Hi all,

Really going mad with this problem...basically cant boot Linux from my cd-rom .Tried everything , changing the drive , using different copies of the cd , nothing works ..my pc is fairly old..its a dell optiplex gx1.It has Windows xp running on it ...for some reason I cant wipe xp off and just install Linux.When i put the disk at the start ,after changing in the BIOS boot from cd-rom , it still goes straight to XP. Really am starting to get frustrated with this. Any help would be greatly appreciated .

Keith

Hi and welcome to LQ Whn did you last flash the BIOS? Maybe the GX1 is too old to boot from the cd. Have you tried using a boot floppy (should be instructions on the cd)? How did you burn the cd - did you "burn it" or just copy the .iso to the blank cd? Have you tried the disk in another pc?

And, for future reference, please try to make the thread title descriptive of the problem - it makes it easier to find when searching.

If you have the option in the BIOS to boot from the CD then if Windows continues to load then at that point it is already past your primary problem... I mean that if you see windows they Either your BIOS is not doing what it should our the disk is a Bad burn or burnt improperly.

How did you burn the Linux CD and what distrobution? Have you tried booting another CD that you know is bootable? That would eliminate the BIOS being the problem...

Check the CD your burned in Windows Explorer. There should be more then one file their. If it does seem to be burned as a bootable image then check the MD5SUM of the .iso file as well.

KC

Hi Kencaz..

The disk is fine , works okay and have tried other distros both RH Fedora and Enterprise on other pc's, work fine on them but not on this one .So from what your saying it must be a BIOS problem??? if so, any idea how to fix it!!

Hi Xavier..

Thanks for the reply. Yeah ive been told that its more than likely that the GX1 is too old , if thats the case would you know if theres any way around it ?? As regards the burning of the CD , received it as part of the literature for my Linux course not quite sure!!! Sorry for the vagueness of the title , think utter frustration has got the better of me!!

Read "XavierP's" post above... But you still have not said of you can boot other CD's on that computer..! So if the disk boots on other systems then yes it is most likely a BIOS issue.. You can also go the boot floopy route or use a boot manager like SBM:

http://btmgr.webframe.org/

KC

I would suspect that you need to use a boot floppy along with the cd. My distro of choice is Slackware, so I will use it as the example.

http://www.mirror.ac.uk/mirror/ftp.s...0.1/bootdisks/ gives the "bootdisks" folder of the install disk. You should have an identically named folder on your own install disk. If not, go to the distros website and look around for the ftp download site. Go to the folder which corresponds with the version you have (distro-xx.x) and use the files there.

In my example there is a readme.txt file which explains how to create the boot floppy - basically, put a blank floppy in your drive and run rawrite.exe. Then boot from the floppy with the cd in the drive. The disk creation will need to be done from within Windows. So it's a good job you haven't wiped it yet!