Problem when choosing Windows to boot

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Hello!

I've been surfing the internet for hours, but i didn't find the solution to my problem.

I have a MacBook Pro Late 2008 (2,53GHz; 4GB RAM) and I have installed Windows 7 Enterprise x64 via BootCamp.

So: i startup my mac and press the option key (alt) to go to the startup-menu. When i choose Windows to boot, the screen goes black for about 2-3 minutes, then the windows "boot screen" appears and everything is normal. My question is, why does it take so long to boot up windows?
Could this problem be caused by rEFIt? Before I installed it, everything worked fine - I've chosen windows and it started immediately.
Then i installed rEFIt and then there was the black screen - so I removed rEFIt (like the readme says). But the problem is still the same.

Please help me! :\
 
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Hello!

I've been surfing the internet for hours, but i didn't find the solution to my problem.

I have a MacBook Pro Late 2008 (2,53GHz; 4GB RAM) and I have installed Windows 7 Enterprise x64 via BootCamp.

So: i startup my mac and press the option key (alt) to go to the startup-menu. When i choose Windows to boot, the screen goes black for about 2-3 minutes, then the windows "boot screen" appears and everything is normal. My question is, why does it take so long to boot up windows?
Could this problem be caused by rEFIt? Before I installed it, everything worked fine - I've chosen windows and it started immediately.
Then i installed rEFIt and then there was the black screen - so I removed rEFIt (like the readme says). But the problem is still the same.

Please help me! :\

If you are using a hack to bypass the activation scheme for Windows 7, then that delay is normal. That has nothing to do with rEFIt.
 
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If you are using a hack to bypass the activation scheme for Windows 7, then that delay is normal. That has nothing to do with rEFIt.

Thank's for your fast answer.
I don't use a hack to bypass the activation, I'm still running the trial, 6 days remaining. So this can't be the problem :(
 
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Thank's for your fast answer.
I don't use a hack to bypass the activation, I'm still running the trial, 6 days remaining. So this can't be the problem :(

Hmmm. I'm inclined to think something is wrong with Windows itself, but the timing with your experiences with rEFIt seems too coincidental. This is a long shot, but try resetting the PRAM. Perhaps something happened that corrupted the information held there.
Mac OS X 10.6 Help: Resetting PRAM
 
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Maybe Windows is just slower loading than OS X.

On a Mac Pro, OS X.6.7 takes 17 seconds, Windows 7 Ultimate after using Option key 1min 48 seconds. Mind you SL is installed on a SSD and Windows BootCamp on a 7200 HDD.
 
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I think you don't understand my problem.
I said there is a black screen. Showing NOTHING! It looks like my Mac isn't running, but it is running and processing.
The screen is black for about 2 to 3 minutes doing nothing, then it starts to boot into Windows..
 
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Thank's for your fast answer.
I don't use a hack to bypass the activation, I'm still running the trial, 6 days remaining. So this can't be the problem :(

Activate Windows and see if there is a difference. Mine takes less than 60 seconds to boot from hitting the power button - including holding Option.
 

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@Beef:

How did you remove rEFIt? The reason I ask is if you didn't remove the "blessing" it may still be hunting around for the Windows boot sector and thus the delay.

The easiest and safest way to stop rEFIt is stop the "blessing" by renaming the EFI folder. That folder is here:

MacIntosh HD/efi Just rename it to: MacIntosh HD/efi_save and that should do it.

There could be another reason you're seeing the black screen for 2 to 3 minutes. It's possible Windows is hunting for your video driver.

Also make sure you do not have your Anti-Virus software doing a scan on startup. That will definitely delay the boot time.

Let us know.
 
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I think you don't understand my problem.
I said there is a black screen. Showing NOTHING! It looks like my Mac isn't running, but it is running and processing.
The screen is black for about 2 to 3 minutes doing nothing, then it starts to boot into Windows..

I don't know who that was supposed to be addressed to, but I assure you we understand the problem just fine. Now then… did you try resetting the PRAM? That is the first thing I would try. The link I provided explains what is stored there, and it conceivably could have been corrupted in a manner that would cause your issues. If that doesn't fix it, then the others here have made suggestions worth exploring. It's easy to blame rEFIt because this all started when you first installed that, but it's also entirely possible you are overlooking something that you did in Windows when you booted into it either right before or right after intalling rEFIt.

BTW… have you installed the Boot Camp drivers in Windows?
 
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I already resetted my PRAM, also the SMC. Nothing changed.

@chscag: i completely reinstalled OS X, so there isn't any EFI folder left. My Anti-Virus software isn't doing a scan on startup.

@lifeisabeach: Yes, i have installed the BootCamp drivers, even the newest update to 3.2 drivers.
 
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I already resetted my PRAM, also the SMC. Nothing changed.

@chscag: i completely reinstalled OS X, so there isn't any EFI folder left. My Anti-Virus software isn't doing a scan on startup.

@lifeisabeach: Yes, i have installed the BootCamp drivers, even the newest update to 3.2 drivers.

Ok, so it quite clearly has nothing to do with rEFIt or OS X. Time to look at Windows itself. I would start by disabling all startup items and see if that makes a difference. If it does, re-enable one-by-one until you find the culprit. As suggested before, AV software is a prime candidate. (EDIT: or not... lol!) There are several programs available that will list all the startup items in Windows (there are a few different places they load from). Try one of these that will enable/disable them for you.
 
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I tried this, but it didn't work either :/

Yesterday I tried to boot from the Windows XP installation disc, and there it was the same problem - black screen and after a few minutes, there was the installation..
 

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