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The Windows 7 / iMac Black Screen of Death

from Windows 7 News & Tips by Mike Halsey

Blogger and Internet marketer Vance Sova problems with Apple Mac users installing Windows 7 on their computers. The problem that is being called the “Black Screen of Death” is, like the blue screen of death (BSOD) in Windows, irreconcilable and the only way to get rid of it is to restart the computer.
The problem occurs when installing Windows 7 using Boot Camp and some users have had the problem repeatedly according to tech site Nexus404.
The blogger contacted his local Apple store and Apple support but apparently this got him nowehere, though in fairness you can’t expect Apple to understand everything about the Windows 7 install process. Extensive testing at Apple either didn’t show up the black screen of death, or they didn’t consider it a big enough problem.
He describes the process as…

That hope was frustrated and the black screen of death greeted me after I got up. Turning the computer off and on again got me to a screen with a headline saying “Windows Error Recovery”. No matter which instructions on that screen I followed, and there are 3 safe modes and one saying “Start Windows Normally”, I always ended up at the same place in the loop: the black screen of death.
Starting everything over I made doubly sure I followed the instructions not only religiously but like a first class meticulous monk. After all I could have made some mistake, however small, the first time. Well, I ended up staring at the black screen of death again on my shiny new Mac with no Windows 7 installed and a bit of disappointment and frustration creeping in.
I tried one more time with the black screen gaping at me again and the frustration and disappointment level rising. I went to the PC store where I bought the Windows 7 and asked them to exchange it. They gave me another disk and also checked the one I brought on their computer to see if it was defective. It worked.
I did the installation process with another brand new disk with Windows 7 Ultimate on it. Black screen of death again resulted on the Mac. I repeated the process again like a fool doing the same thing and expecting a different result. I really wanted it to work. I spent a lot of time and money on this and all I was getting was a stupid black Mac computer screen of death.
When I purchased the Mac computer I also bought the extended warranty with Apple Care. Before I had the Windows 7 exchanged I described the installation problems to a person at Apple Care over the phone. I was told that trying a different installation disk was a good idea and that they had no other suggestions other than that. Well, that idea with replacing the disk was mine. They didn’t help at all.

Either way the problem remains unresolved with no sign of a fix on the horizon. If you are installing Windows 7 on an Apple Mac using boot camp and your screen goes completely black with no activity then you’ll have been hit by the black screen of death. The only advice anyone can give is to switch your computer off, restart it and try the installation again.
For Windows 7 users on PCs feeling left out or having a giggle at Apple Mac users’ expense, if you’ve not received it yet I can assure you that the blue screen of death is alive and well in Microsoft’s latest Windows operating system.
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