Can't boot from disc to install os, please help!

Hi guys (and possibly gals!).

I recently got a new pc off of an ebay seller.

It came with just the base unit, no operating system installed. I didn't see this as a problem as i have a cd that i have tested by booting from my laptop previously.

It comes up with the option when turned on to "Press tab to show text screen, del to enter system bios".

I have made sure that "CDROM" is the primary boot drive in the bios. When i hit tab it gives me an option to press f9 to "select booting device after post". I do so and it enters the boot menu. I have the option to choose between "Removable" "Hard Disk" and "CDROM". I hit enter on cdrom and it comes up with the message "No Bootable Device Found".

Does this mean that it can not find my cd, or it does not see a drive at all?

Anyhow when i hit enter anyway it comes up with the message "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER". I have tried numerous boot disks, which i managed to boot from on my laptop, and get nothing but this message.

Can anyone help me? This is really frustrating - im really looking forward to being able to use my new computer, and at the moment am stumped.

 

Sorry about the double post but i can only find the edit title button.

My specs are :

q6600 quad core 2.4ghz
500gb sata hdd
4gb ddr2 ram
1gb 9600gt
750watt psu
"Biostar" motherboard.

Hope that helps...

EDIT: Damn it. Sorry. I just found the edit message button now. Sorry again, im a dumbass *facepalm*

 

Means CD cannot be read as bootable.

 

Hmm...strange.

Why would it work on my laptop if it wasn't readable as bootable?

I have tried a system restore cd that came with my laptop (i know it wouldnt work for installing from scratch, but surely it would recognise it?)and nothing from that either.

Thanks for the reply!

 

CD drive in the PC possibly defective?

 

Dumb questions, but is the CD drive detected by the BIOS? What type of drive? CD, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-RW? Is this a stamped or burned disc? CD or DVD? What OS?

Maybe this can clear up your problem.

 

Not a dumb question at all...quite possibly a dumb user though.

I don't know how to check that the dvd drive shows up in the bios, could you give me any directions? (sorry to be a pain) - although i can't actually see any indication to it being there, nor can i see where it would show.

The drive reads and writes both cd's and dvd's if that is indeed what you are asking.

And the disc is burned (i hope that does not go against any rules) - but as stated it boots fine in my laptop.

I have also tried both a cd and a dvd, and both burnt numerous times with slightly different procedures.

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

If it's CD media, there shouldn't be a problem with a CD-R, though it's not unheard of some drives not being able to read from others. If you haven't tried already, burn on a low setting for the CD. Usually 24x would be okay for even old CD-ROM (non CD-R compatible) drives.

As for the BIOS, there should be an area where you could look up device settings and then see the individual drives. If there's more than 1 optical drive in the desktop, make sure you're booting from the right one.

Does the read/activity light on the CD drive come on when selecting it as the boot device from the boot menu?

 

I don't think there is a problem with the disk, actually - i think maybe the bios isn't recognising the drive.

No activity light comes on when the drive *should* be reading the cd.

In the bios under "standard cmos features" there is a few things - but none seem to be the dvd drive.

There is IDE Channel 0 Master and IDE channel 0 Slave - both which are set to "none".

Then there is 4 sata devices slots, (sata 1 device, sata 2 device etc). Sata one device has my hard drive (Hitachi + a code) next to it whilst the others are set to none.

Then there is two drives, simply named "Drive A, Drive B" at default these are both also set to none.

Could any of these be my dvd drive? (I only have one installed at the moment).

 

Sounds like the drive is either disconnected or toast. I would check the IDE/SATA cable and make sure it is secure. You had mentioned that you got this from eBay, and I've seen many PC's get internal items disconnected during shipment.

Otherwise, maybe try another drive.

 

I GOT IT TO WORK

(Sorry about the caps, but i'm so glad, was getting really frustrated).

It seems some IDE settings in my bios were incorrect. I set them right, and the rest back to default, then changed to boot from disc and it worked.

Thanks for the help and replies everyone!

*does a little jig of happiness*