can't boot from dvd-rom

[cscs]

Hello,

I'm attempting to do a boot install of SuSE 9.1, but am not having any luck. I tested the CD (burnt from ISO from suse.com) on two other comps and they both load up fine, so I know the problem isn't the CD.

On this device (Sony U50 handtop), there are no internal devices, only a hard drive and one usb port. However, when I put it into it's dock, I have access to a FireWire port, and I am using a Sony DDU-1621 Internal FireWire drive with an external enclosure for this drive, so it's going from the external DVD-ROM to the dock. In BIOS, I've set i.Link bootable = enabled. i.Link is sony's name for IEEE 1394 (FW), and changed the boot order so that optical drive is first then HD, floppy, network.

However, when I boot up, it just goes straight into XP instead of booting from the CD. I tried pressing escape to do a manual select of which device to boot but it does the same thing. I've read that this drive is capable of being booted from, but I'm not 100% certain, it's a bit hard to find this sort of info.

Can anyone make any suggestions? Is there a way to determine if the drive is bootable? A spec somewhere in sysinfo? Any other suggestions? I can't boot from USB because that's not an option in BIOS, only i.Link and network bootable.

Thank you for any suggestions

 

[moonsite]

In your bios, are there other options for Boot Order besides CD-rom, HD, floppy, and network? Some has USB and Firewire, SATA and so on.

 

[cscs]

no, there are no other options for boot order. also, it doesn't say cd-rom, it says optical drive, but i assume this is the same thing?

 

[moonsite]

I don't have one of those before. Yes optical drive or cd-rom is the same thing. Basically all CD drives are bootable as long as you have a bootable cd in there. Sorry, I can't help. It does say in the spec that it can boot from i-link though. Maybe you need the actual i-Link optical drives that come with the unit.
PCGA-DVRW1 (iLink DVD-RW drive),
PCGA-CRWD2 (iLink CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive)
PCGA-DVD1/A (iLink DVD-Rom drive)

 

[moonsite]

I heard you can boot from the usb floppy though. Change boot sequence to floppy first.

 

[cscs]

well, floppy drive is an option in the boot sequence, but there's no indication that you can boot from usb. only network and firewire. i've already tried booting from usb floppy, no luck

 

[CaptnKirk]

Disable APCI in the BIOS

Then it should be able to boot, run, & install.

 

[cscs]

there is no APCI option in bios

 

[CaptnKirk]

Contact Sony Support.
They may have an 'Exclude' program that denies this program change to be done.

 

[moonsite]

Did you try other bootable CD like winXP to see if it works?

 

[cscs]

yes, i've tried that moon.

captnkirk, unfortunately the unit is japanese, so it's doubtful that US Sony would provide support, and my japanese is a little rusty

i have a feeling that only a proprietary sony drive will work, which strikes me as backwards, but that appears to be the only solution.