Can PCs boot a CD-RW?

[Sup3rkirby]

This is really bothering me. I've been trying to revive an old PC and get a nice setup going in my room with these two PCs. I was planning on running either Xubuntu or ReactOS on the old PC while the new would be on XP. But it seems my old PC is without an OS. It has a regular CD drive in it, but I've tried using a fancy DVD-RW(lightscribe) drive on it with no results here.


You see, I buy RW disc because, well you can use them more than once. Good for burning music or data CDs on the go and not having to worry about only using them once or twice.

I've actually booted PCs and a laptop off of a DVD-RW disc before. In fact, I used to use those all the time. But I recently got some CD-RWs and didn't need to use a 4.7 Gb disc for a 500-600 Mb iso. But I have not yet been able to boot any live PC with these CD-RWs.

Today I tried to burn a copy of Xubuntu on a DVD-RW and used my DVD-RW drive, but the PC just won't boot it. It lights up and appears to be doing something, but then eventually boots the HDD(which has nothing on it).



What a shame. I'd hate to buy some CD-Rs and find that they won't boot either.


And as for burning these, I've actually burnt and re-burnt quite a few times and on several disc hoping maybe it was a bad write or the disc was bad....

 

[Scott B]

Hmm...have you checked the BIOS to make sure the boot sequence is in the right order? Because I know I've booted off of a CD-RW before.

 

[Spartan Erik]

If your drive can read CD-RWs (which I'm sure it does), then go into your BIOS and change your boot order/sequence and make sure the CD drive is placed before the HDD

 

[Sup3rkirby]

I am well aware of the boot order setting in the bios, and that is set to boot up the CD drive before the HDD.

I actually can boot that PC with a CD, but it has only worked with a few older CD-Rs that I had made a long time ago. So those only have outdated linux distros on them...

I guess I'll just try to find an old DVD-RW distro that I made and see if that boots. If it does, then something is going one with my current burn settings or something. Although I've tried burning the CDs on 3 different PCs so far....

 

[Smith6612]

Fedora Core would be a good distro to try to use a DVD-RW to use, it is almost 3GB big though...

 

[Sup3rkirby]

I am starting to think the problem could revolve around something in the version of linux I am using. But I wouldn't understand why.

The only linux distros that are working are older ones I've burned a long time ago. While these are also all on CD-Rs, It still seems that any new CD i've burnt will not boot on this PC. It is an older PC and maybe it doesn't support the new linux kernel or something along those lines. I really don't know though.

I've gotten some 2.x version of puppy to run fine(trouble with the installation though(after install boot is crazy slow with errors)), but the new 4.00 version of puppy doesn't even boot(meaning no grub menu or anything).

I'm not quite sure why this is. I hate to lose an old PC but all my working linux disc are pretty outdated and since none of them have any kind of online upgrade system or anything, It isn't looking good for this PC. I could use an old distro and just do updates, but i'm still using an old version of some linux distro then....


Is it possible for some older PCs to not support newer versions of linux?

 

[Sharky]

If you put the CDRW in another PC and try to boot from it, what happens?

 

[vol7ron]

There's a lot of factors that go into booting.

#1 is the ROM on the CD/DVD reader itself. You may need a firmware upgrade.

#2 Could be with how the BIOS is seeing the CD/DVD reader, again a firmware upgrade should fix this.

#3 Is how the OS is encrypted onto DVDs/CDs so depending on how you put the OS install/boot files onto the disk could affect whether it'll work or not. For instance, Microsoft makes it real hard to just copy current OS cd's to a parallel writer.

#4 The type of DVD/CD-RW you are using also affects the performance of the system. Not all discs are of the same quality. Not to mention, some work better with the actual reader then others. I know I was having problems with an XP burn one time. The burn was error free (tried it on several discs too) what I found out is I needed to use a different manufacturer and then it worked.


Hope this helps

 

[Sup3rkirby]

Well, I'm at work now and won't really be home till tonight, but I was thinking of trying a newer PC and seeing how well any of my new CDs/DVDs hold up.

A firmware update seems a bit hard without an OS on a computer though. And I don't know about choosing a different manufacturer. The CD and DVD-RW drive I've tried will run some old CD-R disc I've burnt, and those are the same brand and the new ones. The only difference other than the dates of purchase are the fact that the old ones are only CD-R and the new ones are all RW.

I've tried InfraRecorder and well as the NTI CD/DVD maker and even the Sonic burning program from an XP PC I have.


The only thing is, I am rather sure that when I take my CD-RW tonight and boot it in my newer PC, it will start up the live cd for that linux distro, as it should. And so in this case, it seems I'll be stuck either using an outdated version of linux or just not using that PC at all....

Btw, is there a way to boot a PC from a USB HDD? My guess would be you set this up in the bios, and possibly depending on the bios version and such, you boot the USB device before the HDD in the PC(SATA or whatever you may have attached).

 

[Sharky]

It's possible, but that depends on the machine. My laptop simply won't boot from a USB device, but has no problems in booting from a CD.

Do they still make boot floppies?

 

[Sup3rkirby]

Heh, boot floppies. They do still have those though, and that PC has a floppy drive. The only problem is, its my only PC with a floppy drive, so I can exactly make myself a boot floppy...


Well, it seems the CDs I've been recently burning work perfectly fine. I've tried CD-RWs and DVD-RWs and they both will boot on a different PC(well, a laptop really) with no problems. My only real guess is since this is an older PC, there must be some hardware related issue, whether it is the motherboard or what. I wouldn't think the CD/DVD drive is really the problem though because I've tried more than one and when connected to a different PC it will boot the disc. I think the simplest explaination is, the PC is just too old. Sometimes you just have to let them go.

 

[vol7ron]

...I was thinking of trying a newer PC and seeing how well any of my new CDs/DVDs hold up.

A firmware update seems a bit hard without an OS on a computer though.

Sigh.

You say you have newer PCs, you can install Linux, yada yada yada --- and you don't have an OS?

Linux is an OS, it sounds more like you just don't want to do the work to update the firmware first.

You'd either have to attach your reader to the newer PC and do it that way, or just install Linux first on that computer to download/install the firmware.



Could you please do me a favor and connect that CD drive to the newer PC and see if that works. I have a feeling that the issue is what I've been saying all along --- your CD/DVD drive is the problem and either needs a firmware update or needs to be replaced. The problem could be memory/motherboard related, but is more likely to do with the reader.

If people aren't going to listen, I'm just going to stop helping.

 

[Sup3rkirby]

Sigh.

You say you have newer PCs, you can install Linux, yada yada yada --- and you don't have an OS?

Linux is an OS, it sounds more like you just don't want to do the work to update the firmware first.

You'd either have to attach your reader to the newer PC and do it that way, or just install Linux first on that computer to download/install the firmware.



Could you please do me a favor and connect that CD drive to the newer PC and see if that works. I have a feeling that the issue is what I've been saying all along --- your CD/DVD drive is the problem and either needs a firmware update or needs to be replaced. The problem could be memory/motherboard related, but is more likely to do with the reader.

If people aren't going to listen, I'm just going to stop helping.

I appreciate your help, but this does not seem to be the problem. I have connected the CD and DVD drives to a newer PC. My linux disc have successfully booted from this PC.

I have don't know what you are trying to state about the whole Linux is an OS and such. I believe I was simply stating earlier that it doesn't seem that it would be easy to update the firmware for a device on an old PC when this PC can't really access any outside resources. This PC doesn't even have an ethernet port so getting an older version of linux to run on it doesn't help, unless I go through the trouble of getting a wireless adapter and installing the drivers there. I'll admit I've never done any firmware updating for anything other than networking devices and mp3 players, but usually the newer firmware is online, and so this PC is currently incapable of such access.


So simply, my thoughts on the whole matter were, how do I update the firmware on these devices that are on a shell of a PC? I realize I could do something like attach the CD or DVD drive to a new PC and update it, then reattach, but I have already ruled out the firmware being a problem. The devices can and have booted my linux CDs. It is only when attached to my older PC that they will not boot.

 

[vol7ron]

I appreciate your help, but this does not seem to be the problem. I have connected the CD and DVD drives to a newer PC. My linux disc have successfully booted from this PC.

I have don't know what you are trying to state about the whole Linux is an OS and such. I believe I was simply stating earlier that it doesn't seem that it would be easy to update the firmware for a device on an old PC when this PC can't really access any outside resources. This PC doesn't even have an ethernet port so getting an older version of linux to run on it doesn't help, unless I go through the trouble of getting a wireless adapter and installing the drivers there. I'll admit I've never done any firmware updating for anything other than networking devices and mp3 players, but usually the newer firmware is online, and so this PC is currently incapable of such access.


So simply, my thoughts on the whole matter were, how do I update the firmware on these devices that are on a shell of a PC? I realize I could do something like attach the CD or DVD drive to a new PC and update it, then reattach, but I have already ruled out the firmware being a problem. The devices can and have booted my linux CDs. It is only when attached to my older PC that they will not boot.

Okay. I'm trying to figure out what has worked and what hasn't.

So you're saying the CD-RW drive in question worked with the the newer PC, with the same disks? So the problem is not with the reader.

If that is the case, then you could have a couple of other problems. First, the Motherboard should be updated to the latest bios. Second, you should try using the newer PCs power supply in the old machine and see if that works. Last, but not least, would be a memory swap. Given the assumptions listed above from your response, my initial reaction would be that there is either faulty memory or a problem with your power bridge receiving a stable current, at a sufficient wattage, from your power supply.

----

If I've misunderstood you. Could you please list out your two PCs. And what has/hasn't worked. The only firmware you would need to update is on the CD-RW drive, which may still need to be updated to work correctly with your motherboard.