No OS, can't boot from cd rom

[Jim Steele]

Hello

I just got a computer and requested no operating system so I could install my own, but it won't boot the disc from the cd rom. Just some info you might want to know the motherboard is an Asus PFP800 SE. Intel Pentium 4. I tried to change the boot order but it didn't matter. In the boot order it didn't even mention a cd-rom, it had three items, one being the floppy, the other two were just numbers and letters. My friend tried a few things and he got it to say "Reboot and select proper boot device.
or Insert Boot Media in selected boot device and press a key"
Before it just had the Asus logo then went to a black screen with a blinking curser.
what do you all think? I'm kind of lost. Thanks much.

Brad

 

[Praetor]

but it won't boot the disc from the cd rom

Any idea why not? Are you sure the CD is bootable?

 

[Jim Steele]

Hi Praetor,

I have no idea why it isn't booting. I don't know many techincal things about computers. Yes the disc is bootable - I used it to install xp on my current computer. Thanks

Brad

 

[Praetor]

In the boot order it didn't even mention a cd-rom, it had three items, one being the floppy, the other two were just numbers and letters

??? I think that's the problem there.... what were those numbers and letters?

 

[kb1ghc]

i have the same problem with an old laptop,

a Win95 install got currupt, and the laptop came with a Win95 CD, the CD rom drive is a PCMCIA card to SCSI interface, then SCSI to the 1x CD rom drive. and i can't boot from any CD.

 

[Jim Steele]

Praetor,

1st: [PM-WSM-S2Z]
2nd: [1st FLOPPY DRIVE]
3rd: [3M-ST380013AS]

I'm not sure if all bios have this but it says on the side : A device enclosed in parenthesis has been disabled in the *corresponding type menu

*I don't know what is referred to here

So with that, I'm not sure if they are all disabled? but I can press enter one each one to get a list of those three items plus [DISABLED], which when selected gives a [DISABLED] in the boot drive, so that makes me think they aren't disabled.

Thanks

Brad

 

[Praetor]

Any idea what PM-WSM-S2Z is? the last one would be your HDD

 

[Jim Steele]

Praetor,

I really don't know - possibly my cd-rom? I have tried both of them as the first boot device but neither worked. I guess it makes sense now, that the last one didn't work

Is it possible my cd-rom is not integrated into the BIOS?

Thanks

Brad

 

[Praetor]

Is it possible my cd-rom is not integrated into the BIOS?

Possible, some things you can try:
1. Make sure everything is physically connected well
2. Boot off a W98 floppy and enable CDROM support, run the setup after you've booted

 

[Jim Steele]

Preator,

I don't quite understand your second suggestion. I don't know what you mean by a Windows 98 floppy (I assume you mean a floppy with win98 on it, which is what I don't understand). How do I enable cd-rom support? and you said "boot off a Win98 floppy..." as in, boot my disc off the floppy? Sorry for the confusion. Thanks again..
Brad

 

[Praetor]

With the Windows98 boot disks (i dunno if they had this in Windows95 boot discs or not), when you boot off the floppy it will give you three options:
- Boot with CDROM support
- Boot without CDROM support
- Something else.
If you select the option to give you CDROM support, when you finally get to C:\ you can then switch to your CDROM drive and run the Setup to install the operating system and so on.....