Please help! How do I boot from CD?!
 

I just downloaded and burned the Edubuntu ISO onto a disk, and plan to install it on my old Windows 98 computer. The ONLY problem is.. I can't seem to get the system to boot from the disk so I can install it. I already got an answer that I need to get into BIOS, but I'm stuck there. I press DELEATE to enter setup as the system is starting up, with the Edubuntu disk in the drive, and I get into the setup menu but I don't know what to do next. :cry: Please someone help I hate Windows 98 and I want to be free from it!

In the bios you need to find the section that lets you change which device you boot from. What is the name of your bios maker? i.e. Phoenix, AmiBios, Award?

Well, since most PC's are different, including the BIOS menu/setup, you'll need to do a little browsing. What you're looking for is the boot sequence. You need to set the CD-ROM as 1st boot device, and HDD as 2nd. Once that's done, you need to find "Save changes and exit" (or something similar).

I think it may be Award.

Here is somemore info:
I enter setup and these are my choices:

Standard CMOS setup
BIOS features
Chipset features setup
Power management setup
PNP/PCI configuration
Load BIOS defaults
Load setup defaults
Integrated peripherals
Supervisor password
User password
IDE HDD auto detection
HDD low level format
Save and exit setup
Exit without saving

I enter theBIOS features thing and I infact see boot sequence there and the only options I can change it to is A,C or A,C.. Am I doing the right thing? :confused:

Can you provide the CPU type & speed, and maybe the BIOS version?

I'm fairly familiar with Award; Yes, you're doing the right thing, but it appears your PC might be too outdated, as it only allows A,C or C,A for boot sequence options, which means you can't boot from CD.

Are you using a usb connected cdrom drive or an onboard one?

You may need to flash your BIOS to update it.

What do you mean by 'flash your BIOS to update it'?

Update to a newer version of your BIOS with a flashing utility. It sounds like your PC might not be capable of booting from a CD from the options you mention. How old is it?

You may have to make a boot disk to be able to boot from the CD

DEAR
TO BOOT FROM CD FIRST MAKE A BOOTABLE DISK.then make bios settings byu changing ur boot priority. ur first boot device has to be CDROM to get into bios press DEL key from the beginning when ur computer is booting. then only thing u have to do is search in submenus for "boot device priority" save using keys which will be clearly mentioned on ur bios display panel

Your PC does not have the capability to boot from CD. I doubt there is a BIOS update available for a PC this old and probably is not flash memory anyway. You will need to boot from floppy disk. I would try smart boot manager

http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SmartBootManagerHowto

BTW
Flash memory is a form of non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The first BIOS chips were not reprogrammable and to update one had to replace the chip. So flashing is just reprogramming the BIOS memory.

Also the requirements for ubuntu are at least 32MB of memory and 190MB of hard disk space for a minimal installation of the base system. For the full default installation, you must have at least 128MB of memory and 2GB of hard disk space.

Didn't OP already say there were only 2 choices in the boot priority menu??

What are these words? (Can't find in my dictionary)
byu
ur
u

ROFLMAO!! Thanks, I needed that! ;)

I think maybe 1996 or 1997..

could you explain that a bit more so I can understand? Sounds like good advice but makes no sense..:scratch:

Did you read my post?

Did you burn the iso to the cd, or did you burn the image to the cd.

If the cd contains an iso file, you've done it wrong, and thats why it wont boot.

From bios, the boot feature is under BIOS Features. Set it to "CDROM, C, A" (if it supports CDROM).

Ok yes I burned an iso to the CD.. but it when I download ubuntu off the site thats what it gives me. I know I might be annoying now but can somone tell me what I should really be doing with the burning to CD process? I already understand the booting thing now.
BIOS Features on my old pc has C,A also.

An ISO file is a byte for byte image of the CD. Windows XP can not natively create a bootable CD from an ISO file. You can not drag N drop or extract the files to be burned first. You need Roxio, Nero or a free utility like isorecorder. With Roxio or Nero you select "burn from image" under the file menu. Once the CD is burned you can view its contents and if you see files and directories then it is good.

OK I have Roxio and I was not using the usual XP burning thing. I will try some of the apps that you said.

Re-burning will make no difference if your pc is unable to boot from cd. You need to find out if your bios can be updated by flashing, if yes you need to download the updated bios and the related flashing tools/instructions and flash your bios.

WARNING: Make sure you follow all the instuctions to the letter when flashing your bios, if you get it wrong it could kill your system.

I'm not as learned in Linux as many of the guys here are. But there are some things that I would consider before continuing:

1. If your computer's as old as it seems, how well will a newer Linux OS work on it? Does it have enough processing (at least 586) and RAM to run the newer desktops? If you blow your Windows 98 OS out, and can't get a Linux desktop working, do you feel that you can use the Linux CLI effectively? If not, you may find yourself without a computer that suits your needs.
2. Since it appears you're not adept at flashing your BIOS, I would highly recommend you find personal technical help with this procedure, rather than trying it yourself, at least for the first time. Otherwise, you might find yourself in a real world of hurt.

I live in Windows for my job, but I play in Linux. Please don't take anything I've said as an indication that you should not give Linux a shot.