Thread: CD-Rom doesn't boot

  1. #1
    Hi ay_okay's Avatar
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    CD-Rom doesn't boot

    I know I've been posting alot lately, but I am having a heck load of problems. I formatted my hard drive, so there is no OS. I boot my computer with a Win98 Startup Disk and my CD-Rom drive letter is there, but I can't read from it. I checked everywhere on the net, but nothing works. My BIOS sees the CD-ROM drive, but DOS won't read from it. I can't install Win98! Please help!

  2. #2
    VA National Guard The Brain's Avatar
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    Make sure the CD is inside the CD_ROM before booting up
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    Try setting the BIOS to boot from the CD instead of using the startup floppy.

  4. #4
    Hi ay_okay's Avatar
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    I did all that and it still doesn't work

  5. #5
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    What error message do you get when you try to read from the drive?

  6. #6
    5|-|1+|-|34|) ober's Avatar
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    www.bootdisk.com

    Download a win98se boot disk (custom, no ramdrive) and that should install a decent cd driver for you. Just make sure you make note of what it sets the drive to.

  7. #7
    Hi ay_okay's Avatar
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    I did all of that to. The message I get is
    Code:
    CDR101: Not ready reading drive G:
    Abort, Retry, Fail?
    This is exactly what I did.
    1) Got Win98 bootdisk of bootdisk.com
    2) Started up system
    3) Dos loaded(off Win98 Start up disk)
    4) CD-ROM doesn't work

    I tried three different CD-ROM drives and they didn't work. The one I am using is an ATAPI 44x. I know its not my MB because I had a similar problem on an older computer I gave up on.

  8. #8
    5|-|1+|-|34|) ober's Avatar
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    Are you sure you are specifying the correct drive? That boot disk should tell you what letter the drive was assigned to. I can only assume that you are putting a cd in the drive, correct?

  9. #9
    Hi ay_okay's Avatar
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    Ya, I asked a proffessional at Best Buy and they had no clue(lol). I'm gonna go to the guy who sold it to me and ask him to try to put an OS on it. He'll run into the CD-ROM problem and will have to fix it.(warranty). Thanks guys any ways.

  10. #10
    PC Fixer-Upper Waldo2k2's Avatar
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    usually the custom bootdisks specify X as the cdrom drive letter (I've seen R too). After loading the cdrom driver it will show a message with the drive letter of the rom. If you can get your hands on a copy of knoppix (knopper.net) then see if that will boot...

    also...is there a reason you can't boot directly to cdrom without using the floppy?
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  11. #11
    Registered User caroundw5h's Avatar
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    i think its possible you just have a bad burn on that bootdisk. You don't need to try mulitple drives. just the cd-rom, it you created the bootdisk correctly it will boot - no question.
    i would reccomend downloading a linux distrobution, burning it and then in the bios set it to boot from cd-rom. if this works - and it probably will - you'll know its the burn. IN fact, you don't even have to set it to boot from cd room. in the bios it will search sequentially for somewher to boot from. going to the next when it can't find one.
    I say this, because I've just spent the last couple days reinstalling slackware, win98,xp and vector linux and playing with fdisk for the fun and knowledge of it, and I had a similiar problem.
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