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Re: Why would a PC not boot from CD?

Thanks, Roy - all intelligent comments.

The DVD drive was extracted from a machine in which it's been running 
perfectly well for several months.  In the new host, if I boot from a floppy 
(I tested with an ME boot disk) I found I could access files on the DVD. 
The BIOS (AMIBIOS) is already set to look first at the CD, and F11 allows me 
to specify the boot source explicitly.  The screen says it's looking for a 
boot record; then it gives up and moves on.  I find all this inexplicable!

In the end I created four boot floppies to get SBS installed.  Once I'd 
loaded them, the installation proceeded from the DVD drive without a hitch. 
There just seems to be a problem booting from the drive.  I originally 
installed Win2K on the previous host by booting from the same drive.

-- 
####################
##  PH, London
####################
"Roy Schestowitz" <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message 
news:dero6s$205f$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> __/ On Saturday 27 August 2005 21:42, [Philip Herlihy] wrote : \__
>
>> DVD actually.  I've taken the DVD player out of one machine and put it
>> into one I want to install Small Business Server on, and although I can
>> tell the BIOS to boot first from the CD/DVD, it fails to find the boot
>> record,
>> although I get a message to say it's looking for it on the CD.  I've also
>> tried it with an XP Pro CD, and the same happens.  On all other machines,
>> the XP disc is bootable.  What am I missing?  I'm no great shakes at the
>> BIOS level - it's all half (quarter?) understood.
>
> It sounds as if that machine gives up on the CD-ROM phase and moves 
> onwards
> to the next which is usually the hard-drive (if not network/floppy).
>
> - Make sure that the head in your CD drive is clean. If it is not, the
> effect would match that which is described above.
>
> - Try booting from a floppy disk to re-assure yourself that the problems
> does not lie at a higher level like BIOS, but rather at the CD drive's
> level.
>
> - Change the sequence of boot sources, e.g. to attempt CD-ROM before
> anything else.
>
> - Consider the fact that the drive might be faulty. Can this be checked,
> e.g. by getting a DOS prompt and mounting the CD drive?
>
> Hope it helps,
>
> Roy 



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