[PB2K]

Hi, I have this iMac Intel 17" of my sister that I installed fresh with osx.6

I used bootcamp to create a 20 Gb FAT32 partition, then bootcamp gave the option of installing my 32bit XP sp3 cd (which is an original and worked fine on my macbook)

After installation of XP the computer restarted, then trouble :

the screen starts with a bright screen, then the dvd drive makes some reading sounds, after that the message :

Disk Error
Press any key to restart. (I wish, the keyboard is not recognized so I need to do a hard reset using powerbutton)

1- A restart and pressing the ALT key wont get me into the normal opening screen where I can choose my startup disk (osx or xp).

2-also, holding the mousebutton after startup wont eject the cd

3-targetmode wont start either

4- I managed to eject the XP cd (creditcard in cd slot) and replace it with a macosx.5.6 install dvd, but the iMac seems halfway stuck in the XP installation process

How can I get out of this limbo?

I am happy with your responses

[ghporter]

Turn off the computer. Hold the power button until it shuts down and let it sit for about a minute (not just a couple of seconds), and then restart it, holding down the ALT key. You should get the boot selector screen offering you OS X or Windows (incomplete of course). Select OS X and that should fix the issue. At that point, I'd use the Boot Camp Utility to remove the existing Windows partition. Let us know how that goes...

[PB2K]

thanks ghporter, I followed your instructions :

the problem is that the computer is not responding to keyboard or mouse, capslock wont light up for instance. so the ALT key is not functioning either.

there is now a x.5.6 dvd in the drive but the iMac won't autoboot from it. Is there a superpowerboot cd i can download somewhere that makes the computer at least give an option for a formatting ?

The very last option is to remove the internal harddrive and reinstall it in an external enclosure

[ghporter]

Before you go that far, I think you need to get the machine to even try booting. Have you reset the SMC? Zapped the PRAM?

[PB2K]

?? this is strange !!

ok first of all , thank you

I tried another keyboard and now bootloader shows up. I can't believe the new aluminium keyboard is not recognized, and the white pro- keyboard is.. I started to figure this out when a 1 button pro mouse was recognized while my logitech multibutton mouse wasn't..

I learn something every day

[ghporter]

The aluminum keyboard apparently needed additional firmware to work properly-my mid-2007 20" iMac needed this OUT OF THE BOX, and it CAME WITH the slim aluminum keyboard. That could have something to do with the "not recognized" issue.

Anyway, I'm glad you are booting again. I'd use the BC Utility to remove that Windows partition and just let things sit for a little while before trying again. But if changing the keyboard was what kept you from rebooting, maybe that also kept you from completing the installation in the first place... When you try again, I'd use the white keyboard. Maybe that'll make a difference.

[seanc]

Yeah, use the white keyboard and also format as an NTFS partition rather than FAT32 when you go through the install.

[PB2K]

that was the point exactly : i kept it in FAT32 and that's why i wouldn't complete the installation process !

[seanc]

XP should have installed and worked OK on FAT32, you just would have hit a problem when you tried to create a file greater than 4GB in size, such as rip an ISO of the DVD with your family photos on.

[Big Mac]

But there's no good reason to go with FAT anyway.

[ghporter]

FAT32 has a maximum partition size of 32GB when formatting using the tool in XP's installer. If your selected partition size was more than 32GB, that could have caused the installer to fail.