Installed Snow Leopard and Multibeast Overwrote Windows 8.1 Boot

Windows 8.1 OSX 10.6.8 on Ga-p55a-UD3
When I installed Snow Leopard and used Multibeast to access it, it seems I overwrote the Windows bootloader. From the Chimera v1.7 r1494 screen, when I click on "Windows NTFS" and get error message to use install disk to repair.There are 2 buttons on that Chimera screen: "Windows NTFS" and "OSX".
I have tried using the Win 8.1 install DVD's repair features. They failed.
I have tried using the motherboards boot menu to boot directly to the disk with WINdows. I get the same error message to use Windows repair.

I have read about using bootrec /fixmbr or /fixboot to solve this but I cannot find the Windows /Boot directory. Is boot directory gone maybe? The Windows is on a C: drive and OSX is on a different drive. The C: drive has a hidden partition but it doesn't have assigned drive letter. Could the boot directory be there? If so how to get to it?

Otherwise how can I restore my Windows 8.1 access?
If it could fix WINDOWS, I would be ok with installing Win 10 as an upgrade. I don't know how that might work. Would Win 10 be able to install as upgrade?

I don't need to maintain the OSX 10.6.8 install on this PC.
I only installed SNOW LEOPARD to allow me to create the UNIBEAST USB to install El Capitan on an empty drive on another PC. SO I CAN ELIMINATE the OSX INSTALLATION on the P55a motherboard as part of a Windows fix.

When you installed Win8 did you pre-format the drive or let Win8 installer do its thing during the installation?
When you boot OS X and open a terminal, type in diskutil list and hit enter, what do you see for the Win8 drive?
If you let Windows format and partition the drive, for Legacy BIOS on the P55 board there should be 2 base partitions named System Reserved and Windows NTFS. It is the System Reserved partition that contains the boot files. This partition is normally hidden in Windows and does not have a letter designation in Windows Explorer.

Try selecting the System Reserved partition at the Clover/Chimera boot screen to boot Win8.

Unfortunately The only choice other than Snow Leopard is called UNTITTLED. It is the Windows Installation. Clicking on that brings up a Windows error screen that says use the Win install disk. Win Install Disk says it can't repair.

vienna01 said:

Unfortunately The only choice other than Snow Leopard is called UNTITTLED. It is the Windows Installation. Clicking on that brings up a Windows error screen that says use the Win install disk. Win Install Disk says it can't repair.

Click to expand...

Boot OS X, open terminal, type

diskutil list

hit enter. Command+shift+4, put the pointer on the terminal screen, tap spacebar, hit enter.

Post the screenshot.

If you remove/disconnect the OS X drive will the Windows drive boot without problems?

I reinstalled Win 10. on the P55a-UD3.
I could install 10.6.3 on the P55a, on a separate physical disk, but am now afraid of clobbering the WIN 10 installation.

Any way to safely install OSX on the P55a without messing up the Windows system?

vienna01 said:

I reinstalled Win 10. on the P55a-UD3.
I could install 10.6.3 on the P55a, on a separate physical disk, but am now afraid of clobbering the WIN 10 installation.

Any way to safely install OSX on the P55a without messing up the Windows system?

Click to expand...

Disconnect the Windows drive totally. Otherwise, just disconnect the SATA cable at either end (I usually disconnect at the drive).

Going Bald said:

Disconnect the Windows drive totally. Otherwise, just disconnect the SATA cable at either end (I usually disconnect at the drive).

Click to expand...

Yes, I will do that.
I need to pull the p55a box out of an awkward place.

I will however install 10.6.3 on it and add the 8400 info[from EFIstudio] to the boot.plist file in hopes of getting acceleration to work on 10.6 on the P55a.I will also try to upgrade to 10.6.8 on the P55a.
I will also look to see if I can get UNIBEAST[several versions] to work on the P55a box at 10.6.8.

I believe I will have a total solution if I can create a UNIBEAST installer for 10.10 or 10.11 using the P55a.
EXCEPT:
Will the UNIBEAST version I create on a P55a with the 8400 install OSX on the Z87X?
or Will the different video cards make using that UNIBEAST installer not work on the Z87X?

Will the UNIBEAST version I create on a P55a with the 8400 install OSX on the Z87X?

Click to expand...

Yes

Will the different video cards make using that UNIBEAST installer not work on the Z87X?

Click to expand...

No, doesn't make any difference what kind of graphics you use to make it.

Folks think that the fact that I don't have video acceleration should not prohibit Unibeast from working. Yesterday I tried again to run Unibeast on the Z87X that has 10.6.3, without acceleration, installed. The result was the same as previously. I tried with 2 versions of Unibeast.

The Unibeast step where I clicked upon a USB to select it as a target worked. The step where I clicked on a version of OSX to indicate what Unibeast builds, did not work. Clicking on any of the icons did nothing. In case Unibeast looks to verify that an installer is present and complete, I checked the contents of Mavericks, Yosemite and El Capitain install files, which were on my desktop. They seemed complete. Each had the installESD file among others.

I will now install SL on my P55a PC* and try to use Unibeast to create an OSX installer there. Previously I had tried that on the P55a, without acceleration, with the same result as on the Z87X-did not work. This time I am going to concentrate on getting acceleration working first on the P55a with 10.6.3 or with 10.6.8. The P55a has a 8400 video card, so that should be easier that trying to get acceleration working on the Z87X which has a built-in video on the motherboard and can have a MSI r-5770. I will also try to get 10.6.8 installed on the P55a. I will try upgrading to 10.6.7 as an intermediate because some folks report that may make the 10.6.8 install easier than going directly to 10.6.8.
*This PC has Win 10 installed on a separate disk from the disk I will use for OSX. I will disconnect the HDD with Win 10 before installing OSX. I will continue to use an iboot disk to avoid problems using Multibeast.


Any suggestions to get acceleration working on the P55a/8400?
I will use EFI studio to generate the string to be added to the P55a's Extra's boot.plist file.
As before, many thanks for help I have received on the forum.

vienna01 said:

The Unibeast step where I clicked upon a USB to select it as a target worked. The step where I clicked on a version of OSX to indicate what Unibeast builds, did not work. Clicking on any of the icons did nothing. In case Unibeast looks to verify that an installer is present and complete, I checked the contents of Mavericks, Yosemite and El Capitain install files, which were on my desktop. They seemed complete. Each had the installESD file among others.

Click to expand...

"Mavericks, Yosemite and El Capitain install files, which were on my desktop."

And there is probably the main problem - they must be in the Applications Folder for UniBeast to find them.