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Computer won't boot from CD drive

Hi all, I'm having a problem and was hoping I might find some help here

My brother's computer is basically a dead duck in the water. Its slow, buggy, infested with ads, spyware and full to the brim of absolute rubbish. My parents asked me to do something about it, so I decided to format the hard-drive and re-install windows. I changed the BIOS settings so that it would boot from CD before the drive (at IDE-0), but the computer just continued to load windows. I looked again to see if I forgot to save it the settings or something, but sure enough, the CD was the first priority. I then removed IDE-0 from the list completely, and it told me that it failed to boot, and that it could find no boot record in the CD-Drive

I thought that it may be my Windows CD, so I put in a linux cd that I happened to have in my possession, but that gave me the same error. I tried all sorts of boot settings, but no result

Was wondering if anybody had any words of wisdom for me

Thanks happy

Tags: windows, windows boot format cd rom drive

simonp101@...

9th Jun 2007

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press any key to boot from CD when CD loads

just b4 it says loading windows, did you see 'boot from CD' just b4 loading windows? you have to press a key to boot from CD.

Then it goes into the setup.

hope this helps.

Grim Reaper

THANAT0S

9th Jun 2007

Replies

I know this probably won't help the original poster, but if you get a prompt from your BIOS during boot that says, "Press any key to boot from CD...."

MAKE SURE YOU USE A PS/2 KEYBOARD. A USB keyboard may not cut it. I just spent 2 hours trying to figure this one out.

Yoyoson 8th Mar 2008

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On newer BIOS's USB keyboards may work but need to be enabled in the BIOS. The (USB) keyboard will usually detect you pressing del to enter the BIOS where you can set 'enable USB keyboard' (I can't remember the exact setting name, it's fairly obvious though).

Might help if you can't lay your hands on a ps/2 keyboard

McDonger 31st Dec 2009

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I will help

hello i see you are in the UK like myself, send me an e-mail and i will be able to help you! my address is zakflemingo@gmail.com

UserDeletedByRequest

9th Jun 2007

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Try this

Press when the BIOS splash screen displays. You should get a menu of boot options. Arrow down to the Boot from CD-ROM option and press

NickNielsen

10th Jun 2007

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I get no message telling me to 'Press Any Key' when booting from CD-ROM and F12 in BIOS does nothing sad

The computer's BIOS is called AMIBIOS Simple Setup Utility version 1.21.12 by American Megatrends if thats any help. Windows will detect CD's perfectly fine, but it seems that BIOS isn't interested, or at least can't find any boot records

simonp101@... 11th Jun 2007

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Press when the BIOS splash screen displays. You should get a menu of boot options. Arrow down to the Boot from CD-ROM option and press

stupidkanna@... 5th Jul 2007

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1 Vote

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Primary versus Secondary IDE controller.

Is the CDROM on the second IDE interface?
If so it is possible the BIOS won't boot from it. I have worked on motherboards before that would only boot from the CDROM drive if it was connected to the primary IDE connector. If so you will need to move the CDROM to the same cable as the HDD. Make sure you set the HDD to master and the CDROM to SLAVE.

The HDD should be ide-0 and the CDROM should be ide-1. The secondary controller would IDE-2 and IDE-3.

With the HDD at IDE-0 removing IDE-0 from the boot list is only telling the bios to skipping the HDD as a boot device.

ONce you have both drives on the same cable and jumpered correctly you will still have to ensure the BIOS boot order has the CDROM first.

1bn0

5th Jul 2007

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I have changed BIOS to place cd drive 1st. I have a good bootable CD, its a Dell PC. any ideas ?

bluzepher@... 19th Jul 2008

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Hit F2 doing the DELL splash screen. That will bring up the boot menu.

MrLoganyc 20th May 2010

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I'm on a Dell D510 Laptop. Attempting to try out linux for the first time, but I can't even get away from Windows. I think the best idea I've seen in here, which I've haven't tried yet is to press F12 a second time, after you Select to boot from CD from the Boot Menu.

rhsih@... 29th Nov 2008

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When I hit F12 the first time I got a section to select boot from CD, then when I kept hitting F12 again I got the hit any key to boot from CD and this booted from the CD. Worked like a charm. I spent an hour trying to figure this out before I got here. Amazing!

jwarner01@... 30th Dec 2008

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0 Votes

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replace cd drive

Probably the CD drive has failed and needs to be replaced.

ctmoore1998@...

8th Mar 2008

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I was having the same issue with a laptop and then noticed that the "Press any key to boot from CD" message came up AFTER selecting the CD option from the boot menu (F12 during startup). Hope it helps

cwheit@... 16th Oct 2008

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can't Boot from CD

hi, I have just your problem, and mine is also Toshiba, satellite.
did you find any solution?

Best,
Fariba

fariba_yoo

27th Sep 2009

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Try reading the entire thread, instead of adding your Bleat to the end of it.

THAT'S why the threads exist. wink

OldER Mycroft 27th Sep 2009

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The Basics

Many times, as IT Pros, we take some things for granted. I just dealt with this issue with a PC that I've been using for quite a while--and have installed (re-installed) my OS on an innumerable amount of times.

I came to this thread looking for an idea on what may be causing this installation to be different than the rest.

Solution: Please check all connections to the motherboard.

In my case, the IDE connection was just slightly not connected to its jack. The CD Rom showed up wonderfully inside of the previous installation, but it was not connected well enough to be seen by the BIOS.

It's definitely an option...

Hope this helps!!

GSystems

Updated - 20th May 2010

Replies

ok here's how you do

When you press F2 and go into setup, you of course have already put the CDrom or DVDram in top priority. Then, the thing is you have to go to 2 options to the left, and generally you will find [Quick Boot] option enabled, disable it, and [F12 boot menu] or something like that option disabled, ENABLE it, then exit saving changes, and press F12 like there's no tomorrow, it will then ask you from where you want to boot, choose wisely, and hallelujah !

Bramimond 29th Sep 2010

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0 Votes

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My Dell Win XP GX270 has same issue

Same problem. Hooked in a different CD drive. Same. Checked boot sequence. CD is listed first in boot sequence. Quick boot can't be disabled. Tried drive cable that takes two drives. Boot sequence only finds one. Two hard drive controllers on motherboard. Each hard drive controller find a maximum of one drive (CD or hard).
Switched so that CD was plugged into first controller, and hard drive plugged into second controller. Boot sequence found only hard drive. CD works fine once Windows or Linux has booted. Tried CD in USB enclosure. Not found until after boot complete.Tried hard drive in same USB enclosure. Hard drive found during boot. Has to be motherboard/controller/BIOS issue, as OS, hard drive, and cable changes do not fix. Motherboard refuses to boot from CD under any circumstances.
So original poster is not only one with this issue. I have a Dell with original OS, hard drive and CD. GX270, 2G memory (maxed out).

tllucero

20th Mar 2012

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Same Issue

Is that last post from 2012? I have the same issue with a friends Gateway Emachine. Booting from hard drive goes to endless loop. The HD was spinning and I could copy files off it with another computer. Tested for malware from that other computer, found nothing. Set the boot order to the CD first. Wouldn't boot from an XP install disk. Wouldn't boot from three different Linux live CDs. Wouldn't boot from a Hitachi drive diagnostic CD. Wouldn't boot from a Hiren's Boot Disk CD. Disconnected everything, same result. Tried different cables, etc., same result. Reset bios to defaults, pulled battery, same result. Got a couple stop errors, all with same explanation: new or incompatible hardware or faulty driver. There was no new hardware, and I couldn't get at the thing to remove or re-install drivers. Memory tested OK.

All this argues faulty IDE controller or bad MOBO, but I couldn't help thinking there was something simple I was missing.

So I thought I'd post here in case anyone happens to see this and has found a solution.
Any other suggestions greatly appreciated!

mikef12@...

Updated - 5th Jun

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Instead of tacking on to the bottom of an old, zombie question,
try posting your problem as a new question.

wizard57m-cnet 5th Jun

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Help Please?

I'm new here and sad to say not very tech savvy. I'm having this problem as well, but don't know how to swap the cords around to check if that's it and I'm kind of scared to try just mucking about with it. I have tried everything that I know how to do, setting the boot sequence in the BIOS, changing which disk drive I have my Windows XP start up disk in, (I have two disk drives one is a regular CD drive the other is a DVDRW drive).

Putting the CD in the regular CD drive and booting up gives me the boot from CD screen for maybe half a second then it skips to starting windows normally. Putting the CD in the DVDRW drive gives me the boot from CD screen for roughly 30 seconds then it skips to starting windows.

I have tried to hit a key during the few seconds that it's on the boot from CD screen but it does nothing. This is a very old machine (over 15 years), and it's been reformatted before without issue. I really don't know what kind of system it is either because it's been rebuilt a couple of times.

I know that the motherboard has been replaced at least once, and the power supply has been replaced twice since I've had it. I don't know what any of the system specs are and I'm really not sure how to find out. So if anyone could help me out here it would be greatly appreciated.

I run my own business from home, (just starting out) and I can't afford to just go out and buy a new system (no matter how much I would love to) so this old POS is pretty much all I've got. Thanks much.

Pashakitty

11th Jul

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you should repost this as a new question. Most folks would totally miss this posting and there are quite a few qualified people that search out this type of question.

PurpleSkys 12th Jul

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computer wont boot from cd/dvd drive

I don't normally post like this cause I hate creating accounts all over the freaking place and unfortunately the original question poster from 6 years ago will probably never see this but I figured it will help someone else for sure.First let me start off by saying that I have been building computers for years and have never ran across this particular issue before.I had extra cables and drives lying around so I began experimenting.My drive is connected via sata and the original bios detection sees the drive and the drive works under windows xp management but when i go to the boot menu the drive is not there and if I let the computer boot up it just bypasses the drive and loads from the hard drive.I tried changing the sata cable,changing the sata port and even the drive itself with no luck.At this point I am scratching my head and contemplating flashing the bios when I decided to clear cmos and voila.I unplugged the computer and took out the battery for about 1 minute and then re-booted,set the clock and date and now I am installing windows 7.There must have been some setting in the bios preventing the cd drive from booting.Hope this helps you:)

columbianshark

12th Jan

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can't Boot from CD drive?

well the reason may be the autorun of the windows may be corrupted.....
it happens improper burning of OS in a Disc.
better to burn with nero updated version by mounting the copied disc image of actual OS in to a new DVD disc by the process of copying from virtual disc to original disc.
to access disc image go for a virtual drive using DAEMON tools software....
I hope this may helps you better to boot from DVD drive happy

dAS-9

12th Jan

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forget to say! that if does this really works, when U load your boot disc to ur computer/labtop, it asks like "press any key to boot from CD"

dAS-9 12th Jan

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painful realization

I've just spent the last two days trying to get a "utility" system to boot. In the past, I've always selected ATAPI CD-ROM as the boot device and it worked perfectly. I guess I'm not using an ATAPI CD-ROM device any more. It has DVD capabilities so it wasn't until I figured out that the boot list was showing me the model number of the DVD and not one of the Hard drives that it finally boot properly. the moral of the story, jot down all of the model numbers before you hard install them into the system. It's also handy to note which is master, slave etc.

Allthunbs

Allthunbs

14th Feb

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Not able to boot from CD

I have been struggling to reinstall windows xp for days now. I tried booting from floppy disks, cd-rom and a usb drive. I stumbled on this thread 10 minutes ago and realized that I am trying to install from my 2nd cd drive because the first has not opened for whatever reason in a very long time. After reading this thread I popped off the front of the computer, vacuumed out all of the dust, gave the top of the cd-drive a slight whack and voila it opened and I am now installing windows xp from the original cd-rom. Thanks guys, appreciate the help.

dennae

23rd Feb