My computer will not boot from cd-rom...help please!

On some manufacturer's systems, booting from CD-ROM requires an extra step. When the system displays a message that it is attempting to boot from the CD, it waits (a rather SHORT time) for the user to press a key. If the user doesn't press a key, the BIOS moves on to the next boot device.

The BIOS (usually) invites the user to boot from CD by displaying the line "Press any key to boot from CD ..."

Sometimes there is a timer associated with this invitation, if you do not respond in time, the system will move onto the next boot device, usually the hard drive.

You may not be seeing this invitation line, depending on which splash screen your system displays on boot.

Try it again, this time tapping the space bar occasionally after you power up.

hows the disk look? (scratches?) maybe it cannot be read.

Can you boot into windows? If you can, insert the disk and see if it can be read by your cd rom drive. If not, the CD rom drive may be failing.

Try replacing the CD rom drive or find an external usb or firewire cd rom drive.

Good luck, post back

I will definatly try pressing a key while it's booting up, and my disk is not scratched, it shows up fine when I check it in My Computer

I realise this is a bit after the event, but in the interests of others with the same problem ... I had the same issue until I tried a PS/2 keyboard instead of the USB one I normally use. The startup screen asked me to hit any key to start the boot up from CD but the system would not detect the keystroke until I tried the PS/2 keyboard. This was happening even though the USB keyboard worked OK in DOS to change BIOS settings. For some reason the keyboard/USB drivers were not working at that stage of the boot program.