[chewmonster]

Hi there,

Many apologies if this isn't the correct place to post this - I wasn't really sure if it's a Windows 7 problem or a BIOS problem.

I have a fairly old, desktop made by a company called 'Hi-Grade'. It was running XP but had become very corrupt so I wanted to start afresh with my new copy of Windows 7. However I couldn't get it to boot from CD. Therefore I installed Windows 7 via the autoplay option from inside XP.

Windows 7 now seems to work fine and I can get in and view everything. The trouble is there are still a few niggly things left over from the initial installation of XP so I'd like to format the PC and start completely from scratch. I presumed the easiest way to do this would be to boot from the Windows 7 DVD and format / remove old partitions and then re-install Windows 7 for the second (and hopefully final) time. However I'm having real problems trying to get my BIOS to pick up my CD/DVD drive and boot from there.

I've gone into the BIOS and have changed the sequence to:

1. CD/DVD drive
2. IDE hardrive
3. Floppy.

However when I restart it just seems to ignore the sequence. I've even disabled the last 2 options so there should only be the CD/DVD drive there but it still ignores it. I don't get any kind of message asking me to press a key to boot from CD.

To enter my BIOS I use the 'Del' key, however I also have something else called a Realtek Boot Agent which I can access using 'Shift + F10'. Once inside here it gives me the following options:

Network Boot Protocol: PXE (can be changed to RPL)
Boot Order: Int 18h (can be set to 'Int 19h' or 'PNP/BEV(BBS)' or 'ROM Disable')
Show Config Message: Enable
Show Message Time: 8 Seconds

So other than the 'Del' key going to BIOS and the 'Shift + F10' going to Boot Agent if I leave it to run it comes to something called Windows Boot Manager with the following list:

1. Earlier Version of Windows (XP I presume)
2. Windows 7
3. Microsoft Windows Recovery Console

4. Windows Memory Diagnostic.

Phew. Ok, so I don't think there's any more information that I can provide off the top of my head. Really bamboozled here - why won't it boot to CD!

Any help much appreciated - even just to point me to the right place to ask this type of question.

Cheers.

Chew

Edit: P.s I'm a little worried about formating using a 3rd party app as I'm not sure if I'll be able to boot back up from the CD/DVD drive again!

Edit 2: So I managed to get a little further by unhiding the BIOS list at startup. I then used the 'Pause/Break' key to read it (as it flashes up for a fraction of a second - useless!). It gave me the option of pressing 'F11' to enter a (different?) boot menu, which I did. However when I chose the CD/DVD drive it again just ignored it and continued to boot from the HDD. I don't understand it as the CD/DVD drive works fine once I'm in Windows - why won't it detect it properly at the startup?

[TerryNet]

Let's see if we can eliminate some possibilities ...

From where and how did you get the Windows 7 DVD? Is it retail, OEM, upgrade or full, student, etc.?

Have you tried to boot from this DVD using a different computer?

Have you tried to boot another CD or DVD with the problem PC?

[chewmonster]

Hi,

It's a genuine retail Home Premium copy. I'm using the 32bit cd.

I just tried booting on my laptop and it works fine.

Looking around for another cd to try booting on the pc, will report back!

Cheers for the response!

[chewmonster]

Ok, so I just popped in a genuine XP Home CD and it booted up fine! How bizarre. Initially I thought that maybe because I was already running Windows 7 then that's why it wouldn't boot from a Windows 7 CD but that's just nonsense as it booted fine on my laptop that's also running Windows 7.

So the only difference I can see is that the XP is a CD whereas the Windows 7 is a DVD. Could it be my drivers need updating? Would that affect its ability to boot?

[TerryNet]

Wow; it sounds like you've eliminated all possibilities except that this particular computer will not boot from this particular DVD. But we do know that the driver can read the DVD, 'cause you read it in XP to install 7.

I have no knowledge to offer. I wonder if it is possible that an older BIOS can boot from CD but not DVD? If, and that's a really big IF, this is the case then a BIOS upgrade (not a trivial thing to do) would be a possible answer.

[chewmonster]

Hi Terry,

Thanks very much for your input. Must admit it's a strange one. I'm going to try using Smart Boot Manager to see if I can get into the DVD by booting from floppy, although can't see it working to be honest. Will post results either way though.

Don't fancy upgrading the BIOS if I can help it!

Cheers again,

Chew

[chewmonster]

Ok, well in the end I didn't use Smart Boot Manager.

I booted from the XP CD and used it to remove partitions / format the HDD. Then once it was installed I ran the Windows 7 installation from inside XP (still no boot joy). I'm happy enough with this as the only thing it then had to overwrite was the clean XP installation.

Phew!