Making a CD-drive work??

[RevolutionNeo]

I love college, someone threw out an old computer just because the monitor did not work properly. So I hooked this computer up to my current monitor and it works quite well now, although it has win95. I tried installing Linux v7.2 with a bootable CD, although I found out that the computer's CD-ROM drive doesnt respond (it doesnt read cd's or register in 'my computer' but it still ejects and lights up). So this is where I need your help:
How could I add the CD drive to the win95 without using my win 95 cd?
-or-
How can i create a bootdisk for Linux?
-or-
any other suggestions are welcomed.

 

[redbeard1]

Does the bios recognize the cdrom drive is there? If it does, can it be set to boot from the cd in the bios? Booting from the cd is how linux would be installed.

Though it sounds like it may be bad, not seeing it in windows doesn't mean that there isn't a problem with windows itself. Windows doesn't need a driver to see a cdrom.

 

[RevolutionNeo]

Well, I tried esc, F1, F8 and delete during boot-up to enter the Bios menu. No such luck.

 

[redbeard1]

What make and model is the computer? You could also try F2 and F10.