Win xP half installed !!! Please help

[Father Jack]

While loading Windoze xP via Bootcamp on my Intel Mac Mini, the following message appeared on the screen:
To boot from CD press any key
When I pressed a key, another message appeared on the screen:
Disk error
Press any key to restart

Pressing a key has no effect at all !!

As a last resort I switched the Mini off, held the mouse button and restarted to eject the Win xP CD and then inserted my Leopard disk to (hopefully) boot into OS X but the same message "Disk error, press any key to restart"
No Amount of restarting has any effect .... I fear I have killed my mini ..
Please help me get my OS X back again!!!! ..

 

[ReanimationLP]

Hm.

Did you try the XP disc again?

If its still giving you trouble, I believe if you hold the Shift or the Option key, it'll give you a choice of which OS to boot.

If its still acting weird, the only thing I can think of is to pop the hard disk out, either insert it into your Mac Pro or your Macbook, format it, and reinstall OSX on it.

 

[Father Jack]

I tried it numerous times and also tried another xP disk, same thing !!!

I don't think opening the Mini is an option, I've heard it is difficult !!

 

[ReanimationLP]

I tried it numerous times and also tried another xP disk, same thing !!!

I don't think opening the Mini is an option, I've heard it is difficult !!

Ah, well, thats unfortunate.

Thats why I find it easier to work on desktop PCs/Macs personally. You're able to bring the drive up close to your ear and hear if its spinning properly or clicking/crashing/blowing up.

 

[Father Jack]

Ah, well, thats unfortunate.

Thats why I find it easier to work on desktop PCs/Macs personally. You're able to bring the drive up close to your ear and hear if its spinning properly or clicking/crashing/blowing up.

Disk appears to be spinning ok
Is there some way to connect the mini to my Mac pro using a firewire cable? I vaguely remember reading that somewhere.

 

[tersono]

It sounds like the optical drive is kaput, but before seeking help from a techie, try unplugging the mini, leave it for a couple of minutes, then plug it in and start it whilst holding down CMD-OPT-P-R. keep the key combo pressed until you hear the startup chime for the second time. Hopefully your machine will then boot from the HD

 

[tersono]

Disk appears to be spinning ok
Is there some way to connect the mini to my Mac pro using a firewire cable? I vaguely remember reading that somewhere.

yes. start the mini whilst holding down CMD-T. This enables target disk mode, which allows you to mount the Mini on your other Mac's desktop as if it was just an external HD.

 

[Father Jack]

It sounds like the optical drive is kaput, but before seeking help from a techie, try unplugging the mini, leave it for a couple of minutes, then plug it in and start it whilst holding down CMD-OPT-P-R. keep the key combo pressed until you hear the startup chime for the second time. Hopefully your machine will then boot from the HD

Cheers, I'll give it a try

 

[Father Jack]

Nothing seems to work ..

Anyone any suggestions .. please ..

 

[Auto-5]

Don't worry Father Jack OSX is still there.

I had the same thing happen with my install. Your computer is still trying to boot the windows partition.

Shut down and restart holding the option key down. When the option screen appears choose Mac OSX and your computer will boot the Mac partition.

I think your XP install is corrupted with no way that I know of to repair it.

But the solution is simple. Start Bootcamp assistant choose "Restore the start up disk to a single volume" and click continue. Now your back to square one.

Restart Bootcamp assistant and try your install again.

When I installed XP I arrived at the screen you describe no less than 3 times! Each time I started over, finally it worked!

I'm not sure what the problem was but I think setup failed to format the partition correctly. I may have not have made the right choice when the 2nd formating screen appeared.

Just a little reminder why I switched to Macs.

HTH Good Luck!

 

[AirborneAngel]

Hold Option/Alt when booting and it should clear up the issue...I had the exact same problem.

 

[Father Jack]

Thanks for the suggestions, but again all that comes up on the screen is:

DISK ERROR
PRESS ANY KEY TO RESTART​

I fear the Mini has died and gone to Apple heaven ....

 

[Block]

Thanks for the suggestions, but again all that comes up on the screen is:

DISK ERROR
PRESS ANY KEY TO RESTART​

I fear the Mini has died and gone to Apple heaven ....

This error is common if any of these three conditions are true:
1) Any USB port while installing is in use (this includes the mouse).
2) The file format was not formatted as NTFS (the slow version, not the quick one)
3) An illegally burnt CD was used, or the CD used was not SP2.

If 1 or 2, then do the respective actions. If 3, then find a non-cracked version of windows to download, and burn it at x4 speed or slower, and not using Disk Image, but something like Toast instead.

Edit: Oh, and to do a clean install, just hold down the "Alt/Option" on your keyboard when the computer first starts up and you see the gray screen. Than press the CD icon that pops up (when your leopard DVD is inserted), and the rest should be self explanatory.

 

[firstapple]

hurriance is right...

I had the same exact issue and the thing I did wrong the first time around was I partitioned for Windows via bootcamp. However, when installing windows you must have the windows install CD partition it again. It says this directly in the instructions from Apple's website. The first time I tried installing windows with bootcamp I didnt have the windows CD partition the Harddrive again, and it came up with the same error you're having. Maybe this is the issue you are having?

Otherwise, yes, it must be a SP2 disk as well as 32bit I believe...

 

[ReanimationLP]

This error is common if any of these three conditions are true:
1) Any USB port while installing is in use (this includes the mouse).
2) The file format was not formatted as NTFS (the slow version, not the quick one)
3) An illegally burnt CD was used, or the CD used was not SP2.

Funny, I've never had it happen to me with number 1, number 2 doesnt make a difference at all, its just how fast it does the format, I've used both and gotten the same results.

Number 3, the burnt CD part wouldnt make a difference unless the CD image was damaged or the disc itself was scratched. Now an older disc wouldnt work.

I've installed XP hundreds of times.

The error Father Jack is getting sounds like the whole Non-system disk or disk error, insert a system disk to continue you get in BIOS, dressed up a bit for the whole EFI.

 

[scott:mac]

Is the problem the disc is stuck?
I have a mac mini i tried to install leopard and my Disc was spinning and not doing anything and i was in Half Tiger Half Leopard , i took it to a "Genius" and he said he Booted up Mac and held the Left Mouse button and the disc ejeted and it went back to Tiger 10.4.

Hope this is helps.
After boot up the disc you got with mac to Reinstall it.

Scott
Self Confessed Expert.

 

[Block]

Funny, I've never had it happen to me with number 1, number 2 doesnt make a difference at all, its just how fast it does the format, I've used both and gotten the same results.

Number 3, the burnt CD part wouldnt make a difference unless the CD image was damaged or the disc itself was scratched. Now an older disc wouldnt work.

I've installed XP hundreds of times.

The error Father Jack is getting sounds like the whole Non-system disk or disk error, insert a system disk to continue you get in BIOS, dressed up a bit for the whole EFI.

What I listed were ways to guarantee that the issue does not happen, not necessarily what must be done. Some people have seen errors with 1. With 2, the premade FAT32 drive that was created by Apple will almost always report a disk error. As for 3, illegal versions of Windows tend to add various cracks that cause errors when installing.

 

[Father Jack]

This error is common if any of these three conditions are true:
1) Any USB port while installing is in use (this includes the mouse).
2) The file format was not formatted as NTFS (the slow version, not the quick one)
3) An illegally burnt CD was used, or the CD used was not SP2.

If 1 or 2, then do the respective actions. If 3, then find a non-cracked version of windows to download, and burn it at x4 speed or slower, and not using Disk Image, but something like Toast instead.

Edit: Oh, and to do a clean install, just hold down the "Alt/Option" on your keyboard when the computer first starts up and you see the gray screen. Than press the CD icon that pops up (when your leopard DVD is inserted), and the rest should be self explanatory.

Thanks for the suggestions, but
1. At least one USB port has to be in use (Keyboard)
2. The Win xP disk is legal and has SP2 .... I have used this disk before without problems

scott:mac: I managed to get the disk out of the Mini ok, but no mater what I do I just keep getting the message Disk error, press any key to reboot and pressing any key does absolutely nothing. Even putting in my (genuine) Leopard disk in gets the same message. I'm reaching the stage where I am going to start using the Mini as a "Mac geek coffee coaster"

 

[gyumilly]

So holding alt/option key won't do anything? I had the exact same issue when I formatted my windows partition as FAT instead of NTFS. But by holding Alt/Option key, I could log in to OSX, removed windows partition, recreated and installed windows. Can you plug your keyboard into different USB to see if that helps?

 

[Block]

Thanks for the suggestions, but
1. At least one USB port has to be in use (Keyboard)
2. The Win xP disk is legal and has SP2 .... I have used this disk before without problems

scott:mac: I managed to get the disk out of the Mini ok, but no mater what I do I just keep getting the message Disk error, press any key to reboot and pressing any key does absolutely nothing. Even putting in my (genuine) Leopard disk in gets the same message. I'm reaching the stage where I am going to start using the Mini as a "Mac geek coffee coaster"

Is it under warranty? If yes, go to the Apple Store or call Apple support. If not, you can go anyways and get a price estimate.

 

[Father Jack]

Thanks for all the suggestions chaps ..

Unfortunately not under warranty and my nearest Apple store is about 100 miles away .... but a new Apple store will be opening in Belfast in about two months time.

I will try the keyboard in another usb socket tomorrow.

The fact that the computer won't boot from the Leopard dvd would suggest a faulty optical drive (already suggested by tersono) if it had been another Mac, I would have no hesitation in diving inside but getting into the Mini seems such a difficult task.

It's really pis*ing me off and I will check out what Mini's are available on eBay at the week-end.

Again thanks for all your suggestions ...