Here is my scenario:
- I've had a Macbook Pro Retina 2015 for a while.
- I recently upgraded to Catalina
- I decided to give bootcamp a try after wanting to do this for a long time!
- So i go through the procedure with a few hickups. I partitioned my existing 1 TB SSD to 500/500.
- I installed Win 10 on one 500 GB partition.
- Everything seemed fine. I could switch between MacOSX and Win 10 without issues (by holding Option Key).
- A few days ago I decided to try to install a Printer connected via USB Cable to my Mac. I was having issues so I decided to boot into Win 10 to see if it worked. Win 10 could not see the Printer so I decided to boot back into MacOSX. I think i may have performed a hard shutdown to force a reboot. So by holding Option key I decided to go to MacOSX.
- So somehow I believe the win side of things got corrupted. I noticed while on the MacOSX side, after a bit, my mouse would show the spinning beach ball. Then my MacOSX would freeze, and then eventually MacOSX would reboot, and I would get a blue screen of death:
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- So I have to hold down the power button to reboot. If I do nothing I get booted right into the blue screen of death.
- So I have to always hold down the Option key to boot into MacOSX. When in MacOSX I have less than 5 minutes before the spinning ball shows up - then system locks - then crash - then blue screen.
- If I hit F1 in Recovery Enviro - nothing happens - if I hit F8 the screen just blinks on/off.
- So I figured I would at least try to fix this using Bootcamp Assistant - maybe try to remove my installation of Win 10.
- When I launched Bootcamp it only gave me the option to create a new Win Bootdisk. There was nothing in options to remove an existing Win installation.
- So I figured I would use Disk Utility and just remove the Win10 Partition. I thought that would fix my woes. Ha - no go. My Mac still thinks there is a Win Partition, I still get booted into Blue Screen of Death on reboot.
- QUESTION: How does this happen - if there is no WIn 10 why does it still think there is one?????
- So here is my dilemma: I called Apple support. They said no problem we will go through the process of using web install of Catalina while erasing your HD (so a fresh install). So I hold down Option/CMD/R. I get to the Password screen - input my password - spinning ball - nothing - try again and the password input shakes to say wrong password. So Apple support says to select Forgot PW. It then asks for my apple ID and PW - that works - asks for two form identification from my iPhone - then gives me a message that my apple ID does not allow for erase of my Macbook! So Apple support says okay then hold cmd/R and try that. I'm like what the heck is the difference. Well same thing thing happened - I can not erase my Mac and reinstall Catalina.
- So I figure I'll create an external MACOSX boot disk (USB) by downloading full install from internet. Well i can never get passed the spinning ball/freeze/crash/bluescreen of death.
- So Apple says - go to an authorized Apple dealer since Apple stores are closed. i'm like is this going to cost me money - they say of course. It turns out I got quoted for $125 to force a erase and reinstall of Catalina.
- Questions: How did this happen? Why is it so hard to recover from this blue screen of death? Is it too late to fix this issue - or at least allow for my Mac to not shutdown?
- I'm disappointed with MacOSX/Bootcamp. Something like this should NEVER happen, and if it did there should be a recovery mode.
- I look towards your expert knowledge - PLEASE HELP!
- Thanks
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