Bootcamp has killed me!

Yikes...firstly let me say that I know I am an idiot because I haven't backed up my Macbook Pro for 6 weeks.

Now let me say that I too have fallen victim to the dreaded situation of canceling an install of windows in bootcamp and now my mac will simply not boot up.

I am in the process of trying to track down some installation disks to see if as a last hope I can boot off the disk and try and recover everything. (of course my whole life is on that computer in the last 6 weeks since back up)

Has anyone got a tale to tell of a successful fix to this problem where you were able to recover EVERYTHING and if so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me step by step exactly how you did it. Bear in mind that I am the least computer savvy person when it comes to stuff like this.

Do I have a chance to save this or is it gone for good ?

Please someone tell me a story that ends with a happy ending...

(PS I promise that if i fix this I will backup RELIGIOUSLY!!!!!)

dogtide said:

(PS I promise that if i fix this I will backup RELIGIOUSLY!!!!!)

Click to expand...

This is what everyone says AFTER they've had an issue...but then it's too late!

And by the way...Bootcamp hasn't killed you or you wouldn't be posting this message!

Good luck,

- Nick

...alas if that was only the case. I am actually doing this on my wife's computer. My computer will only go as far as a flashing _ on a black screen and nothing else!

PS - I really will back up religiously from now on...I might even become a fundamentalist about it.

Chances are the Mac OS X partition is still intact, unless of course you somehow damaged it during the Windows install (unlikely).

Turn the machine on and immediately hold the Option key down. Continue holding until a screen comes up showing you boot options. One of them should be 'Macintosh HD'. If it does, double-click on it and it should begin to boot into OS X.

You can then set it as the default startup disk in System Preferences => Startup Disk. After that, run the Boot Camp Assistant to revert back to a single partition.

if only it was that easy...

...thanx for the suggestion but when i do that all i get is the windows option and no mac option. if i then click on the windows option it takes me to that black screen with the flashing _

Can you elaborate a bit on what part of the install you canceled? Was it the actual Boot Camp Assistant process where the disk is divided into partitions, or was it during the installation of Windows itself?

hey cwa107,

A few days ago I successfully partitioned the drive and then tried to install windows a few times but it kept hanging at a certain spot because I think there was a scratch on the disk. Then last night I got another disk and went into the partitioned drive and went to install windows.
All seemed to be going well until it asked me which partition to put it on but it looked to me like it was only offering one part and that was the size of my whole drive 132GB and not just the windows partition 15GB so I canceled the install.
Now when I boot up it doesn't see the Mac drive anymore. If I do boot up holding the option key then it only shows me a windows option but even if i select that i get nowhere.
Ouch!

dogtide said:

hey cwa107,

A few days ago I successfully partitioned the drive and then tried to install windows a few times but it kept hanging at a certain spot because I think there was a scratch on the disk. Then last night I got another disk and went into the partitioned drive and went to install windows.
All seemed to be going well until it asked me which partition to put it on but it looked to me like it was only offering one part and that was the size of my whole drive 132GB and not just the windows partition 15GB so I canceled the install.
Now when I boot up it doesn't see the Mac drive anymore. If I do boot up holding the option key then it only shows me a windows option but even if i select that i get nowhere.
Ouch!

Click to expand...

Just a point of clarification - when you partitioned the drive, did you use the Boot Camp Assistant to do so, or did you try doing it manually with Disk Utility?

i definitely used the boot camp assistant and did it the right way. the partition was actually called BOOTCAMP and sat as an icon on my desktop.

dogtide said:

i definitely used the boot camp assistant and did it the right way. the partition was actually called BOOTCAMP and sat as an icon on my desktop.

Click to expand...

OK, it's hard to say for sure, but one of two things probably happened:

1. You started the Windows install and when you got to the point where Windows asked you to select a partition to install on, you inadvertently picked the Macintosh HD (which would have been unrecognizable to the Windows Installer). If that's the case, you're likely looking at a full reinstall with no recovery options.

2. During the process, be it during partitioning or during Windows setup, somehow the Macintosh HD partition was damaged. If that's the case, you should be able to see it with Disk Utility as run from the Mac OS X setup disc, and potentially run a repair and get it to mount. More info here:

Mac OS X - Using Disk Utility to Repair a Disk

Thanx for the suggestion. I am just trying to track down a start up disk as mine are all the way back in Australia. Hopefully I will get one from a friend in a few hours.

As far as I remember, I actually canceled out of the install at the point that I had to choose the partition because of the fact that it wasn't offering me the BOOTCAMP option but rather only the full drive. I hope that this means that somehow I have just wrecked the MAC start up and nothing more.

Fingers crossed...


...ok just managed to get an OS X disc and still nothing. Makes no difference what buttons I hold down when I turn it on it wont boot up. It just goes to the black screen with the flashing_ after a few seconds.

Now I'm getting worried...

PLEASE ANYONE HELP (desperation has surely now crept in)