No MAC OS X at ALL, After BOOT CAMP

[jotsib]

I am working with apple computers many years, and in many cases friends bring me their computer for support. Always I am able to find a solution, but this time I am afraid that I have no idea of what to do.. I am searching everywhere, but I can['t find any opinions..

So now someone installed bootcamp and windows XP SP2, in his macbook, and now we can't switch back to mac os x.
I have tryed everything :
Booting with "alt" , booting with "C" with the Mac OS X install DVD, trying to boot from an external FW drive with OS X installed...
The result is always the same in all these cases : A Blue/grey/Black screen with no process...
Also this guy put a password in his windows user account ,which he can't remember and now we can't log in to Windows too, to check the partitions, and if we could choose another start up disk.
After that I tryed to reinstall windows , but now windows can't be installed. So now we have no OS on the hard drive, and nothing more seems available to do.
Is anyone that could help???
Thanx
jotsib

 

[apachie2k]

maybe, if you tried to connect your mac (i assume you have one) with his, using firewire and hold t while his reboots, maybe you might be able to see some things on your computer that your friend can't see... let me know

 

[jotsib]

maybe, if you tried to connect your mac (i assume you have one) with his, using firewire and hold t while his reboots, maybe you might be able to see some things on your computer that your friend can't see... let me know

Hi thanx for the reply, I already tried it. (I forgot to write it above...)

 

[tyr2]

You could try resetting the SMC? http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319

 

[jotsib]

maybe, if you tried to connect your mac (i assume you have one) with his, using firewire and hold t while his reboots, maybe you might be able to see some things on your computer that your friend can't see... let me know

Well, I tried once again the Target Start up, and I saw a small miracle..in my computer. I did see macbook's hard drive, with the 2 partitions. I saw the mac os system folder, the library, users, and app's, as well I saw the Windows...
Then I opened my disk utility and I did a new "GUID" partition to its disk. (Maybe I had to repair first the disk-who knows)
Then I put the macbook's install DVD and tried to start up, but the only thing I get is the blue/black/grey screen. Then I tried the SMC restore. Nothing Changes. Do you think that this macbook is dead ??

 

[jotsib]

NEXT step :I think MS-DOS have dominated the whole computer.

Well, since my last post, I tried many things. The major is that I startup in Target Mode the macbook, and now I am able to see its HardDrive in a macbook pro. Then I formatted again in Mac OS X journaled format, and then I restored from one partition of the MacBook Pro the whole disk(with the system). Now I restarted the macbook Pro from the macbook's drive, and it is starting up.
But in macbook I cannot start up. It doesn't recognize the install DVD neither. The only message I get is in MS-DOS language :
No Boot-Device found. Please insert a boot disk and press any key. When I insert Windows, then the instalation process of Win starts.
Is there any way to move out the DOS??? Is something I could do through MacBook Pro (maybe terminal commands...) , as now I am booted from the macbooks Mac OS X hard Drive... ?
If I formatted all the disk (as now it is only one partition) with windows NTFS fromat, and then install windows till the end, After that is there any hope of return?
thanx guys for your time!
Jotsib

 

[czeluff]

i know

guaranteed this is what happened:

when xp was being installed, you chose the E: drive to install it on. You must choose C:\ or else you override your OSX install.

cz

 

[Ringo]

guaranteed this is what happened:

when xp was being installed, you chose the E: drive to install it on. You must choose C:\ or else you override your OSX install.

cz

When he booted in target disk mode he saw his mac partition, so that must be something else... but what.

Maybe the firmware, or something else important got screwed.

 

[compuwar]

I am working with apple computers many years, and in many cases friends bring me their computer for support. Always I am able to find a solution, but this time I am afraid that I have no idea of what to do.. I am searching everywhere, but I can['t find any opinions..

So now someone installed bootcamp and windows XP SP2, in his macbook, and now we can't switch back to mac os x.
I have tryed everything :
Booting with "alt" , booting with "C" with the Mac OS X install DVD, trying to boot from an external FW drive with OS X installed...
The result is always the same in all these cases : A Blue/grey/Black screen with no process...
Also this guy put a password in his windows user account ,which he can't remember and now we can't log in to Windows too, to check the partitions, and if we could choose another start up disk.
After that I tryed to reinstall windows , but now windows can't be installed. So now we have no OS on the hard drive, and nothing more seems available to do.
Is anyone that could help???
Thanx
jotsib

With Bootcamp, it's the "Option" key that gives you the OS menu.

 

[twoodcc]

With Bootcamp, it's the "Option" key that gives you the OS menu.

"option" and "alt" are the same thing

 

[deputy_doofy]

When I used Bootcamp and partitioned the drive, I expected some great naming scheme for the drives. Instead, when the windows installation program asked me to pick a partition, it used C,E (or something like that). Specifically, I had to look at the disk size. Since I alotted 40gb (out of 160gb), I looked for thesize that matched and installed there. That worked. However, to someone who may not be used to it, or simply jumped the gun on which drive would be correct, I could see how it would be extremely easy to install over OS X by mistake.

 

[twoodcc]

The only message I get is in MS-DOS language :
No Boot-Device found. Please insert a boot disk and press any key. When I insert Windows, then the instalation process of Win starts.

i have this same problem in my mac pro, except i can still boot into OS X, i just can't get windows installed. i get that message when i try though. when installing xp it has to restart after copying files, and then i get that message.

you might want to try to reset the PRAM (hold option, command, p, r - all at the same time) until it chimes for like 4 times. then you should be able to hold option when you turn it on and get the bootloader thing