Cannot boot from CD in BIOS

[rogue417]

Running a Toshiba Satellite with 2 Gig Centrino chip and lots of RAM I am crashing the Jaunty right and left! A previous posting suggest the numerous hard reboots have degraded my file system, and that a fsdsk or check disk may be in order. As I understand it however I"m to run that check from CD. I would, except the CD boot in BIOS doesn't work. Chosen, yes. Work, no. A SUDO LSHW may provide more info than you need but.. here it is anyhow.

ubuntu
description: Portable Computer
product: Satellite A105
vendor: TOSHIBA
version: PSAA0U-01C002
serial: 26190637Q
width: 32 bits
capabilities: smbios-2.3 dmi-2.3
configuration: administrator_password=disabled boot=normal chassis=portable power-on_password=disabled uuid=97CB7CA0-A14D-11DA-A70E-00A0D1334C82
*-core
description: Motherboard
product: Portable PC
vendor: TOSHIBA
physical id: 0
version: Version A0
serial: 0000000000
*-firmware
description: BIOS
vendor: TOSHIBA
physical id: 0
version: Version 1.30 (01/17/2006)
size: 84KiB
capacity: 960KiB
capabilities: isa pci pcmcia pnp apm upgrade shadowing cdboot socketedrom edd int13floppynec int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb ls120boot zipboot smartbattery netboot
*-cpu
description: CPU
product: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 2.00GHz
vendor: Intel Corp.
physical id: 4
bus info: cpu@0
version: 6.13.8
slot: mFCPGA
size: 800MHz
capacity: 2GHz
width: 32 bits
clock: 133MHz
capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss tm pbe up bts est tm2 cpufreq
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 5
slot: L1 Cache
size: 32KiB
capacity: 32KiB
capabilities: burst internal write-back
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: 6
slot: L2 Cache
size: 2MiB
capacity: 2MiB
capabilities: burst external write-back
*-memory:0
description: System Memory
physical id: 17
slot: System board or motherboard
capacity: 2GiB
*-bank:0
description: SODIMM DDR EDO 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
physical id: 0
slot: DRAM Slot 0
size: 512MiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 533MHz (1.9ns)
*-bank:1
description: SODIMM DDR EDO 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
physical id: 1
slot: DRAM Slot 1
size: 512MiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 533MHz (1.9ns)
*-memory:1 UNCLAIMED
description: Video Memory
physical id: 18
slot: System board or motherboard
capacity: 64MiB
*-memory:2 UNCLAIMED
description: Flash Memory
physical id: 19
slot: System board or motherboard
capacity: 1MiB
*-memory:3 UNCLAIMED
description: Cache Memory
physical id: 1a
slot: System board or motherboard
capacity: 2MiB
*-memory:4 UNCLAIMED
physical id: 1
*-memory:5 UNCLAIMED
physical id: 2
*-pci
description: Host bridge
product: Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 100
bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
configuration: driver=agpgart-intel module=intel_agp
*-display:0 UNCLAIMED
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
*-display:1 UNCLAIMED
description: Display controller
product: Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.1
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1b
bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0
version: 04
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0 module=snd_hda_intel
*-pci:0
description: PCI bridge
product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1c
bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.0
version: 04
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport-driver
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller
vendor: Marvell Technology Group Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 10
serial: 00:a0:d1:33:4c:82
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=sky2 driverversion=1.22 firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no module=sky2 multicast=yes port=twisted pair
*-pci:1
description: PCI bridge
product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 2
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1c.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.1
version: 04
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport-driver
*-usb:0
description: USB Controller
product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0
version: 04
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd
*-usb:1
description: USB Controller
product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.1
version: 04
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd
*-usb:2
description: USB Controller
product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.2
version: 04
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd
*-usb:3
description: USB Controller &n

[wizard10000]

Re: Cannot boot from CD in BIOS

You sure the CD is bootable?

[Telengard]

Re: Cannot boot from CD in BIOS

• Is your computer capable of booting from any bootable CD. Have you ever been able to?
• Is the BIOS set to boot from CD? Are you quite certain?
• After setting the BIOS to boot from CD, did you reboot the computer with the bootable CD still in the tray?
• Did you burn the ISO as a CD image, or did you simply make a copy of the ISO on the CD?
• Is your CD drive failing? Do you have problems reading factory CDs or CDs burned on other computers?
• Did you check the MD5sum hash of the Kubuntu ISO?
• Did you verify the burned CD against the original ISO or against the offical MD5sum hash?

[arochester]

Re: Cannot boot from CD in BIOS

I would, except the CD boot in BIOS doesn't work. Chosen, yes. Work, no

As both wizard10000 and Telengard allude to:
1) Check the disk you have. Does it boot in any other machine? Does any other disk boot in the computer?

Many moons ago, when there were computers which didn't have the ability to boot from CD at all (Like the one I had!) we had to make a boot floppy first. It would boot from the floppy and pass the on operation to the CD.

Then we had SmartBootManager (SBM) which did much the same thing, but was more universal. Look at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SmartBootManager

Is your computer capable of booting from USB? You could use UNetBootin and a USB stick. Look at http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

[Snowhog]

Re: Cannot boot from CD in BIOS

At what point does the process crash? Does the LiveCD boot up at all - does it get to the initial menu? As has already been pointed out, are you sure the LiveCD is actually good - did you check both, the downloaded .iso file and the final burn to LiveCD against the md5 hash?

[rogue417]

Re: Cannot boot from CD in BIOS

Telengard asks some good questions. I apologize for not having clarified some of this in my original post. First off I am working with a bootable image of the Jaunty, having run it as a live CD on an (older) machine.
[*]Is your computer capable of booting from any bootable CD. Have you ever been able to?

Not from the Jaunty disc I burned for the purpose. I should still have copy of The Edgy in straight up Ubuntu lying around.. I can try that next.
[*]Is the BIOS set to boot from CD? Are you quite certain?

Yes.
[*]After setting the BIOS to boot from CD, did you reboot the computer with the bootable CD still in the tray?

Yes.
[*]Did you burn the ISO as a CD image, or did you simply make a copy of the ISO on the CD?

Burned as an image.
[*]Is your CD drive failing? Do you have problems reading factory CDs or CDs burned on other computers?

Not usually, no.
[*]Did you check the MD5sum hash of the Kubuntu ISO?

No. Then again this image has run Live on another machine.
[*]Did you verify the burned CD against the original ISO or against the offical MD5sum hash?

No. Then again this image has run Live on another machine.

Do note that I am trying to boot into a partitioned drive, half of it being devoted to Windows XP. I had no problems establishing the dual partition in the first place (unlike years past - I may still have a boot floppy lying around, for Mandrake!). Could that have something to do with it?

[Snowhog]

Re: Cannot boot from CD in BIOS

Okay, so the LiveCD you burned works okay on other PCs. So we will accept that the CD is 'good.' LiveCDs that work in other PCs but no on the desired PC, where other, commercial CDs work on the desired PC, might indicate an issue with the CD drive itself, as it relates to the LiveCD. So, by chance, is the CD in your PC a SATA-CDROM drive? There are known problems with using a LiveCD in a SATA-CDROM drive as apposed to an IDE-CDROM drive.

[Telengard]

Re: Cannot boot from CD in BIOS

[*]Is your computer capable of booting from any bootable CD. Have you ever been able to?

Not from the Jaunty disc I burned for the purpose. I should still have copy of The Edgy in straight up Ubuntu lying around.. I can try that next.

Please do try booting from a different bootable CD. This will establish that your computer is capable and configured for booting from CD, that your CD drive is functioning well enough, and that you know how to boot from a CD. Please don't be offended, but we can't assume any of these things, and a surprising number of users get messed up on these simple points.

[*]Did you check the MD5sum hash of the Kubuntu ISO?

No. Then again this image has run Live on another machine.
[*]Did you verify the burned CD against the original ISO or against the offical MD5sum hash?

No. Then again this image has run Live on another machine.

I am sorry, but that is not good enough. We need to know that your ISO is valid an intact, and that the CD burned correctly. Please verify the Kubuntu ISO. If the hash of your ISO matches, then boot the CD on the computer you say it will boot on and use the build in CD integrity checker to verify the CD. You could also do both in a single step by following the thread How to md5sum check the burned ISO CD, if you are not afraid of the command line.

Do note that I am trying to boot into a partitioned drive, half of it being devoted to Windows XP. I had no problems establishing the dual partition in the first place (unlike years past - I may still have a boot floppy lying around, for Mandrake!). Could that have something to do with it?

The internal hard drive of the computer has nothing to do with booting the CD, at least not on most modern PCs. That's why it is necessary to change settings in your BIOS to boot from CD. It is the BIOS which is responsible for finding a valid boot sector, not the hard disk.

It would be helpful if you can also please describe in great detail exactly what happens when you attempt to boot the CD. If some text or image appears on the screen then we probably need to know what it is. Particularly BIOS messages about boot errors, or messages emitted by the bootloader would help us get some bearing on where the process is failing. Just saying "don't work" is not enough information.

[rogue417]

Re: Cannot boot from CD in BIOS

Excuse the delay in responding to this. I would describe it in great detail, except the last time I tried booting from the CD.. it worked. :P It asked if I wanted to check the disk, and I said yes. After a moments whirring it said the disk was fine. Was it referring to the CD or to my hard disk? Thanks for your patience on this.

[Telengard]

Re: Cannot boot from CD in BIOS

It asked if I wanted to check the disk, and I said yes. After a moments whirring it said the disk was fine. Was it referring to the CD or to my hard disk?

The CD integrity check function of the Kubuntu CD verifies that the files on the Kubuntu CD are intact and not corrupt. It is shown in the image attached to the bottom of this post.

[toad]

Re: Cannot boot from CD in BIOS

As it happens I've just been through a similar experience with a Compaq Evo N610c.

Whatever I did, it wouldn't boot from a CD. I finally took out the multibay CD-Rom drive and slammed it back in. Hey presto, connection made and it booted just fine