Member Avatar for acezrwild817

I am completely unable to boot my compaq presario from the cd rom drive. I have gone into BIOS and none of the cd drives are listed for the boot order. However, I know that it is seeing them because i have just used a bootable version of DOS and it could see the files on CD's. For some reason the BIOS will not let me choose to boot from them. I currently have no operating system installed so I HAVE to be able to boot from the CD drive to get a new operating system loaded. ?????????????????? what do I do????

  • 3 Contributors
  • 6 Replies
  • 115 Views
  • 3 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Laser

Dani AI

Generated

Brief, practical checklist to try before assuming the machine cannot boot from CD. These steps expand on 's suggestion to supply the exact model and on the floppy/alternate-boot points raised by .

  • Try the one‑time boot menu first. On most Compaq/HP systems press F9 (boot options) or F10 (BIOS setup) right after power on; some systems use F12, Esc or Del. The boot menu will often show an optical drive entry even when the setup screens do not list it.
  • In BIOS, load Setup/Optimized Defaults and save. Then re-check any menus titled Boot, Boot Order, Boot Sequence, Removable Devices, or Advanced/Integrated Peripherals for entries like “ATAPI CD-ROM”, “Optical Drive” or “CD/DVD”.
  • If the OS installer still won’t boot: confirm the drive type. Internal IDE/DVD drives can be affected by master/slave jumper or cable position (primary cable end = master). Laptops don’t have jumpers, but desktops do. A mis-set jumper or loose cable can prevent BIOS boot priority from recognizing the device.
  • If the CD is on an external USB drive, older BIOSes often don’t support USB-CD boot. Workarounds: use a small boot floppy or USB key (if BIOS supports USB-HDD/USB-ZIP), use Plop Boot Manager from a floppy/USB, or perform a network/PXE install.
  • As an alternate installer route: create a DOS boot disk with CD-ROM support, copy the installer folder (for example XP’s i386) to the hard drive and run setup from there. This bypasses CD boot entirely.

If posting the exact Presario model and the BIOS brand/version (sticker on the case, under the battery, or printed on the boot splash) is possible, more model-specific keystrokes and BIOS menu locations can be given. Caution: do not flash the BIOS unless the exact model and matching update are confirmed—an incorrect update can brick the board.

Recommended Answers

All 6 Replies

Member Avatar for DMR

Giving us the exact model # of the Presario and its BIOS make/version/revision would help.

Member Avatar for acezrwild817

Yeah that's the other thing. The BIOS version is nowhere to be found. It is supposed to be listed on the main screen or under one of the BIOS menus, but I cannot find it. Therefore, that would eliminate updating it.

Member Avatar for DMR

Um... bummer. :(

It sounds like you'd recognize the boot order option in the BIOS if you saw it, and without knowing the BIOS version I really don't know what else to suggest at the moment... :-|

Member Avatar for Laser

I currently have no operating system installed so I HAVE to be able to boot from the CD drive to get a new operating system loaded. ?????????????????? what do I do????

No floppy drive :?:

Member Avatar for DMR

No floppy drive :?:

Groan... I hope it's not XP- six floppies just to do it that way. Blah!

Laser, what is the exact version of Windows that you need to install?

Member Avatar for Laser

Groan... I hope it's not XP- six floppies just to do it that way. Blah!

Laser, what is the exact version of Windows that you need to install?

Sorry for the confusion; I don't need to install anything, I was just wondering if acezrwild's system had a floppy drive to boot from.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.