Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun!

I’m one of those people who ‘cross-dresses’ when it comes to computers. I have Apples and I put Windows on them as well as Leopard. Now this is out of design and necessity. I work very much in the Microsoft space but love Everything Apple – both hardware and software. So it is no surprise I have been using Windows 7 for many months. I have only installed it using Bootcamp on my Laptop a Mac Pro 17”. All was well both 32 bit and latterly 64 bit.

Come the great day I swiftly upped it to RTM – no problems. And all has been cool.

Now during this time I left my iMac well alone – carried on with Leopard and Vista..

Until last night when I thought it would be ‘nice’ to move it on to Windows 7.

All went well until the final part of the Win 7 install and Mr Blue screen arrived . Seems the standard Nividia driver supplied by MS on the Win 7 DVD kills an iMac’s GT7300.

The solution is as follows:

Install and Blue screen!
Re-boot but from the Win 7 install disk – seems to work if you hold alt on boot up and select the disk to boot from!
When you get into the Windows installer, click past the language selection. Then click "Repair your computer".
Windows will scan for installations and prompt you with a list. Select your "C" drive and click Next.
You should be presented with a windows titled "System Recovery Options". At the bottom of this list you should see "Command Prompt". Select the command prompt.
When the console opens, you can delete the offending driver using the following command:
DEL C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\NVLDDMKM.SYS
Close the command prompt window and click the Restart button. This time, boot from your hard disk. You will complete the install with no Blue screen.

Having done this go to the Nivida web site and download the GT 7 series drivers for Windows 7! Install, re-boot and all is well!!

Well no, it is all good until you realise that you still need to install all the Bootcamp drivers….

These right off your new install and back comes Mr Blue Screen…..

So repeat 1-7 install your newly downloaded drivers and off you go – after a re-boot….

And now to solve the missing sound problem again!!!

posted on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 1:05 AM

Feedback

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 8/13/2009 1:10 AM Ryan Taylor

Windows 7 has worked totally fine on my iMac, everything worked out of the box on install!

# also works for problems with the new 27" iMac 11/4/2009 4:09 AM Jared

I had the same problem with the new 27" iMac I just bought, and following these steps worked ! Except, for step 6 I had to erase ati*.sys since the broken driver in this case is for the ATI card in the new iMac.

Thanks!

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 11/5/2009 2:54 PM Kim

DEL C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ati*.sys
worked for me!

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 11/7/2009 7:56 AM Josh

The solution for the ATI graphics card worked great.

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 11/11/2009 2:55 AM JWP

I tried the solution and it blackscreend before I get a chance to use the repair function on the W7 Disc.
any Ideas on how I can get rid of the ATI driver that is mucking things up?

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 11/19/2009 12:13 PM David

I have the 27" and I've tried this fix, but while I'm in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS, there is no ATI* files. I have the radeon 4850 card, what would the files name be?

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 11/20/2009 6:42 PM Vatz

Thank you sooo much
DEL C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ati*.sys
DEL C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\nv*.sys
will work fine
if you are not sure what card you have

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 11/22/2009 8:38 PM Frederik

I have the radeon 4850 card a's well, what would the files name be?

Any help??

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 11/24/2009 5:45 AM allen

DEL C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ati*.sys
WORKED FINE FOR ME!!! THANKS SO MUCH!!!!

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 11/30/2009 4:29 PM Apple Chick

I am in the same boat as you. I am a Microsoft developer so I am stuck working in the Microsoft world, but I agree Apple is far superior. Thanks for you post I decided to move to Windows 7 in my iMac tonight and I was having this same issue. I am now successfully running Windows 7 on my Mac!

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 12/1/2009 10:26 AM MacBetsy

I have tried all suggestions as stated above. NONE of them work on my new imac. No joy at all; I am about to pack the whole thing up and go back to the apple store with it. Such a disappointment. I really need windows to run Microstation and Rhino on it otherwise my profession is non-existant! Has anyone found any other drivers handy to delete?
Deleting ati*.sys, nv*.sys, NVLDDMKM.SYS and another (can't remember now) all haven't worked when I have been in the command prompt (back and forth!)
Any more thoughts?
Desperate and having lost a day of my life to this,
Elizabeth

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 12/1/2009 10:35 AM MacBetsy

p.s. when I have completed doing
DEL C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\nv*.sys
in the command prompt and restart/reboot the imac it comes up with the following error message:

""Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert your windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings, and then click "next."
3. Click "Repair your computer."
If you do not have this disc..........assistance.
File: \Windows\system32\DRIVERS\nvstor.sys
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: Windows failed to load because a critical system driver is missing, or corrupt.""

What a lovely thing to see after a day of trying to install the thing. Any ideas? I have completely ran out!
E

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 12/5/2009 9:19 PM JD

Tks - extremely helpful

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 12/7/2009 1:43 AM Artman64

Thanks SOOOOO much! This problem really stressed me out yesterday, but I'm a happy camper today!

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 12/11/2009 12:59 AM pegacat

You are a God. Many thanks!
DEL C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ati*.sys worked well on 27" iMac

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 12/14/2009 10:17 PM tash

spent a couple of hours trying to figure this out, i went into the command prompt, did the ati* and nv* commands and it fixed it! HOORAY!

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 12/19/2009 1:25 AM Nils Myklebust

Instead of booting into windows and use DEL C:..... i booted back into OS X, browsed to www.apple.com, typed NTFS into the search box and found and installed the free NTFS-3G. Now I have read/write access to the Windows NTFS formated disk and can update it from Mac OS X.
Nice. I need that anyway later so this is no cost.
This is however only part of the solution. If you have a wireless keyboard or mouse these might be some places to start:
http://blog.wedigital.com/post/How-to-get-Apple-Magic-Mouse-Scrolling-working-in-Bootcamp.aspx
and
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10591292#10591292
I truly hope Apple will do something to make all this a little more stable.

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 12/20/2009 2:10 PM Andree-Ann

Worked like a charm on my 27"iMac

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 12/21/2009 5:46 AM Cliff

Worked great! Thanks so much!

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 12/21/2009 1:26 PM Igor

Thanks this worked like a charm. I have the 27in Duo Core iMac with ATI card, and I ran the ati*.sys command.

Exactly what I was looking for.

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 12/23/2009 3:14 PM Matty Saurus

If you are finding that the driver is not in \..System32\Drivers\
try looking in the following DriverStore locations. I was successul after removing ATIKMDAG.SYS from the ATI folder(below) on a 4670 imac, however NVLDDMKM.SYS exists in 3 folders on my install. Perhaps someone with the nVidia model can confirm which folder(s) it needs to be removed from. The folder names have the same numeric string on two different test computers installing from the same Windows disk, however I'm not familiar with how this is generated and I imagine it could be different. Hope this helps.
ATI:
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\atiilhag.inf_x86_neutral_7d512c02e72ebd25\
Nvidia (3 locations):
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_disp.inf_x86_neutral_41aad7f8b629e0a1\
or
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_disp.inf_x86_neutral_912a79c3b96ee7ea\
or
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_lh.inf_x86_neutral_bbe628dbdd6fce25\

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 1/2/2010 4:55 AM Matt

So then how do you get the correct drivers????

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 1/2/2010 6:20 AM Jaho

I try al those solutions but it doesn,t work for Windows7 X64.
There is a better solution: You need a second monitor and and a Mini displayPort to DVI(VGA) adapter.
You can install windows7 and the screen stay on the second monitor. After installing the bootcamp drivers the you can disconnect the second monitor.

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 1/3/2010 12:40 AM Hutoa

I have an iMac 27 late 2009 and have got Windows 7 working using the above. When doing the repair windows step it didn't work asking me to provide a repair disk or something. I then clicked install driver, browed to the C:\Windows\System32\Drivers folder and then renamed the ati*.sys file (only one) to .renamed

Rebooted and up came the finalising setup screen.

Happy days - never give up!

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 1/3/2010 12:43 AM Hutoa

Forgot to say - Windows 7 x64!!! Once installed, pop in the Snow Leopard OS DVD and run setup to get all the drivers working.

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 1/9/2010 6:00 PM sstrangee

This worked for me on 32-bit windows. Thanks!

Deleted the ati*.sys and nv*.sys in the Drivers directory.

Thanks.

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 1/12/2010 8:06 AM liug

Thank YOU !!! yor great for me !!!

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 1/14/2010 12:35 AM PnX

Thank you!!! It works!!

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 1/21/2010 7:09 PM rolex

Thank you!

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 1/22/2010 7:00 PM Ryan

Renamed the driver ATI driver just like the guy 6 post from this.. follow his steps and it works... THANKS SO MUCH!!!!
Good luck

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 1/26/2010 9:23 AM daniel sharp

Please help me... I deleted the ati driver to get on but now my video card won't work, when I reinstall it I get black screen!

I really need the video card. How do I get it back?

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 1/27/2010 9:58 AM Konrad

I've installed the firmware upgrade from Apple to no avail. I still get this BSOD. I tried renaming the nvl*.sys and then I get the machine up without any driver, but no matter what driver I use ( BootCamp 3.0, BootCamp 3.1, newest Nvidia driver) it always gives me this BSOD, damn I'm pissed.

I'm thinking about giving them a call.

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 1/29/2010 8:02 AM Levi Johnson

Windows 7 64-bit here. Had black screen, did the DEL command for ati and nv drivers, and when I rebooted again, I was able to setup windows! Thanks !

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 2/5/2010 10:45 PM lostnfound

I got so excited to have found an answer to my problems that i mistakenly deleted all the drivers....:-(

What do i do now?

# re: Take an iMac and Windows 7 RTM – and have some fun…Blue screen fun! 2/5/2010 11:55 PM lostnfound

worked it out...thank so much for the fix.

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