I have several other older PCs that all boot fine after you select
<del> on startup and set the boot order in bios, but this PC someone
gave me doesn't even have a boot order in the bios, though when it is
in win XP you can see the cdrom drive fine.

what to try ?

"surf" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have several other older PCs that all boot fine after you select
> <del> on startup and set the boot order in bios, but this PC someone
> gave me doesn't even have a boot order in the bios, though when it is
> in win XP you can see the cdrom drive fine.
>
> what to try ?
>

If you tell us why you wish to boot from the CD drive
then someone will tell you how to solve the problem.

Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> "surf" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > I have several other older PCs that all boot fine after you select
> > <del> on startup and set the boot order in bios, but this PC someone
> > gave me doesn't even have a boot order in the bios, though when it is
> > in win XP you can see the cdrom drive fine.
> >
> > what to try ?
> >
>
> If you tell us why you wish to boot from the CD drive
> then someone will tell you how to solve the problem.

I'm trying to boot a linux CD

"surf" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> > "surf" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > I have several other older PCs that all boot fine after you select
> > > <del> on startup and set the boot order in bios, but this PC someone
> > > gave me doesn't even have a boot order in the bios, though when it is
> > > in win XP you can see the cdrom drive fine.
> > >
> > > what to try ?
> > >
> >
> > If you tell us why you wish to boot from the CD drive
> > then someone will tell you how to solve the problem.
>
> I'm trying to boot a linux CD
>

Probably best to ask in a Linux or in a hardware group.
This group deals with Windows issues.

Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> "surf" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> > > "surf" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > > I have several other older PCs that all boot fine after you select
> > > > <del> on startup and set the boot order in bios, but this PC someone
> > > > gave me doesn't even have a boot order in the bios, though when it is
> > > > in win XP you can see the cdrom drive fine.
> > > >
> > > > what to try ?
> > > >
> > >
> > > If you tell us why you wish to boot from the CD drive
> > > then someone will tell you how to solve the problem.
> >
> > I'm trying to boot a linux CD
> >
>
> Probably best to ask in a Linux or in a hardware group.
> This group deals with Windows issues.

How do I shut windows down to dos mode ?

"surf" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> > "surf" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > >
> > > Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> > > > "surf" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > > > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > > > I have several other older PCs that all boot fine after you select
> > > > > <del> on startup and set the boot order in bios, but this PC
someone
> > > > > gave me doesn't even have a boot order in the bios, though when it
is
> > > > > in win XP you can see the cdrom drive fine.
> > > > >
> > > > > what to try ?
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > If you tell us why you wish to boot from the CD drive
> > > > then someone will tell you how to solve the problem.
> > >
> > > I'm trying to boot a linux CD
> > >
> >
> > Probably best to ask in a Linux or in a hardware group.
> > This group deals with Windows issues.
>
> How do I shut windows down to dos mode ?
>

You can't. DOS is an operating system, as is Windows.
You might as well ask "How do I shut down Linux to
DOS mode?". There is, of course, the Command Prompt
but it is not DOS and it requires Windows to function.

If you want DOS, boot the machine with a DOS boot
disk from www.bootdisk.com. It even comes with a
CD ROM driver, thus perhaps solving your problem.

[TheGun]

just after the POST where you normally hit Del try hitting F8 on some boards this gives you a boot menu where you can temp boot from any device over writing the BIOS boot order is.

Originally Posted by surf

I have several other older PCs that all boot fine after you select
on startup and set the boot order in bios, but this PC someone
gave me doesn't even have a boot order in the bios, though when it is
in win XP you can see the cdrom drive fine.

what to try ?

[TheGun]

There are many ways you can do this? first let us know what operating system if any is installed??

Originally Posted by surf

Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> "surf" wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> > > "surf" wrote in message
> > > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > > I have several other older PCs that all boot fine after you select
> > > > on startup and set the boot order in bios, but this PC someone
> > > > gave me doesn't even have a boot order in the bios, though when it is
> > > > in win XP you can see the cdrom drive fine.
> > > >
> > > > what to try ?
> > > >
> > >
> > > If you tell us why you wish to boot from the CD drive
> > > then someone will tell you how to solve the problem.
> >
> > I'm trying to boot a linux CD
> >
>
> Probably best to ask in a Linux or in a hardware group.
> This group deals with Windows issues.

How do I shut windows down to dos mode ?

"surf" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I have several other older PCs that all boot fine after you select
><del> on startup and set the boot order in bios, but this PC someone
>gave me doesn't even have a boot order in the bios, though when it is
>in win XP you can see the cdrom drive fine.

There must some kind of boot order setting in the BIOS setup
someplace. On older machines that would involve (probably) two
floppies and a hard drive. The ability to boot from a CD is relatively
new, so an older machine wouldn't have that.

If the BIOS doesn't know about booting from a CD, then you can't do
it. You may find an update for the BIOS someplace, but I wouldn't bet
the rent money on it.

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(DTS)
(E-Mail Removed)

Tim Slattery wrote:
> "surf" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >I have several other older PCs that all boot fine after you select
> ><del> on startup and set the boot order in bios, but this PC someone
> >gave me doesn't even have a boot order in the bios, though when it is
> >in win XP you can see the cdrom drive fine.
>
> There must some kind of boot order setting in the BIOS setup
> someplace. On older machines that would involve (probably) two
> floppies and a hard drive. The ability to boot from a CD is relatively
> new, so an older machine wouldn't have that.
>
> If the BIOS doesn't know about booting from a CD, then you can't do
> it. You may find an update for the BIOS someplace, but I wouldn't bet
> the rent money on it.
>
> --
> Tim Slattery
> MS MVP(DTS)
> (E-Mail Removed)


This is where I am now, I posted this on a linux group, but no one has
replied yet ...

I got an old pc from a friend, 4 gig hard drive, cd rom, 2 floppy
drives.


I couldn't get XP to boot from the CD, there was no selection in the
bios, so I downloaded loadlin.exe and followed the instructions. I had
to create a bootable dos disk, booted to ms-dos and
ran loadlin. After I set the partition table it recomended I write it
to disk and reboot, but duh I blew away windows disk. So know when it
boots of the floppy it can no longer find the C: drive where loadlin,
intitrd.img and ide files are .


I guess I may be able to fit loadlin.exe, ide, and initrd.img onto two
floppies if I can find a machine that has a floppy drive to copy them.
I would need to be able to run loadlin and specify a path.
can I do:


A> loadlin ide root=/dev/ram rw initrd=B:\initrd.img


the file sizes of these are:
1.422 k
32 k
1.223 k
I can't remember exactly how much space a floppy has ?


any better approaches for this problem ?


does linload have to have these when it starts ?