Boot Camp won't initiate install

[DiamondGCoupe]

Just got my first Mac last night, MBA 2.13/128SSD. So far it's been a questionable purchase, the two things I need it to do I cannot do with Mac OS X and Safari. Need to use a digital ID for law school which won't install in safari and can't watch Real Player lectures as I cannot enter log in info. Installed Vista Ultimate using Parallels (have not tried VM Fusion) and it works but the videos lag.

I partition 10G in Boot Camp and tried to install (1st) Vista Ultimate, (2nd) XP, (3rd) XP SP2, (4th) Windows 7b, none of them worked. After I set the partition and select to install, the Mac reboots and then the gray Apple screen appears with an Apple Logo and Folder. I've searched for hours on Google and I can't find a single article that answers my question as to why this is happening and how to avoid. I realize I cannot use XP, but Vista Ultimate and XP SP2 and possibly W7 should have done something.. Thanks for your help I really don't want to return this thing but I'm regretting it thus far.

 

[stoconnell]

Have you considered trying the digital ID with Firefox? There are a lot of things that don't play nice with Safari but will work with Firefox.

 

[ayeying]

Can you get your hands on Windows XP? Vista chokes in a virtual machine unless there's a lot of free resources which you don't have in an Air.

 

[Consultant]

hint: windows need at least 10gb of free space to function.

Plus not reading instruction or pirating fail. You are in law school and you don't even read the simple bootcamp instructions?

 

[DiamondGCoupe]

Yes I got the ID to work with Firefox but still can't log on to real player videos.

I've formatted the drive to 12GB, read the instructions but nothing ever even begins to install, once the computer restarts to install, nothing happens! I would prefer XP just because it's lighter. If I am getting the gray screen does this mean my XP CD is not Retail or something..?

 

[patrixl]

So it goes straight back into OS X?

Try holding the alt/opt key when you hear the bootup chime, until you see a choice between your OS X drive and your XP SP2/vista/win7 CD, then select the CD and boot that. It should start the install.

Maybe something else is going on, but it's not clear enough (yet) so this is the best guess I have..

Patrix.

 

[DiamondGCoupe]

I see the Boot Camp HD on my desktop but when it restarts nothing is there only an option to do something from Wireless. I am using a Sony external CD instead of Apple but that shouldn't be a problem. Also, now that I have attempted to install Boot Camp, whenever my Mac turn on it takes an additional 20 seconds to show the Apple logo. Is there anyway to fix this, I have deleted the Boot camp partition but still take longer to boot.

 

[patrixl]

I see the Boot Camp HD on my desktop but when it restarts nothing is there only an option to do something from Wireless. I am using a Sony external CD instead of Apple but that shouldn't be a problem. Also, now that I have attempted to install Boot Camp, whenever my Mac turn on it takes an additional 20 seconds to show the Apple logo. Is there anyway to fix this, I have deleted the Boot camp partition but still take longer to boot.

Go in System Preferences -> startup disk, and make sure your Mac hard drive is selected as the startup drive.

Not being an Air owner I'm not aware of any issues an Air might have with bootcamp and Windows (I think there's been threads before, I never read em), but on my first-gen Macbook I never experienced problems such as that you describe, so something has got to be off somewhere though I can't imagine how since the steps are pretty straightforward.

Maybe it just can't boot off the external drive? Weird..

Patrix.

 

[ayeying]

Yes I got the ID to work with Firefox but still can't log on to real player videos.

Realplayer videos runs on VLC or RealPlayer for Mac.

 

[DiamondGCoupe]

Problem is when the video begins to play, I have to enter login info and I don't get that prompt on the Mac with any player so it never starts.