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How does CD-ROM affect PC boot?

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7 replies

by rhys

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I had a PC that wouldn't boot and I thought I had it narrowed down to either the CPU or motherboard A co-worker changed the CD-ROM and it booted up. What does the CD-ROM have to do with the PCs ability to boot?

7 replies

by thechas

If the electronics in the drive itself have gone bad, the drive's controller could load down (or even shrt out) the IDE bus on the motherboard.

When the PC went to check the drives during the POST, it may freeze if certian lines in the IDE bus are shorted or frozen.

This is true for any device connected to the PC. Under the correct conditions, any damaged device could prevent the PC from booting.

That is why one of the first steps for trouble-shooting a PC that won't boot, is to disconnect everything except the video card.

Chas

by rhys

I think this is probably what happened. I realize I didn't explain it very well but this sounds right. Thanks to TheChas and everyone else who responded.

by alpha-male

Another possibility is that the first CD-Rom could have been jumpered incorrectly (as a master etc) on the same controller as the HD whereas the new CD-Rom was jumpered correctly.

by ann777

The co-worker removed a cd? If he swapped the whole drive, then the above answers apply to your question. If he removed a cd from the drive and the computer booted normally, then the below applies to your question:

If the cd-rom is setup in the"boot sequence" before the hdd boot, then the computer will first attempt to boot from the cd-rom.

If there's a bootable cd-rom in the drive, then you will be fine. Computer will boot to the cd-rom.

If there's no cd-rom in the drive, the computer will look to the next device to boot from (generally your computer boot sequence may be set to cd-rom --> hdd --> a:) and you will be fine. The computer will boot to the hdd.

If the computer see's a cd in the drive, and it is not a bootable cd, then the computer may hang or report an "invalid boot device" or "inaccessible boot device" etc.

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