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Windows 7 on a 27 inch i5

G

Graphico

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2010
8
0
I have the Windoze 7 64 bit. It won't install on a 27 inch iMac. I've read forum after forum and was on the phone with a mac tech for and hour. They said I needed Boot Camp version 3.1, but that is an exe file. The only thing I can think of it that you need to install it using Vista, then upgrade to 7. However I don't have Vista and want to do a fresh install. This sucks. Wasted 2 days now.:mad:

Happens each time I buy a Mac. I buy too early.

Anyone with a 27 inch ever install Windows 7 successfully?
 
Why can't you install it? I had W7 RC in my iMac and it worked without problems. Make sure you're using genuine version of Windows, not ware
 
I just got a 27" iMac and had problems installing Windows 7 as well. It basically started OK but ended at a black screen that just looped unless I used option key to boot back to OSX.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3173

This was the problem -- has to do with a lack of display drivers or something I just started the whole thing over using the instructions from that page and it worked fine.
 
I have Windows 7 64bit Ultimate currently installed on my 27 i5 and had zero problems doing so. I first had it installed with Parallels and then 2 weeks ago installed it via bootcamp just to install Steam and play games on. No Bootcamp 3.1, just installed windows as is.

Also it doesn't matter if the copy is geniune or not, this does not effect how windows installs, you can install it w/o a serial number, the computer doesn't care until the timer within Windows runs out to enter a serial and even then Windows will still run but you lose theme support...:rolleyes:

Actually, I didn't think of the display problems until after I posted this... I have an extra monitor plugged into my imac, during the whole install process my imac screen was black but my 2ndary monitor was working fine so I continued on through install. As soon as Windows finished, it started automatically downloading windows updates, installed, then the imac screen came on.
 
Win 7 on IMAC i5

I have no problem running W7x64 since last December on my Imac i5. You do not need boot camp 3.1 to install W7. version 3.0 is fine. You will encounter black screen during the W7 installation due to ATI driver that send display to the second port. You have to delete the driver and follow repair procedures. Please search "Windows on Mac" forum for solutions.

You need a wired or USB keyboard and mouse for the W7 installation.
 
Those of you who had no problems probably don't have a 27 inch iMac. The problem is unique to 27 inch. I have heard rumors you need an external monitor to avoid the black screen because the 27 inch graphics drivers aren't recognized by Windows 7. Therefore it defaults to the mini display port. I've ordered the adapter.

mmomega said:
I have Windows 7 64bit Ultimate currently installed on my 27 i5 and had zero problems doing so. I first had it installed with Parallels and then 2 weeks ago installed it via bootcamp just to install Steam and play games on. No Bootcamp 3.1, just installed windows as is.

Also it doesn't matter if the copy is geniune or not, this does not effect how windows installs, you can install it w/o a serial number, the computer doesn't care until the timer within Windows runs out to enter a serial and even then Windows will still run but you lose theme support...:rolleyes:

Actually, I didn't think of the display problems until after I posted this... I have an extra monitor plugged into my imac, during the whole install process my imac screen was black but my 2ndary monitor was working fine so I continued on through install. As soon as Windows finished, it started automatically downloading windows updates, installed, then the imac screen came on.
Click to expand...
 
if you install in bootcamp you only need to reboot with dvd and delete the ati driver and reboot and you're done. a simple search on google will show you that. it's a mac, consider yourself lucky you can run windows at all. also the exe is if you are upgrading an existing windows install to windows 7 not a clean full install!
 
mystikjoe said:
.....Also the exe is if you are upgrading an existing windows install to windows 7 not a clean full install!
Click to expand...

Yes, I finally realized that but Apple tech support online told me different. They told me to put it on the SD Card
 
Graphico said:
Yes, I finally realized that but Apple tech support online told me different. They told me to put it on the SD Card
Click to expand...

if you do it the right way it will. i've done it on 3 machines and works like a charm. you boot the dvd then go to command prompt by selecting it under other options and delete the ati driver

when you get to the directory of the file type dir it will list all the files on one machine the ati driver was named somthing different ati something is the file you need to delete.
 
Boot Camp is just a suite of drivers and a partitioning tool. You have to install Windows 7 before you install the drivers.

1. Use Boot Camp Assistant to partition your drive. If you have a 1TB harddrive, the partition can go at the end just find. If you have a 2TB drive, depending on th drive, you may need to put the Windows 7 partition at the beginning of the drive. I had to do this, otherwise Windows wouldn't boot after installation. In order to put the partition at the beginning of the drive, you'll have to use Disk Utility and restore your whole Snow Leopard installation after creating the Windows partition at the beginning of your drive.

2. Install Windows 7. The screen will be black part way through the installation. You'll need to delete C:\Windows\System32\drivers\ATI*.SYS to fix that. This is a bug in Windows 7 that needs to be fixed. Boot Camp can not fix this because Boot Camp is just a suite of drivers that need to be installed after Windows is already installed.

3. Install Boot Camp 3.0 from your Snow Leopard disk. Then update it with Apple Software Update for Windows.

Done.

This is the normal installation process for quad core iMacs. There's nothing wrong with your iMac specifically. The problem is with Windows 7 installer's choice of display drivers. You don't need a MDP adapter or anything.
 
Graphico - i have the 27'' i5, and installed Win7 Home premium 64bit without any problem. The USB driver thing should work, it has for most people anyway.
 
I installed Windows 7 and got the blank black screen. Googled it and came across instructions where I had to go into the command line and del some file. I think it was either a Nvidia or an ATI driver. Works perfectly after that.
 
I have successfully installed Windows 7 64 Bit on two 27" iMacs using the instructions contained in the link below. In my opinion this is far easier than the whole USB stick thing Apple tells you to do.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2009/10/26/how-to-install-windows-7-onto-the-new-27in-imac/

Pay particular attention to the advice in posts 19 & 34.

Once Windows is installed just pop your OSX install disk in and Run the BootCamp installation program (it will come up automatically), once that's done go to the Apple Update program in the Start menu to update the BootCamp drivers to the current version. You'll need a USB keyboard and mouse whilst installing Windows 7 but once all done the Bluetooth Keyboard and mouse will work fine. Really could not be easier.

One advantage of doing it this way is prior to installing BootCamp Windows will automatically download and install ATI 4850 driver Vsn: 8.661.0.0. However, when you install the current BootCamp drivers this is replaced by an inferior ATI driver which causes colour depth / banding issues. As you previously had 8.661.0.0 installed now all you need to do is "Roll Back" the GPU driver to the previous version and the banding issue is gone. Check the links out below for further info:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/851553/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/843992/
 
Installing Windows 7 upgrade to Imac using Parallels 5

Hello,

I want to know if it's possible to install windows7 using a upgrade cd to Parallels 5 with the latest imac running i7 processor?

appreciate the advice and help

thanks
 
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