No Booting form DVD-Drive

Hello!

Why do older computers not boot from a DVD-Drive?

Is it the DVD-Drive or the mainboard (with its BIOS or the onboard
controller)?

Thanks Manfred

Not really a Vista related question as any computer capable of running Vista
will be capable of booting from DVD. If the machine is so old that the BIOS
doesn't support booting from DVD, it isn't going to run Vista anyway.


"Manfred Heuer" <> wrote in message
news:ee2svpN%...
> Hello!
>
> Why do older computers not boot from a DVD-Drive?
>
> Is it the DVD-Drive or the mainboard (with its BIOS or the onboard
> controller)?
>
> Thanks Manfred

Hello again!

> Not really a Vista related question as any computer capable of running
> Vista will be capable of booting from DVD.

Not quite! We tested it at work: only machines younger than a year could
boot from a DVD-Drive.

The older computers are not that old: about 3 to 4 years, with CPUs faster
than 3 GHz. But all of them failed to boot from an Install-DVD-ROM.
But you could install Vista as a second operation system.

But we did not try out yet a new DVD-Drive in an older computer, so we would
have found out ourselves. That is why we asked to find out without testing
it.

Greetings Manfred




> If the machine is so old that the BIOS doesn't support booting from DVD,
> it isn't going to run Vista anyway.
>
>
> "Manfred Heuer" <> wrote in message
> news:ee2svpN%...
>> Hello!
>>
>> Why do older computers not boot from a DVD-Drive?
>>
>> Is it the DVD-Drive or the mainboard (with its BIOS or the onboard
>> controller)?
>>
>> Thanks Manfred
>

My over three year old MOBO boots DVDs fine when I select the DVD drive as
the primary boot drive in my BIOS.
Does your BIOS not see the drive? And if it does are you sure that you can
not in your BIOS select it as the primary (1ST) Boot device?

"Manfred Heuer" <> wrote in message
news:uBex46P#...
> Hello again!
>
>> Not really a Vista related question as any computer capable of running
>> Vista will be capable of booting from DVD.
>
> Not quite! We tested it at work: only machines younger than a year could
> boot from a DVD-Drive.
>
> The older computers are not that old: about 3 to 4 years, with CPUs faster
> than 3 GHz. But all of them failed to boot from an Install-DVD-ROM.
> But you could install Vista as a second operation system.
>
> But we did not try out yet a new DVD-Drive in an older computer, so we
> would have found out ourselves. That is why we asked to find out without
> testing it.
>
> Greetings Manfred
>
>
>
>
>> If the machine is so old that the BIOS doesn't support booting from DVD,
>> it isn't going to run Vista anyway.
>>
>>
>> "Manfred Heuer" <> wrote in message
>> news:ee2svpN%...
>>> Hello!
>>>
>>> Why do older computers not boot from a DVD-Drive?
>>>
>>> Is it the DVD-Drive or the mainboard (with its BIOS or the onboard
>>> controller)?
>>>
>>> Thanks Manfred
>>

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Hello Curious!

"Curious" <> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:uU$4EdQ#...
> My over three year old MOBO boots DVDs fine when I select the DVD drive as
> the primary boot drive in my BIOS.

> Does your BIOS not see the drive?

Yes, it does see it!


> And if it does are you sure that you can not in your BIOS select it as the
> primary (1ST) Boot device?

Yes, I can and did select it as primary device. But only CDs can boot, but
no DVDs.
And the DVD is all right, it boots in newer Computers.

I was really surprised, that it does not function and it made me curious
why.
And until now, I did not find an answer in the net - that is why I asked
here.

Greetings Manfred

Is the BIOS for your MOBO the most current?
Do you have any problem playing DVDs using the drive?

"Manfred Heuer" <> wrote in message
news:eM7AM4Q#...
> Hello Curious!
>
> "Curious" <> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:uU$4EdQ#...
>> My over three year old MOBO boots DVDs fine when I select the DVD drive
>> as the primary boot drive in my BIOS.
>
>> Does your BIOS not see the drive?
>
> Yes, it does see it!
>
>
>> And if it does are you sure that you can not in your BIOS select it as
>> the primary (1ST) Boot device?
>
> Yes, I can and did select it as primary device. But only CDs can boot, but
> no DVDs.
> And the DVD is all right, it boots in newer Computers.
>
> I was really surprised, that it does not function and it made me curious
> why.
> And until now, I did not find an answer in the net - that is why I asked
> here.
>
> Greetings Manfred
>
>

Your statement: "We tested it at work: only machines younger than a year
could
boot from a DVD-Drive" is absolutely ***FALSE***.

Lord, I have worked on literally hundreds of computers 4,5 even 6 years old
that can boot from a CD or DVD disk easily.

I will bet that those at work who tried to boot from the DVD had actually
installed the DVD disk into a CD drive.

Else they do not know what they are doing and are incapable of altering the
computer bios to allow booting from an optical disk!

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience


"Manfred Heuer" <> wrote in message
news:uBex46P%...
> Hello again!
>
>> Not really a Vista related question as any computer capable of running
>> Vista will be capable of booting from DVD.
>
> Not quite! We tested it at work: only machines younger than a year could
> boot from a DVD-Drive.
>
> The older computers are not that old: about 3 to 4 years, with CPUs faster
> than 3 GHz. But all of them failed to boot from an Install-DVD-ROM.
> But you could install Vista as a second operation system.
>
> But we did not try out yet a new DVD-Drive in an older computer, so we
> would have found out ourselves. That is why we asked to find out without
> testing it.
>
> Greetings Manfred
>
>
>
>
>> If the machine is so old that the BIOS doesn't support booting from DVD,
>> it isn't going to run Vista anyway.
>>
>>
>> "Manfred Heuer" <> wrote in message
>> news:ee2svpN%...
>>> Hello!
>>>
>>> Why do older computers not boot from a DVD-Drive?
>>>
>>> Is it the DVD-Drive or the mainboard (with its BIOS or the onboard
>>> controller)?
>>>
>>> Thanks Manfred
>>

It may be that the drives cannot read the particular type of DVD or CD
and need firmware updates. Check for firmware updates for the drives on
their manufacturers' sites.


On 29/06/2009 17:55, Manfred Heuer wrote:
> Hello!
>
> Why do older computers not boot from a DVD-Drive?
>
> Is it the DVD-Drive or the mainboard (with its BIOS or the onboard
> controller)?
>
> Thanks Manfred

Your testing is flawed, PC's have been booting from CD/DVD drives for over
10 years now.


"Manfred Heuer" <> wrote in message
news:uBex46P%...
> Hello again!
>
>> Not really a Vista related question as any computer capable of running
>> Vista will be capable of booting from DVD.
>
> Not quite! We tested it at work: only machines younger than a year could
> boot from a DVD-Drive.
>
> The older computers are not that old: about 3 to 4 years, with CPUs faster
> than 3 GHz. But all of them failed to boot from an Install-DVD-ROM.
> But you could install Vista as a second operation system.
>
> But we did not try out yet a new DVD-Drive in an older computer, so we
> would have found out ourselves. That is why we asked to find out without
> testing it.
>
> Greetings Manfred
>
>
>
>
>> If the machine is so old that the BIOS doesn't support booting from DVD,
>> it isn't going to run Vista anyway.
>>
>>
>> "Manfred Heuer" <> wrote in message
>> news:ee2svpN%...
>>> Hello!
>>>
>>> Why do older computers not boot from a DVD-Drive?
>>>
>>> Is it the DVD-Drive or the mainboard (with its BIOS or the onboard
>>> controller)?
>>>
>>> Thanks Manfred
>>

HI Manfred.

> Yes, I can and did select it as primary device. But only CDs can boot, but
> no DVDs.

Perhaps the DVD laser is burned out, even though the CD laser in that drive
still works - and the drive still spins. (Yes, it has happened to me.)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 RC 7100

"Manfred Heuer" <> wrote in message
news:eM7AM4Q#...
> Hello Curious!
>
> "Curious" <> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:uU$4EdQ#...
>> My over three year old MOBO boots DVDs fine when I select the DVD drive
>> as the primary boot drive in my BIOS.
>
>> Does your BIOS not see the drive?
>
> Yes, it does see it!
>
>
>> And if it does are you sure that you can not in your BIOS select it as
>> the primary (1ST) Boot device?
>
> Yes, I can and did select it as primary device. But only CDs can boot, but
> no DVDs.
> And the DVD is all right, it boots in newer Computers.
>
> I was really surprised, that it does not function and it made me curious
> why.
> And until now, I did not find an answer in the net - that is why I asked
> here.
>
> Greetings Manfred