Tell me more ×
Ask Different is a question and answer site for power users of Apple hardware and software. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite

I recently had my MacBook's HDD crap out on me. The OS X partition, in particular, quit working, but my Windows 7 partition was still in decent enough shape for me to grab an image. I got a replacement drive from Western Digital and restored the Win7 partition. I am able to see it from Mac OS X and am able to select it as a boot target with the Boot Disk tool, but when I reboot the machine, I get a gray screen for a few seconds and then a fully black one with simple white text reading "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and hit any key..."

Any ideas on what I need to do to get my Windows partition back up and running? I don't want to try a reinstall from the Win7 DVD (which I believe I've misplaced anyways) and Boot Camp Assistant doesn't offer any other alternative.

share|improve this question

1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote

Sounds like a problem establishing where the bootable partition begins. Insert the Win7 dvd, boot up from it, and do a "startup disk repair" - which should not touch apps or data on the partition, but should restore the umm, boot-ability of said partition.

share|improve this answer
This sort-of worked. I am able to boot off the Win7 DVD; however, my Win7 install is not showing up in the list of repairable OS's on the box. Any idea what driver[s] I might need on a 2009 MacBook (white plastic) to get this working? – ZaMoose Apr 8 '11 at 5:20
If you do need drivers (I don't think you should...) they would be on the OS X install disk, with the Bootcamp drivers. I think Win7 allows you to insert the disk and it searches the disk for the correct drivers? Try that. But, I suspect, there is just some level of corruption here and not everything that needs to be in place is in place. Meaning... back up your data, re-install Win7 on a fresh partition, and start from scratch. Then restore your data. – Harv Apr 8 '11 at 5:28
Also - I know that's not what you wanted to do, but I think you might be out of options. You are allowed to obtain Windows 7 however you please, if you own a license to it. I would just download it and use your own, legally purchased key. I wouldn't be surprised if you could actually download it direct from Microsoft, come to think of it... – Harv Apr 8 '11 at 5:30

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.