Hi,
I am trying to boot a compaq 1850 with Redhat 9.0 or Fedora, both of which I have burned off of my Windows XP Desktop using Nero Express onto TDK Writable CDs as Data (not Data Bootable). This has worked in the past with Linux 8.0 and various Windows OSes, but for some reason, I am unable to boot from either of the CDs that I have burned of Linux (9.0 or Fedora). Could someone tell me if there is a proper procedure I should be following for burning a 9.0 or Fedora image from a Windows Operating System onto a CDRW so that the media is bootable?
I would appreciate any assistance or suggestions anyone can provide!
Thanks very much,
Greg

Welcome to LQ.

Have you tried the disks in another machine? Double check that the machines BIOS is set to boot from a CD.

XP will not natively burn an ISO file. You need either a cd burning program or a special utility to do so. The microsoft version of the utility is included with the deployment tools from Windows server 2003 or 2000.

The second most often mistake is not to choose the create cd from image (the choice is available from the files toolbar in Eazy CD creator), then choosing .iso in the scrolling file type window during the set up phase of burning a CD.

The third thing that has happened to me is that XP will corrupt the download if it doesn't come from a fast enough mirror-server.

There is an MD-5 generator for windows, get it. Then compare the generated number to the number which is given to you on a file on the server from which you downloaded the .ISO file.

Most distributions will include a media checker as part of their installer. Use it if the media boots.

There is a switch in Nero which will allow you to burn a CDRW as if it is a CDR.
Then, you have the option to erase it so it can again be used as a CDRW. I believe you mentioned the switch as bootable data. Not sure, I don't use NERO.
CDRs cost .25 cents a piece. Just burn it to the appropriate media and throw it away if that is what you want to do. Personally, I keep a copy of everything I have ever installed to my machines, I can always throw them away.

native xp burning is crap. get smth like alcohol or nero.. burn @ RAW DAO mode X1... anything but RAW will change the format of the iso image

I've encountered problem burning much higher than 24x will encounter problems (or risk corruption of media). I usually burn between 16 and 12x forISO images.

In Nero, remember to use the Open CD image option to fetch your ISO to burn. Dont just drag your ISO file on to the data CD template in Nero -- that will just burn the iso file as a regular file. I just open the file and immediately choose the burn CD option.

Of course, don't forget to set your BIOS to Boot to CD (each BOIS has a slightly different way to set this -- mine does it by boot order: floppy, then CD, then HD1).

Good Luck.

Thanks all! Eqwatz, I figured out with Nero how to burn ISO images directly to disk and that seems to have solved the issue!
If anyone has any further time to spare, though, I would appreciate any feedback on my latest newbie issue regarding installation freezes (sheepish grin) which I posted on a few minutes ago! Same machine, same installation disks that now boot up properly! (RedHat 9.0 and Fedora) This is the result of a small IT department with a boss who gives you a project on an operating system you know NOTHING about! D'OH! ;-)