Can't boot from CD

marty_0001

I'm going to format my hard drive for the first time. I'm trying to boot from the XP cd, but when my computer starts up and it says "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD..." I tap keys and nothing happens, it just carries on its merry way and starts up windows as normal.

This might have something to do with it: when I look at my BIOS settings it says the first place to boot from is the CD, then the hard drive second, then the floppy drive third. Sounds like what I want. But if I hit F12 when the computer starts up, it has the hard drive selected (or so I'm guessing the plus sign means) and for some reason it won't let me move up or down or even exit this menu.

o_O?

Also if there's an easier way to format the drive then I'm all ears

OremLK

Sounds like a keyboard problem? Is it plugged into USB, or PS/2? Have you tried a different keyboard?

marty_0001

I don't think so... See, it lets me reach that F12 menu, or DELETE opens the setup menu (that one I can actually navigate). But then it is a USB laser keyboard so I'm not sure. I think my vanilla keyboard is at my parent's house, I might pick it up and give it a try.

OremLK

Yeah, I'd suggest trying a PS/2 keyboard if you can get your hands on one. I have no idea if that's the problem (it's very strange that you'd be able to get to/navigate some menus but not start the boot disc when asked), but it's the only thing I can think of.

taeric

Not so strange, actually. The BIOS is usually able to recognize a range of keyboards. Once it starts booting, though, you are at the mercy of what the OS can support.

For me, this happens if I am trying to use my bluetooth keyboard. The BIOS can recognize it and I can get in to the menus and such. However, without the correct drivers, the OS can not recognize it. (They get loaded later in the boot process.)

eternalbl

Longshot, but is the CD drive internal that you're trying to boot from?

I've always heard some external drives aren't bootable, so that'd be something to double check I guess.

embrik

eternalbl wrote: »

Longshot, but is the CD drive internal that you're trying to boot from?

I've always heard some external drives aren't bootable, so that'd be something to double check I guess.

No, if he's getting the message to hit any key to boot from CD, the drive is reading the disc fine. It's definitely a keyboard/bios thing. If the Mobo has PS/2 ports on it, plug a PS/2 keyboard in and try it. I always have to do the same thing. (Or just use a USB-PS/2 adapter if one came with the keyboard).

Tofystedeth

Those USB-PS/2 adapters don't always work though. Another thing to try is removing the harddrive from the boot list. If you do that, it will usually either not ask about booting from the CD, or boot from it when it times out. Or just not boot at all...

No guarantees that if you get that far it will let you use your keyboard, but it might load whatever driver it needs when it is starting up the installer.

eternalbl

embrik wrote: »

eternalbl wrote: »

Longshot, but is the CD drive internal that you're trying to boot from?

I've always heard some external drives aren't bootable, so that'd be something to double check I guess.

No, if he's getting the message to hit any key to boot from CD, the drive is reading the disc fine. It's definitely a keyboard/bios thing. If the Mobo has PS/2 ports on it, plug a PS/2 keyboard in and try it. I always have to do the same thing. (Or just use a USB-PS/2 adapter if one came with the keyboard).

Yeah, guess I missed that part.

If he's getting into BIOS I don't think its going to be a keyboard issue either. Got any other CDs you can test with?

Infidel

It's definitely a keyboard issue, this happens regularly to me at work where some computers brought in just won't recognize the USB KVM and I have to pull out a PS2 keyboard and plug-in directly.

urahonky

If you don't have a PS2 keyboard, you can try to load optimized defaults for your BIOS and then try it again. I know I've had to do that for a few computers to get everything to work properly.