Laptop not wanting to boot from cd drive

[nando]

hi,
im trying to format my laptop (Toshiba Satellite) im curently runing xp.
i try booting from the cd rom but it keeps loading windows on reboot.
i put cd-rom first and hdd second (sometimes last) in reboot menu in bios but still no luck.
when rebooting i never see the promt to boot from cd-rom (press any key).

can anyone help PLEASE.

 

[frozenlead]

Are you sure your CD works?

 

[jamesro]

if everything works
i.e the cd rom works during xp reading discs and you can read the contents of the cd in xp
then its prob your bios.
you said that the boot order was correct in the bios and saved.
maybe also look for an option "quick boot" or "silent boot" or something along those lines and disable it.
that may skip what your implementing manually into the boot order.
next option if that is a no go
try updating your bios... usually at the manufacturers website...
they should have detailed instructions on how to do that.
you should then have hopefully have no problems

 

[nando]

im currently obtaining a other copy of xp and ill try again, with a new cd. i hope it works.
ill let u know if it works
but thanks for the help

 

[jamesro]

no worries... if you updated your bios and it still doesnt work.
its probably your disc.
i have heard of copied discs of windows not wanting to be bootable before...
hopefully that may shed some light on your problem

 

[nando]

Ive tried an original copy of a windows cd, and still no luck. Computer just won’t load the disc on restart. The cd works if I open it while in widows. All I want to do is format and start again and it’s really getting to me now.

I’m stuck can someone please help me.

 

[TroyFromKy]

Do you know if your recovery partition in intact? I recently did a recovery of a Satellite using the recovery partition. That being said, What Particular disc do you have? Is it for your make and model (toshiba), or is it a retail version of windows?

 

[nando]

the disc i had came with my laptop.
i finally got it to work. i must say that im not a person that reads instructions, i like to figure things out on my own, but i had no chose, i was running out of ideas. i read that after turning off the laptop, you hav to wait for the capacitors to discharge before rebooting. so i waited quite a while before rebooting and what to u know it booted from the CD.

but thanks for all the help.

PS. lesson READ INSTRUCTIONS.