) from using their machine.

thanks

Thank you for this thread! I've used Mac for 20 years and the only time it has Messed up is when I try on install Windows?

As the previous poster said. First hold down option, click the Mac partition then before you restart go to the System Preferences/startup disc/ and choose Mac HD. You will see the "?" startup disc that is there but shouldn't be.

This same error happened to my other mac laptop.
I tried pressing the option key down but, nothing was happening.
I also tried leaving the laptop alone but, nothing was happening again.
I even tried shutting down the laptop but, IT STILL DIDN'T DO ANYTHING.

Did I read the instructions well?

I need to print out my school documents out of that laptop. Please can anyone explain how to fix this error more specifically?

Thank you

Rodus said:

I have the same screen with flashing underscore, if I leave it for a minute then Win 7 boots up. I suspect this is something to do with EFI instead of a bios.

Click to expand...

Hmmm, I have the same flashing underscore, but it doesnt go anywhere, left it for 10mins

any tips?

Same problem. My disk was stuck in my laptop, too, but I finally got it out by pressing the eject key and holding it down as soon as I turned the computer on until it popped it out after about 20 seconds. Instead of giving error message it restarted in Mac and I was able to change settings in System Preferences. It seems to be working now.

This fixed my problem! Thank you

Same Issue

Ok so I attempted to install Windows 7 via Bootcamp but my dvd was badly scratched up so the install failed halfway thru. I went thru the disk utility to delete the partition back into my Mac and all was good but once I restart my Mac it does into that same black screen telling me " No bootable device found, Press any key to continue" . I have gone into system settings and Start Up Disk but my Mac is the only option there. So I have no idea what to do now. Any ideas?

Next time, use the Boot Camp Assistant to revert back to a single partition. Disk Utility can do it, but it doesn't do it cleanly as you've noted. I think the first thing I would try is a PRAM reset. Start with the machine powered off. Turn it on and press and hold Command + Option + P + R. Continue holding until you hear the system chime twice. That should do the trick.

Ditto on the last

I also have been having this problem for the past few weeks.

I would turn on my Mac, it went to a white screen, the spinning wheel never came up, after 20 - 30 seconds it went to a Black "MSDOS looking" screen saying "No bootable device - insert boot device and press any key".

After talking to my Son he advised me to hold down the "Option" Key while starting it gave me the opportunity to select the MacHD.

After dealing with this for a little while, searching the net; finally, while looking around in the Settings, I see "Startup Disk", opened it up and selected the MacHD, rebooted, and that fixed it.