can't boot from CDROM, bios doesn't have a boot order selection

[surf]

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 ?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

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.

 

[surf]

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

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

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.

 

[surf]

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 ?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

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.

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??

Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> "surf" wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> > Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> > > "surf" wrote in message
> > > news:[email protected]...
> > > > 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 ?

 

[Tim Slattery]

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.

 

[surf]

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.

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 ?

 

[Guest]

While in the bios what are the screens that you see? If you have a screen
that says advanced settings it is probable that the boot order is set within
it. We just need some more info. Good Luck,

Joe

Kemco IT Tech

 

[surf]

While in the bios what are the screens that you see? If you have a screen
that says advanced settings it is probable that the boot order is set within
it. We just need some more info. Good Luck,

I don't recall any advanced settings, I studied all the menu options
quite a bit.

 

[Tim Slattery]

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 ?

I don't know anything about loadlin, but...you can go to
www.bootdisk.com and get a bootdisk (which will boot you into DOS)
that has CD-ROM support. You could then burn those files onto a CD.
Boot from the floppy, then access the files from the CD-ROM.

(A 3.5" floppy disk can store 1.44MB. That makes it questionable
whether your largest file would bit on a single floppy.)

 

[Ayush]

If you unplug your Hard-drive, can you boot from the CD ??

--
Ayush [ Be ''?'' Happy ]

For any query, search - www.Google.com
Want to know about a term - http://en.wikipedia.org
Snip your long urls - http://snipurl.com/

Replied To :
-------------------------------------------------------------

|
| Kemco wrote:
| > While in the bios what are the screens that you see? If you have a
screen
| > that says advanced settings it is probable that the boot order is set
within
| > it. We just need some more info. Good Luck,
| >
|
| I don't recall any advanced settings, I studied all the menu options
| quite a bit.
|