PC won't boot from CD

BionicPenguin

So, I've had this PC for about a year and it's slowed down quite a bit. Because of this, I've decided to go back to basics, as it were. I've inserted the system recovery DVD and tried doing just that. Unfortunately, no matter what I do the system won't boot from the DVD. It says to press any key to boot from CD but no matter what I press it just ignores it and boots from the HDD. I've tried going into the BIOS but the DVD drive is already the primary boot drive. I even tried disabling booting from HDD and that still didn't work. I don't think there's anything wrong with the DVD drive as it can read discs just fine.

Any help would be much appreciated.

wunderbar

it could be that the system is not recognizing your keyboard at boot. Try plugging a different keyboard in and see if that works.

BRAINS!

good idea wunderbar, you may also want to check the connection of the keyboard. If you have a USB make sure it is not in an expansion card USB hub for instance. make sure it is plugged into one of th onboard USB slots. Or, grab a good 'ol PS2 ported keyboard.

It appears you selected for the BIOS correctly so hopefully it is something simple.

Ruckus

wunderbar wrote: »

it could be that the system is not recognizing your keyboard at boot. Try plugging a different keyboard in and see if that works.

That's what I thought at first too, but then how did he navigate his BIOS to check boot orders?

The only thing I can guess at is that he's using a USB keyboard and there's some USB keyboard legacy mode or something that needs to be turned on to use the keyboard between where the BIOS stops and Windows begins.

A good ol' PS2 keyboard would probably circumvent this problem as well, at least until Windows is running again.

BionicPenguin

Thanks for the help. I might be able to find a PS2 keyboard at work. If I'm unable to find one, are they still sold in stores? Are they even made anymore?

BRAINS!

no fear, if your office orders them most keyboards come with a USB to PS2 adapter these days. Ask your IT guy. If you can't find one just ask any computer store and they'll most likely give you one just to get rid of it.

DrFrylock

Here's a really dumb question that would fit your symptoms perfectly: are you sure the CD you have in the drive is really bootable?

blincoln

I would definitely double-check that the disc is bootable and not damaged. If you have another drive to try it in, that would be good too - I was rebuilding a system last week and it would only boot from my installer CD from one of its drives, not the other.

Tofystedeth

BRAINS! wrote: »

no fear, if your office orders them most keyboards come with a USB to PS2 adapter these days. Ask your IT guy. If you can't find one just ask any computer store and they'll most likely give you one just to get rid of it.

That's not going to help. Or at least not necessarily. I had a computer loaned to me by the comp-sci department for my Operating Systems class so we could screw up the kernel safely. It was so old it couldn't boot without a ps2 keyboard plugged in. It didn't even work if I used one of those adapters. I ended up getting one with a bunch of bad keys from the IMS department and just swapping it out for my working one after it POSTed

BionicPenguin

It turns out the keyboard was, indeed, the problem. That elusive any key has now been pressed. Thanks for all the help.