Computer won't boot from CD
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From: Edwin Sineath on 30 Mar 2010 23:46 I put in a live CD to boot from, computer doesn't boot from it, boots from hard drive. But once it boots up, the CD is recognized so apparently there is nothing wrong with the drive. But I don't know what is causing this. The BIOS is set to boot from CD first.
From: Neil Green on 31 Mar 2010 02:04 Edwin Sineath wrote: > I put in a live CD to boot from, computer doesn't boot from it, boots > from hard drive. But once it boots up, the CD is recognized so > apparently there is nothing wrong with the drive. But I don't know > what is causing this. The BIOS is set to boot from CD first. Are you sure the CD is bootable?
From: Paul on 31 Mar 2010 02:52 Edwin Sineath wrote: > I put in a live CD to boot from, computer doesn't boot from it, boots > from hard drive. But once it boots up, the CD is recognized so > apparently there is nothing wrong with the drive. But I don't know what > is causing this. The BIOS is set to boot from CD first. Perhaps you could describe how you made the CD ? ******* Say that a friend tells you about a neat LiveCD you can download. You download a file "my-livecd.iso" from a web site. Now, some people would be tempted to just copy the file directly to a CD. That won't work. If you did that, and then plugged the CD into a Windows computer, it might show a single file sitting on the CD, with the name my-livecd.iso . Inside the ISO9660 file, is not only a file system, but also the information necessary to prepare a bootable CD. So the ISO9660 file is a "container" and not a simple file. You need a burner program, that can read the container, and convert it into a bootable CD. An optical CD burning program such as Nero, knows how to parse an ISO9660 file and prepare a bootable CD from it. There might also be free optical burner software programs you can use as well. Check for programs such as CDburnerXP or IMGBurn. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cdburnerxp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imgburn If you already have a working Linux distro, the "K3B" program knows how to burn CDs and DVDs. In terms of the thing that makes the CD bootable, you can read articles like this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_torito There is one program for Linux, that you can use to evaluate storage devices of all sorts. The program is "disktype". Disktype can be added to your Linux machine with the resident package manager. (I'm not aware of a version of this that is available for Windows.) Rather than compile this myself, I just went into Synaptic Package Manager and added it. http://disktype.sourceforge.net/ This is something I tried, when Microsoft offered Windows 7 for download (Release Candidate 1), as a 2GB ISO9660 file. I downloaded the file, and then analyzed the file with the disktype program. disktype 7100.0.090421-1700_x86fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culfrer_en_dvd.iso This is what disktype reports. ******* --- 7100.0.090421-1700_x86fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culfrer_en_dvd.iso Regular file, size 2.357 GiB (2530975744 bytes) UDF file system Sector size 2048 bytes Volume name "<5500><4400><4600><2000><5600><6F00><6C00><7500><6D00><6500>" UDF version 1.02 ISO9660 file system Volume name "GRC1CULFRER_EN_DVD" Publisher "MICROSOFT CORPORATION" Preparer "MICROSOFT CORPORATION, ONE MICROSOFT WAY, REDMOND WA 98052, (425) 882-8080" Application "CDIMAGE 2.54 (01/01/2005 TM)" Data size 2.357 GiB (2530975744 bytes, 1235828 blocks of 2 KiB) El Torito boot record, catalog at 22 Bootable non-emulated image, starts at 663, preloads 4 KiB Platform 0x00 (x86), System Type 0x00 (Empty) ******* You can see mention of "El Torito" there, implying that the disc prepared from the file will be bootable. There might be other means to make a CD bootable - that is all I know about it. Paul
From: JD on 31 Mar 2010 04:24 On 31/03/2010 4:46 AM, Edwin Sineath wrote: > I put in a live CD to boot from, computer doesn't boot from it, boots > from hard drive. But once it boots up, the CD is recognized so > apparently there is nothing wrong with the drive. But I don't know what > is causing this. The BIOS is set to boot from CD first. I don't want to be the one to point out the obvious but have you set the boot order ?! its a BIOS setting on the motherboard, when you turn on your PC the black screen with all the settings (or a logo) press DEL (it may be another key like F2), you'll have to search around a little its named something like boot order (or boot priority etc.) you want it set to CD then hard drive then perhaps other devices, you can disable the floppy (is there anyone who uses one of those things these days anyway) if its not that then its most likely your disk. JD
From: baron on 31 Mar 2010 08:14
Edwin Sineath Inscribed thus: > I put in a live CD to boot from, computer doesn't boot from it, boots > from hard drive. But once it boots up, the CD is recognized so > apparently there is nothing wrong with the drive. But I don't know > what > is causing this. The BIOS is set to boot from CD first. Often there is a message given on screen about "Boot From CD" or sometimes a boot menu can be obtained by pressing F12. Unfortunately Windows prats about with the boot mechanism sometimes preventing booting from an alternative boot media. -- Best Regards: Baron. |