Reinstalling windows on previously working DUAL boot system

[TheCipher]

Hi,

I completed my build back in Dec 2012 and everything has been running smooth. While I was able to get through the build at the time, its been a while and my memory is very bad.....

I'm sure this is a simple problem, I'm just completely clueless as what I need to do.


Ok, so today I go to load my windows as I normally do and windows was just behaving strangely out of the blue, not recognizing my video card and no mouse/keyboard at all. I couldn't do anything. i tired some of the repair options from the Windows 8.1 disc, nothing helped and I got some start up error that wouldn't let me boot into safe mode. I mostly use my windows for a few games and a few windows specific programs, so I decided to reinstall windows. I figured it would be faster.

I have Mac and Windows on separate SSD drives
I disconnected my Mac drive first so the computer would boot directly into windows and installed windows 7 (I previously had 8.1 on there but since I was reinstalling and hate 8.1 I went back to 7)
I got windows 7 install successfully, however now at the chimera boot screen its not showing Windows 7, only Mac and "Windows NTFS". When i try to click on Windows NTFS I just get a black screen and says "BOOTMGR is missing. press ctrl, alt, Del to restart"


So my question is..... how do I get windows 7 to show up on the chimera bootloader and start correctly?
I realize this is probably very simple, but as I said I can't remember what to do from here. I've searched around, but not sure what to look for


All help appreciated, thanks
Jim

 

[carpentryplus25]

Hi,

I completed my build back in Dec 2012 and everything has been running smooth. While I was able to get through the build at the time, its been a while and my memory is very bad.....

I'm sure this is a simple problem, I'm just completely clueless as what I need to do.


Ok, so today I go to load my windows as I normally do and windows was just behaving strangely out of the blue, not recognizing my video card and no mouse/keyboard at all. I couldn't do anything. i tired some of the repair options from the Windows 8.1 disc, nothing helped and I got some start up error that wouldn't let me boot into safe mode. I mostly use my windows for a few games and a few windows specific programs, so I decided to reinstall windows. I figured it would be faster.

I have Mac and Windows on separate SSD drives
I disconnected my Mac drive first so the computer would boot directly into windows and installed windows 7 (I previously had 8.1 on there but since I was reinstalling and hate 8.1 I went back to 7)
I got windows 7 install successfully, however now at the chimera boot screen its not showing Windows 7, only Mac and "Windows NTFS". When i try to click on Windows NTFS I just get a black screen and says "BOOTMGR is missing. press ctrl, alt, Del to restart"


So my question is..... how do I get windows 7 to show up on the chimera bootloader and start correctly?
I realize this is probably very simple, but as I said I can't remember what to do from here. I've searched around, but not sure what to look for


All help appreciated, thanks
Jim

You need to make sure that the drive format for windows is GUID partition table and format msdos fat do this from disk utility from the working mac installation then shutdown with the windows disk in the drive unplug all drives except the windows hard drive start the windows installation and reformat the drive to ntfs but don't change the partition table continue with the installation
follow the first post in this guide for more detail instruction prolly should start from scratch for faster results
http://www.tonymacx86.com/multi-booting/96000-guide-dual-booting-mountain-lion-windows-8-a-10.html

 

[TheCipher]

yes I came across this link and started to do as it instructs, but I was unable to format the windows drive from disc utility, it told me the drive was locked?

So instead I just tried to reinstall windows 7 anyway. But now after installing windows 7, I can't even get the chimera boot screen at all. I made my mac SSD drive my 1st boot device in BIOS but it just loads into windows eveyr time and bypasses chimera.
So the only way I can get into mac is to disconnect my windows SSD. So I can't format it through disc utility.


Sorry to be such a noob.

 

[Shiitaki]

First, you should know you can boot the unibeast usb stick and use diskutil from the drop down Utilities in the OSX installer.

I would connect the drive you want to boot first to the data port 0, then the next drive to a higher number. This helps motherboard bios to automatically figure it out. After verify the drives are connected as mentioned, you can rerun the boot loader from Multibeast. Alternatively, and this is kinda nice from a reinstall perspective. You can search the forums for the EFI boot loader guide. What you need to fix your problem is to remove the active designation from the windows drive and set it for the OSX drive.

 

[TheCipher]

Thanks for your help guys I seemed to have it up and running again.
i could have saved myself a ton of time if my memory wasn't so bad and not so noobish. When i was making my mac SSD the 1st drive in bios, i was doing it on the top part and not the bit lower down where it asks for the drive order (didn't notice it)

Thanks again
Jim

 

[carpentryplus25]

Thanks for your help guys I seemed to have it up and running again.
i could have saved myself a ton of time if my memory wasn't so bad and not so noobish. When i was making my mac SSD the 1st drive in bios, i was doing it on the top part and not the bit lower down where it asks for the drive order (didn't notice it)

Thanks again
Jim

Glad you got it and your welcome
Carpentry

 

[TheCipher]

Hi again.... the noob is back


I seem to be having a problem with my BIOS not saving my settings. When I make my MAC SSD drive 1st, it will reboot into chimera and load mac automatically. But on the next restart, it puts my windows SSD back to the first and boots into windows.
I reinstalled Chimera, didn't help.

Any idea?

 

[Shiitaki]

Many BIOS's inconveniently reset their boot order if you connect and disconnect drives. For this reason you need the drive you want to boot first connected on sata port 0, or 1 if there is no 0. On newer boards this is usually a white connector. Then you won't have to worry about setting it in the bios, because you will be working with the default behavior.

Now for the other problem you may have. The active flag may not be set to the same partition as your boot loader. Or more specifically, the Windwos drive might be set, and the OSX drive not.

Just some tips to check.