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Zehava · Mar 28, 2009, 05:06 AM

After trying to istall Windows XP using Bootcamp, for some reason now both Windows and MacOS don't start. There is no partition, when starting while holding the "Option" key, there is only one disk visible and it is labeled Windows. The Leoparad startup disk does not give an option to re-install Leopard or to recover anything.I am running: a MacBook white 160GB HD, 2GB RAM, 2.4GHZ MacOS Leopard 10.5.6I would appreciate any help

AKcrab · Mar 28, 2009, 05:38 AM

I would guess that you installed windows on the wrong partition...

This wiped out your mac information and left you with a non-functional windows install.

Unfortunately if this is the case, your only option is to start from scratch with the disks that came with your MacBook.

Maflynn · Mar 28, 2009, 08:22 AM

As AKcrab stated you probably overwrote your OSX partition with XP. You'll need repartition the drive and reinstall OSX. Hope you have recent backups because it appears that your information is lost.

Zehava · Mar 28, 2009, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by AKcrab

I would guess that you installed windows on the wrong partition...

If what you said was right, I would have a working windows partition, and an empty (windows-formatted) partition.

The thing is, I never went through with installing windows, and my computer only shows me one partition.
I thought of what you said as an option, so I inserted the startup disk, but when I'm suppost to select a place to install leopard, it gives me no options.

thanks for the help so far!

ghporter · Mar 28, 2009, 09:36 AM

You may be just stuck in the "middle" of the Windows install. Run the installer and get Windows running, and see if finishing the install fixes the issue. It can't hurt, as long as you make DOUBLE sure you install it on the "C:" partition that you should see.

auto_immune · Mar 28, 2009, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by Zehava

If what you said was right, I would have a working windows partition, and an empty (windows-formatted) partition.

The thing is, I never went through with installing windows, and my computer only shows me one partition.
I thought of what you said as an option, so I inserted the startup disk, but when I'm suppost to select a place to install leopard, it gives me no options.
thanks for the help so far!

If a re-install of OS X is required, you may need to boot to the install disk and access the Utilities menu to reformat the partition.

Spheric Harlot · Mar 28, 2009, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by Zehava

If what you said was right, I would have a working windows partition, and an empty (windows-formatted) partition.

The thing is, I never went through with installing windows, and my computer only shows me one partition.
I thought of what you said as an option, so I inserted the startup disk, but when I'm suppost to select a place to install leopard, it gives me no options.

A couple of incorrect assumptions: You're ignoring the formatting.

If you did what we suspect you tried to do,

You tried to install Windows onto a Mac-formatted partition. This destroyed the Mac OS X install and installed an unbootable Windows zombie onto a partition it is unable to boot from.

The second partition is a clean Windows-formatted partition, which doesn't show up in the Mac OS X installer because you can't actually install Mac OS X on it, since it isn't Mac-formatted.