Black screen after automatic update in Boot Camp with Windows XP
Traditional fixes for this issue are ineffective.
[Monday, May 19th]
Several users are experiencing an issue under Boot Camp wherein after installing Windows or running an automatic update in Windows (either upon shutdown or otherwise), the subsequent reboot gets stuck with a black screen. When this issue occurs, the user cannot boot from the Leopard DVD by holding "C" at startup, and holding "options" at boot does not display the boot menu. Traditional workarounds including resetting the PRAM and SMC appear ineffective. For some users, the computer seems to boot normally in Windows, but the user cannot see anything on the display.
This is a known issue with an unsupported version of Windows running under Boot Camp, and so far there are no fixes for it once it happens, as described by this Apple Knowledge Base article.. The only advice from Apple is preventative, suggesting to "...check [the] version of Microsoft Windows carefully before attempting to install it via Boot Camp".
It is recommended to always keep Boot Camp updated to the latest version, and avoid windows system upgrades (such as the recently released service pack 3 for Windows XP) without first ensuring they work for others who have your specific computer model. Boot Camp version 2.1 is purported to support the recently released Service Pack 3, but users are still experiencing issues.
If you are experiencing this problem and do not have recent backups of your system, it is highly recommended to take your computer in to an Apple authorized repair center, as home remedies may involve reformatting the hard drive. However, if you do have a recent backup then these home remedies should work:
Use Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection to log into Windows and roll back the recent upgrade If this problem occurred after a Windows system update, then rolling back using a windows restore point should fix the problem. This fix requires that you have Remote Desktop enabled in Windows. To do this, follow the instructions outlined in these articles (unfortunately, if this is not enabled then this fix will not work):
Windows XP Windows Vista Using another computer (either a mac with Microsoft Remote Desktop, or a WinXP/Vista computer), connect to the mac by entering its IP address and logging in. Then use Microsoft's system restore points to roll back to the point before you installed the updates. If you are unable to connect using Remote Desktop or if upon reboot the problem still persists, then you will have to remove the windows partition in order to use your computer. Delete the Windows partition and/or format the hard drive The following does not fix the problem while keeping computer's data intact; however, it does get the computer running again. With a Time Machine backup or a clone of your hard drive, restoring your OS X install should work fine, but the Windows installation will not be preserved. As reported at OnMac, when you run a boot loader it can modify the Mac-native GUID partition scheme to a mode that windows can use. According to the article this can cause the main boot drive to not be recognized by the OS X installer. Updates to Windows that modify the boot loaders so Boot Camp cannot properly load or read partitions could very well be involved in the problems. Users have found that deleting the windows partition will enable the computer to recapture the hard drive and let the computer boot from the install DVD. To do this, follow these steps:- Start up the computer in Target Disk mode by pressing "T" at startup.
- Connect it to another Mac using a firewire cable.
- Open Disk Utility on the computer and select the affected drive.
- Delete the windows partition.
- Optionally, you should be able to wipe the hard drive from here.
This solution will bypass the problem where the computer is immediately booting to the windows partition, but unfortunately the computer will still not be able to see the Mac OS partition.
To restore a cloned backup, attach the source of the clone to the second computer with the affected hard drive still mounted, and restore the source to the main drive (the specifics of this procedure will depend on how you've cloned the system and the program you used in the first place).
To restore from a Time Machine backup, boot the computer from the Leopard DVD by inserting the disk and holding command-options-shift-delete at startup (if the standard "C" key doesn't work). This will force the computer to bypass the main boot drive and search for another one. It should find and boot off the DVD, and you should then be able to format the drive and restore it from an attached Time Machine backup drive.
Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
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