Won't boot from Windows CD

[ElNiNoSt0rM]

Hey all,

Well, to make a long story short, I was upgrading my brother's motherboard to something more modern (which presented a host of different problems, but I think I got them working, even if the RAM is running at slightly lower speeds than its designed to run at).

Anyway, I have the following configuration:

1x IDE slot, which is occupied by his HDD as the master and a CD drive as the slave (both with appropriate jumpers).

The problem is (even after setting the CD drive to boot first in BIOS and going even further by selecting it from the boot menu using F12 during post) I can't get it to boot from a CD!

It says:

Boot from CD: _ (flashing, trying to read the disc)

And then it tries to boot his HDD (which is a full XP install but obviously won't work given I replaced the mobo). I don't care, I'm just trying to format it and install a new copy.

The windows XP Pro CD I'm using is booting in another computer, which is why I'm getting so perturbed. I've even tried FIVE (yes, count them, FIVE) different drives all giving the same result. Granted, 4 of them are relics in their own right (1st or 2nd generation HP cd burners, when DVD burners were a glint in someone's imaginative eye), and the 5th (which is newer, very much so) has a dysfunctional motor or something and won't open, so I can't drive it on that.

Anyone have any ideas for this frustrated builder? I've been reading that it's possible to use floppies to bypass the booting from CD and then get to the XP installation manually? Any help on that would be appreciated (even if it's just a link). Thanks for any possible input.

-Matt

EDIT:

Sorry, my specs:

Gigabyte EP45-UDR3 Motherboard
WD 120 GB HDD
Various CD Drives lol
1x DDR2 OCZ Reaper 2G (have another but for testing purposes).
550W Rosewill PSU
Pentium D 2.66gHz processor

Think that's about all the relevant information anyway.

EDIT2:

Both are recognized in BIOS (although they are under IDE Channel 4, for whatever reason).

 

[mechBgon]

I was wondering if it says "Press any key to boot from CD" but that line is off the bottom of the screen where it doesn't show? Maybe try once more and hit the spacebar at the appropriate time, to eliminate that possibility.

 

[ElNiNoSt0rM]

I'm mashing keys the entire time, haha.

It has to be spacebar? Hm, never remember it being the case when I've formatted in the past.

I'll try spacebar though (couldn't hurt).

 

[ElNiNoSt0rM]

It just occurred to me:

Can drives that aren't DVD burners (and I guess not DVD readers?!) read burned DVDs? I'm using a copy provided online by Penn State to all students (but it's burned onto a DVD-R). Works in my laptop with a DVD burner/reader.

That might be what's doing it. I'll try to put it on a CD-R.

 

[Fardringle]

It doesn't have to be a burner to read burned DVDs, but it does have to be a DVD reader. The CD-R should work if his computer doesn't have a DVD drive.

 

[ElNiNoSt0rM]

Yeah, I'm an idiot.

It booted just fine when I used a CD-R version of it.

Sometimes it's the little things that we overlook, eh?

 

[Denithor]

DVD in CD drive...

:roll:

ROF:laugh:MAO

Seriously, if that's the worst problem you encounter while working on computers, consider yourself very, very lucky!