Boot Camp Driver Installation: Blue Screen of Death (MacBook Pro)
I have been lucky enough to get a hold of one of the new MacBook Pro’s that have just been released by Apple (Feb 2008). I’ve only just installed Boot Camp/Windows XP on it as I’ve been busy using VMWare Fusion – however now it’s time to play some games, and VMWare is no good for this.
Everything went fine with the Boot Camp installation – until I started installing the Apple drivers (after Windows XP had completed installation). After successful installation of the Bluetooth and Ethernet drivers, the Wireless Drivers started installation - and suddenly I recieved a Blue Screen of Death.
I attempted to install the drivers multiple times, however the Blue Screen of Death appeared each time at the same point in the Apple Driver installation process.
After much Googling I discovered others who were having the same problem and realised I was using my Mac Mini Leopard CD instead of my new MacBook Pro CD. It turns out that the new MacBook Pro’s have different driver versions for windows, and attempting to install the old drivers causes a Blue Screen of Death in Windows XP!
Solution: Use the correct MacBook Pro CD for installation of the Windows Drivers! Idiot!
April 17th, 2008 at 1:48 am
This post solved my issue, I was using my standard Leopard disk for Bootcamp, but with a new Laptop. After reading your post, all I could say was – Duh. Nevertheless, I didn’t think of it myself, so thanks for the post.
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:52 am
Duh! For me also, installed boot camp today–when I tried to install the apple drivers–from a drop in for 10.5 from another macpro–BSD. Thanks for the insight.
June 11th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
This post solved the issue I was having. It was strange that it was so repeatable. I was using a retail leopard disk for the drivers, not the included disk with the MBP.
Thanks!
June 13th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
That solved my problem as well. Thanks for the article.
June 19th, 2008 at 1:34 am
THANK YOU!!!! This is so silly, but I was using my Leapord CD on both my iMac and MacBook Pro, getting this error and it was driving me nuts!! DUHHHH is right hahaha
Thank you for the article.
July 11th, 2008 at 10:50 am
I too am having this problem, except I am having it with the OEM Leopard Disks that came with my new Macbook Pro. Any Ideas? This it the only copy of Leopard I have, so I cannot be mixing it up with another copy.
July 13th, 2008 at 7:31 am
That solved my problem too. I have a MBP and a MB, and using the MB Leopard DVD resulted in a windows blue screen. For the record, using Mac OS X Install Disk 1 works fine.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Another problem solved! Thanks for posting this — otherwise I would have eventually just gone nuts.
August 4th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Thank you sir, I have been going insane over this. I was told it was because of SP3, then I downgraded but same thing happened…Finally now I can finish the driver install.
PS. Im on vacation and have to wait another 10 days before I can get my hands on the MACbook PRO disks
August 7th, 2008 at 6:00 am
I use to get the same problem, I installed the drivers from Disc 1 that came with my Macbook Pro. Havn’t seen the blue screen in a while though thank god. One problem I’ve been having is the sound seems to stutter and I found out it’s my Wireless drivers. Anyone know of any good wireless drivers for the Macbook Pro besides Broadcom? Thanks!
August 9th, 2008 at 5:56 am
My Boot Camp drivers install and work fine while I’m in Windows. If I boot back into OS X and run Windows in Parallels, once I boot back into boot camp the drivers have to be reinstalled again. Any ideas why they would need to be reinstalled (EVERY TIME!), or at least how to make it stop?
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:22 pm
i got windows installed but i got the drivers burnt onto a disc. When i install the stupid fucking thing crashes to blue screen any ideas where i can get the drivers without getting the leopard macbook pro disc? (i have a macbook pro)
October 18th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
OK – this was driving me nuts for a while and I was using the Leopard install disc. I reckon my problem was the Broadcom wireless driver.
So, I downloaded the BCUpdate from Apple and tried to run that on a clean Boot camp install of WinXPSp2. That refused to run – no messages, just did not execute. I figured it may have been looking for a previous install of the Boot Camp Drivers.
I saw that the BSOD was caused by the Broadcom ethernet driver so I went into Device Manager and disabled that item. After that my Leopard Boot Camp installed like a dream.
I reckon that would work for Jamie if he can see what hardware the install is hanging on.
After that I re-enabled the Broadcom and it hung instantly – whoops. So I restarted, checked the Broadcom was still disabled and ran the BCUpdate.exe file I’d downloaded from Apple. Now, I’d tried and aborted a few installs so I was not surprised when the new Boot Camp gave me only the option to Repair an install. If you follow my steps you may get the option to do a normal install.
Anyway, my Repair worked for a while, loaded the new drivers and I rebooted at the end when asked. I then re-enabled the Broadcom and Voila! It works!
So, see what devices are causing you trouble and follow the same procedure – it should work.
October 31st, 2008 at 5:00 am
Paul’s solution worked for me too.. It seems that windows can screw macs also…
December 8th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Oh man I’m an idiot and you’re great for posting this. I too was using my off the shelf Leopard CD that I used to upgrade my iMac. I thought I was being smrt by using the official Leopard disc. I should have been more smart and used my MacBook disc. Anyway thanks for helping snap me out of it and get things running.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Paul: Thank you so much for that fix. It works great for me; I was having the same problem, and I had just lost my MBP copy of Leopard. So I guess the simplified version of instructions are:
-Create your partitiion/install XP
-Disable Broadcom under system devices
-Install Bootcamp Drivers
-Get the 2.1 update off another internet connection, then install it
-Enable Broadcom
I also had problems connecting to my Airport Extreme since XP doesn’t support WPA2 by default, but the patch can be easily downloaded (assuming you also get Window Genuine Advantage, or fool it in a suitable manner) and then the connections owrks fine.
Thanks Again!
February 17th, 2009 at 3:18 am
Thanks for this post. He has solved my problem
February 17th, 2009 at 6:34 am
Thank God for this post! I’ve lost my install disc and was getting very frustrated trying to install the ones I found. I didn’t know if the drivers I found were bad/wrong or whatever. Couldn’t install the update with out the drivers.
The final post by Chris was a godsend. Thank you!
March 1st, 2009 at 10:34 pm
tyvm Chris this solve my problem installing windows Xp on MacBook Air.
March 20th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I realize that everyone else has already said this, but thank you so much.
March 26th, 2009 at 11:51 am
I now need to do win32 dev while travelling and so I’m putting bootcamp on my Early 2008 MBP – and I had this problem. My heart jumped into my throat at the prospect of troubleshooting a BSOD on win/mac.
But this post and Paul + Chris made the fix. Thanks guys, probably saved me a weekend or more.
May 3rd, 2009 at 9:14 am
Just want to say thanks. ^^
May 10th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Yes, yes, sweet Jesus, yes.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:15 am
THANK YOU!!
August 8th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
OMG! Far out. ME TOO. I was using the Retail OS X disk and getting the blue screens. Duh. Read this, found the disk that came with the MacBook Pro in question (thought that WAS the one… but not…) and it worked just fine. Sheesh.
Interestingly, the Apple forums are full of Apple staff saying, “Not our problem. Go ask Microsoft.” *sigh*
August 13th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Paul/Chris’s amended instructions worked for me too, as the original boot disk was lost by previous user.
Disable Broadcom!
August 28th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Thanks for taking the time to write it up, certainly helped me, got wrapped up with an retail version of 10.5 rather than original media that came with the Book.
October 17th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Thank you. This ended many frustrating attempts. Disabling Broadcom seems to have done the trick. I’m grateful.
October 26th, 2009 at 6:11 am
Hi, I am still having the problem on Imac 20′. I downloaded the BCUPDATE from apple.com but it just won’t execute
I’ve spent over 10 hours with no luck…it’s very
frustrating.