Ok so I have a MacBook Pro which I successfully had Parallels and Boot Camp running XP on. Then my XP install got corrupted (I know how, but it’s irrelevant and preventable in the future) and so I tried to repair it with the Recovery Console. That was the first hurdle, because it didn’t recognize my Administrator password. I got the NT Offline Password blah blah boot disk thing and used that to change some settings and was able to get into the Recovery Console. It found some damaged stuff and fixed it, happy happy joy joy, but it still wouldn’t finish loading Windows.
So I decide to back up my data through the OS X side and then reinstall Windows from the CD. I boot using the disk and it asks me if I want to try to repair my existing install. I figure it can’t hurt to let it try, since this is a more complete process than the Recovery Console thingie. Going along fine until it gets to 34 minutes remaining, and then it locks up at one of those “oh noes! this driver isn’t Windows Logo approved, are you really really super sure you want to install it??” windows. It didn’t accept input from the mouse or keyboard. Arg. (I have the trackpad disabled, btw)
I ended up finding a nifty article online about the “34 minute hiccup” which is apparently a common problem, and requires going into DOS and deleting inf files as it hangs on them. I repeated that process about 5-6 times and was able to get all the way through the windows install/repair, including the part where you enter the product key. Yay! I fixed it! I’m so proud of me!
Except it locks up as soon as it gets to the Windows XP screen (the one with the huge logo, and the little progress bar) for about 2 seconds, then reboots the computer spontaneously. ARG!!!
Ok fine, looks like I have to do an ACTUAL reinstall of Windows. I put in the CD. I restart the computer. “Press any key to boot from disk in 5 seconds…” I hit a key. Nothing happens. I hit more keys. Nada. I bang my forehead on the keyboard. Zip. 5 seconds are up, it boots into Windows, locks up, restarts. Rinse, repeat.
So here is where I’m stuck now. I need to boot from the CD so I can reinstall windows, but in order to boot from the CD I have to hit a key, and it isn’t recognizing any input from the keyboard. I really don’t want to scrap the partition and start completely over, since I’m still holding out slim hope that my data will still be there (yes, I backed it up, but it is still a pain in the ass to reinstall everything).
This brings me to you guys. Do you know a way to force the computer to boot from the CD without having to hit a key? (And yes, I tried going into the Boot Camp Assistant and choosing to install windows. That just took me to the “hit a key to boot from disk” screen and the loop progressed as usual.)