I'm trying to make my cd-rom the first drive in the boot order. The
BIOS accepts the change and states that the configuration has been
changed. But the machine then reboots windows and not the bootable
cd in the cd-drive. Any suggestions.
Thanks,
Fibon

"Fibon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm trying to make my cd-rom the first drive in the boot order. The
> BIOS accepts the change and states that the configuration has been
> changed. But the machine then reboots windows and not the bootable
> cd in the cd-drive. Any suggestions.
> Thanks,
> Fibon

Did you save you changes when you exited the CMOS setup?

Also try posting to:
alt.comp.hardware
or...
microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware

Mark

How are the drives set up on the ribbon/IDE ports. A general rule is to never
mix an optical drive with either a hard drive or a floppy. It would be best
two put them on seperate ports. eg. the optical drives on one port, the HDs
on the other. Also, your motherboard should have a port for a floppy that's
seperate of the IDE ports.

If you do some changes then check your boot order at BIOS again.
--
Hope I could help.


"Fibon" wrote:

> I'm trying to make my cd-rom the first drive in the boot order. The
> BIOS accepts the change and states that the configuration has been
> changed. But the machine then reboots windows and not the bootable
> cd in the cd-drive. Any suggestions.
> Thanks,
> Fibon
>

"Fibon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm trying to make my cd-rom the first drive in the boot order. The
> BIOS accepts the change and states that the configuration has been
> changed. But the machine then reboots windows and not the bootable
> cd in the cd-drive. Any suggestions.
> Thanks,
> Fibon

Does the first or second screen say Press any key to boot from CD?

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
Do not send mail.

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 05:35:27 -0500, "Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>"Fibon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I'm trying to make my cd-rom the first drive in the boot order. The
>> BIOS accepts the change and states that the configuration has been
>> changed. But the machine then reboots windows and not the bootable
>> cd in the cd-drive. Any suggestions.
>> Thanks,
>> Fibon
>
>Does the first or second screen say Press any key to boot from CD?

I haven't seen any messages on the screen. If I got the message you
asked about , I would consider the effort a success.

Fibon wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 05:35:27 -0500, "Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> "Fibon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> I'm trying to make my cd-rom the first drive in the boot order. The
>>> BIOS accepts the change and states that the configuration has been
>>> changed. But the machine then reboots windows and not the bootable
>>> cd in the cd-drive. Any suggestions.
>>> Thanks,
>>> Fibon
>> Does the first or second screen say Press any key to boot from CD?
>
> I haven't seen any messages on the screen. If I got the message you
> asked about , I would consider the effort a success.
>

Several reasons why a computer isn't booting from a bootable CD:

1. The boot order set in the BIOS is incorrect. Double-check this and
make sure you've saved the settings.

2. You have two optical drives and only one of them will work to boot
from. If this is your case, try the CD in the other drive.

3. The CD you are using isn't really bootable. Since you didn't say what
CD you are trying to use, I can only give you this general advice. I
don't mean to insult you in any way, but very often this is because the
person has an .iso (like Knoppix or another "live CD") and has not
burned the .iso correctly; i.e., has burned only the file to CD.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 07:34:06 -0700, Malke <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Fibon wrote:
>> On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 05:35:27 -0500, "Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM"
>> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>> "Fibon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>> I'm trying to make my cd-rom the first drive in the boot order. The
>>>> BIOS accepts the change and states that the configuration has been
>>>> changed. But the machine then reboots windows and not the bootable
>>>> cd in the cd-drive. Any suggestions.
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Fibon
>>> Does the first or second screen say Press any key to boot from CD?
>>
>> I haven't seen any messages on the screen. If I got the message you
>> asked about , I would consider the effort a success.
>>
>
>Several reasons why a computer isn't booting from a bootable CD:
>
>1. The boot order set in the BIOS is incorrect. Double-check this and
>make sure you've saved the settings.
>
>2. You have two optical drives and only one of them will work to boot
>from. If this is your case, try the CD in the other drive.
>
>3. The CD you are using isn't really bootable. Since you didn't say what
>CD you are trying to use, I can only give you this general advice. I
>don't mean to insult you in any way, but very often this is because the
>person has an .iso (like Knoppix or another "live CD") and has not
>burned the .iso correctly; i.e., has burned only the file to CD.
>
>
>Malke
I have a Dell Dimension 4400 desktop with Windows XP. I want to boot
up the Dell windows installation CD, because my hard drive is starting
to fail and I wish to install windows on a new hard disk. I have
booted up this CD on at least two previous occasion. I have only one
CD drive. I exit the Boot set by pressing F10 at which time I am
asked if I wish to save the new configuration. Yes is highlighted, I
hit 'enter' and the machine boots into windows.

Fibon wrote:

>> Malke
> I have a Dell Dimension 4400 desktop with Windows XP. I want to boot
> up the Dell windows installation CD, because my hard drive is starting
> to fail and I wish to install windows on a new hard disk. I have
> booted up this CD on at least two previous occasion. I have only one
> CD drive. I exit the Boot set by pressing F10 at which time I am
> asked if I wish to save the new configuration. Yes is highlighted, I
> hit 'enter' and the machine boots into windows.

Then I'm sorry but I don't know why you're having such difficulties.
With Dells, try pressing F12 at startup. This will get you a temporary
boot menu. Choose CD and see what happens. If nothing happens, then the
drive has died or there is some other hardware failure such as the
motherboard or even the power supply. You can easily test the drive by
swapping out your CD drive for a known-working one. Or, if the machine
is still under warranty, call Dell tech support for repair/replacement.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 05:35:27 -0500, "Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>"Fibon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I'm trying to make my cd-rom the first drive in the boot order. The
>> BIOS accepts the change and states that the configuration has been
>> changed. But the machine then reboots windows and not the bootable
>> cd in the cd-drive. Any suggestions.
>> Thanks,
>> Fibon
>
>Does the first or second screen say Press any key to boot from CD?

No. It does not?
Fibon

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:29:41 -0700, Malke <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Fibon wrote:
>
>>> Malke
>> I have a Dell Dimension 4400 desktop with Windows XP. I want to boot
>> up the Dell windows installation CD, because my hard drive is starting
>> to fail and I wish to install windows on a new hard disk. I have
>> booted up this CD on at least two previous occasion. I have only one
>> CD drive. I exit the Boot set by pressing F10 at which time I am
>> asked if I wish to save the new configuration. Yes is highlighted, I
>> hit 'enter' and the machine boots into windows.
>
>Then I'm sorry but I don't know why you're having such difficulties.
>With Dells, try pressing F12 at startup. This will get you a temporary
>boot menu. Choose CD and see what happens. If nothing happens, then the
>drive has died or there is some other hardware failure such as the
>motherboard or even the power supply. You can easily test the drive by
>swapping out your CD drive for a known-working one. Or, if the machine
>is still under warranty, call Dell tech support for repair/replacement.
>
>Malke

Thank you. F12 did the trick. It gave me a choice of bootup devices
and I was able to enter the windows setup, which is what I wanted.
Thank you again.
Fibon