Will only not boot to Vista setup??

GoStumpy

Golden Member
Sep 14, 2011
1,211
11
81
Very wierd problem I'm having...

Computer came with Vista Home Premium, I want to reinstall that on a new HDD.

However, it will not boot from any Vista DVD. I've tried 4 different downloaded ISO's, one of which was used to install Vista on a laptop that I fixed...

XP OEM will work, Windows 8 will work, Windows 7 will work, Ubuntu will work, but not Vista!

What the heck is going on? Any ideas?
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,587
10,225
126
I've had this problem with certain Dell Pentium 3 motherboards. They absolutely would not boot an XP disc. The solution, was to install Win98se or WinME, and then, from inside that OS, install XP as an upgrade.

There's something about the BIOS in this machine that prevents booting the XP disc.

There could be a similar issue with your machine.
 

GoStumpy

Golden Member
Sep 14, 2011
1,211
11
81
Well I got it to work this morning with the 5th ISO download... Burned it at 6x instead of 16x as well. Worked!
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,319
10,738
126
I burn everything as slow as possible if I have the time. I don't think 2* or 4* is unreasonable for an overnight burn.
 

GoStumpy

Golden Member
Sep 14, 2011
1,211
11
81
Weirdest part for me was that I tried to use the same exact disc that worked fine in a laptop I reinstalled, and wouldn't work on this computer... That part baffled me!

Finicky DVDRW perhaps? Even though it's brand new.....
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,319
10,738
126
Some readers seem to be more tolerant of errors than others. I dunno; I hate optical drives. I try to do everything via USB