Can'I change boot order

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fibon
  • Start date Start date
F

Fibon

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 said:
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
Click to expand...

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.
 
Fibon said:
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
Click to expand...

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

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

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
 
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
Click to expand...
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 said:
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.
Click to expand...

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
 
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
Click to expand...

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
 
Back
Top