brockbr
6th April 2006, 03:04 PM
iMac 20" - 1Gb RAM, 128mb x1600
1) Recovering from the XOM.efi install on my iMac.
Before working with the XOM solution, I used Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/13260) to make a bootable Firewire copy of my drive. Once I verified that I could boot from it, I went through the same process as everyone else to get XOM.efi working. You end up with 2 extra partitions. More on this in a second.
2) BootCamp was released
3) I did a software update to 10.4.6. This went fine
4) Per the BootCamp instructions, I tried to update my Firmware. On restarting the machine and getting the power light flashing, it would give a tone, then just boot into OSX. Come to find out, the problem is due to the partitions not being what the Firmware update expects. More precisely, it is because the boot device is using MBR instead of GUID partition mappings.
I researched this problem and found some info, but it didn't work for my iMac - I ended up with a no-boot situation. The thread here (http://forum.onmac.net/showthread.php?t=726) might work for others, but I followed it to the letter and it didn't work for me.
Given this, I thought I'd just boot from my clean backup and use Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) to clone the Firewire disk back to my hard disc.
Using CCC, I cloned everything back and the machine started booting normally again.
BUT
The firmware would still not install. The problem ended up being that the partition was still set to MBR instead of GUID - You can see this using Disk Utilities/Select the drive/Information. If the partition type starts with anything but "GUID_" (ie. "FDisk_"), it's the wrong kind.
To fix this, simply delete all partitions, then ERASE the single partition on the drive. When you Erase it, the new partition will have the proper GUID type.
Once I discovered this and fixed it, I repeated the CCC process to get my install of OSX back from the firewire.
5) Install Firmware update - This worked as expected after fixing the partition.
6) Use BootCamp to create new WindowsXP partition. Works flawless - Nice Job! Only took about a minute.
7) Use BootCamp to start the installer from the XP CD
8) Once XP was done, per the BootCamp instructions, I installed the driver CD.
iMac 20" Notes:
a) I have the mini DVI connector with a 20" wide screen external flatpanel plugged in. I use this for dual monitors. Under XP, it sees the monitor and allows me to enable it, but the monitor never shows an image. Oddly enough, even Windows thinks it's there because it allows me to move a window off the primary to the secondary - I just can't see the result ;)
b) The Apple BlueTooth driver presents itself and a USB device for some reason.
MacBook Pro 2.16Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 7,200rpm 100gb drive, 256mb x1600 ATI
Since I hadn't installed the XOM solution, this was MUCH, MUCH easier to install. I followed the BootCamp instructions, and everything progressed as advertised.
MBP Notes:
a) To my surprise, my BlueTooth mouse (Kensington Pilot Mouse) worked *during* the Window XP install (prior to drivers being installed). This made me think that Apple may have some low level support for the BlueTooth pairing/interface that presents itself to XP in a different way - Maybe just as a simple USB device.
b) BlueTooth mouse acts super-funny(tm) when you try to update the mouse profile to something different. I tried to do this because XP didn't see the mouse as having a scroll wheel. When I tried to go through the bluetooth repairing process, I broke the mouse to the point that nothing about it would work until I booted back into OSX, and back to XP. I beleive Apple is doing something funky because the mouse always shows up as a USB device.
General
1) OSX boots about 2x as fast as XP
2) DirectX support is damn good under XP. I fired up FarCry, put all the settings on high, and was greeted with a flawless, high frame rate result. Nicely Done!
3) XP is VERY quick on both the iMac and MBP, but OSX feels better (subjective, I know).
All in all, I am very impressed with Apple's solution.
1) Recovering from the XOM.efi install on my iMac.
Before working with the XOM solution, I used Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/13260) to make a bootable Firewire copy of my drive. Once I verified that I could boot from it, I went through the same process as everyone else to get XOM.efi working. You end up with 2 extra partitions. More on this in a second.
2) BootCamp was released
3) I did a software update to 10.4.6. This went fine
4) Per the BootCamp instructions, I tried to update my Firmware. On restarting the machine and getting the power light flashing, it would give a tone, then just boot into OSX. Come to find out, the problem is due to the partitions not being what the Firmware update expects. More precisely, it is because the boot device is using MBR instead of GUID partition mappings.
I researched this problem and found some info, but it didn't work for my iMac - I ended up with a no-boot situation. The thread here (http://forum.onmac.net/showthread.php?t=726) might work for others, but I followed it to the letter and it didn't work for me.
Given this, I thought I'd just boot from my clean backup and use Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) to clone the Firewire disk back to my hard disc.
Using CCC, I cloned everything back and the machine started booting normally again.
BUT
The firmware would still not install. The problem ended up being that the partition was still set to MBR instead of GUID - You can see this using Disk Utilities/Select the drive/Information. If the partition type starts with anything but "GUID_" (ie. "FDisk_"), it's the wrong kind.
To fix this, simply delete all partitions, then ERASE the single partition on the drive. When you Erase it, the new partition will have the proper GUID type.
Once I discovered this and fixed it, I repeated the CCC process to get my install of OSX back from the firewire.
5) Install Firmware update - This worked as expected after fixing the partition.
6) Use BootCamp to create new WindowsXP partition. Works flawless - Nice Job! Only took about a minute.
7) Use BootCamp to start the installer from the XP CD
8) Once XP was done, per the BootCamp instructions, I installed the driver CD.
iMac 20" Notes:
a) I have the mini DVI connector with a 20" wide screen external flatpanel plugged in. I use this for dual monitors. Under XP, it sees the monitor and allows me to enable it, but the monitor never shows an image. Oddly enough, even Windows thinks it's there because it allows me to move a window off the primary to the secondary - I just can't see the result ;)
b) The Apple BlueTooth driver presents itself and a USB device for some reason.
MacBook Pro 2.16Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 7,200rpm 100gb drive, 256mb x1600 ATI
Since I hadn't installed the XOM solution, this was MUCH, MUCH easier to install. I followed the BootCamp instructions, and everything progressed as advertised.
MBP Notes:
a) To my surprise, my BlueTooth mouse (Kensington Pilot Mouse) worked *during* the Window XP install (prior to drivers being installed). This made me think that Apple may have some low level support for the BlueTooth pairing/interface that presents itself to XP in a different way - Maybe just as a simple USB device.
b) BlueTooth mouse acts super-funny(tm) when you try to update the mouse profile to something different. I tried to do this because XP didn't see the mouse as having a scroll wheel. When I tried to go through the bluetooth repairing process, I broke the mouse to the point that nothing about it would work until I booted back into OSX, and back to XP. I beleive Apple is doing something funky because the mouse always shows up as a USB device.
General
1) OSX boots about 2x as fast as XP
2) DirectX support is damn good under XP. I fired up FarCry, put all the settings on high, and was greeted with a flawless, high frame rate result. Nicely Done!
3) XP is VERY quick on both the iMac and MBP, but OSX feels better (subjective, I know).
All in all, I am very impressed with Apple's solution.