Hi,
I'm showing you a way to fix the 'blinking cursor' problem after Chameleon2 installation on a dual boot windows7/ Vista + OsX system.
I've read a solution posted here:
http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,311.msg1693.html#msg1693but unfortunately that did not work for me, basically (i think) because repairing win7 puts back it's own
first stage boot loader, replacing CML2's 'boot0, preventing CML2 to be in charge.
So, if you are still having problems of this nature, continue reading.
The problem: After win7 install, Chameleon2's installer (or the manual installation via fdisk for that matter) fails to write/ preserve the disk's signature to the MBR.
This results in:
a - either not being able to boot into Win7, because fdisk (via manual CML2 install) may have zapped the disk's signature with zeros,
b - or (via CML2's installer) failing to write CML2's boot0 (due to 'resource busy' error) into disk's MBR,
in a blinking cursor when OsX partition is active.
How do we go about it:1 - Install windows7.
2 - Install Osx. Boot into OsX using some sort of Boot132 CD.
3 - Run CML2 installer. It says everything is fine, but it ain't.
It has not written its 'boot0' into the disk's MBR.
3 - Copy the disk's signature win7 installer has written.
4 - Fix CML2's 'boot0' before writing it to the MBR.
Below is a small script that has fixed if for me.
#!/bin/bash
#
# Fix MBR after Windows7/Vista installation on a MBR disk!
#
# Why?: Chameleon2 'boot0' needs the disk signature,
# for Windows 7's bootmgr to work properly else it refuses to 'boot' :=)!
#
# When to Use?
# After failing Chameleon installation, with blinking cursor symptoms on reboot.
# AniV, July 24, 2009, for VoodooLabs.
#
# WARNING1:
# Make sure the disk's state is the one after Win7 Installation! else
# weird things will happen. We need to grab the MBR after Win7 install.
#
# NOTE: I'm assuming disk0 here! Adapt as required.
#
# 1 - Read partition MBR after Win7 installation!
dd if=/dev/rdisk0 of=disk0_win7mbr count=1
# 2 - Copy Win7 disk's signature to a file
dd if=disk0_win7mbr of=disk0_win7sig bs=1 skip=440 count=4
# 3 - Copy 'boot0' to 'boot0_win7sig' (boot0 with disk0 win7's signature)
cp boot0 boot0_win7sig
# 4 - Merge 'disk0_win7sig' onto 'boot0_win7sig'. Note 'boot0' length=512!
dd if=disk0_win7sig of=boot0_win7sig bs=1 seek=440 count=4 conv=notrunc
#
# You can inspect the boot0 you're about to write! Use 0xED hex editor.
# 5 - Write Chameleon2 Partitionloader code into MBR
# this will install 'boot0 + win7sig' and restore disk's signature!
#
fdisk -f boot0_win7sig -u -y /dev/rdisk0
#
# Make sure your OsX partition is active and reboot.
#
Please be careful, this may render your system unbootbale. Make sure you understand it first.
Hope it can help someone. Cheers.