mystery EasyNote cd boot problem

Hi.

I hae recently been given a pair of PCs to fix by family, the desktop is now
running smooth (I nuked XP and reinstalled from an actual boot disc, not an
'image' type recovery disc).

then to the laptop, which had 'lost' its dvd drive, well after getting rid
of everything by sonic systems and the pxhelp20.sys drive filter problem
its sort of working, but the cd/dvd is somewhat erratic, it will *not* read
an xp disc (I have several, non work) it will read a SuSE 6.1 disc fine,
everythime. a Suse 9. DVD never reads, various other discs work just fine.

the system however will *not* boot from *any* cd, i just get a message about
the cd being non-bootabl, which it definatly is.

basically I'm trying to wipe this machine and reinstall from scratch. I have
a network connection to another machine and read the XP disc, so i can copy
files over, but i can't nuke the current install, since i can't boot
anything else.

The laptop has no floppy drive, thus i can't boot from that, i have no idea
how to boot from usb, and i'm not sure my usb mp3 player is suitable
anyway.

does this sound like a hardware problem? the bios sees the drive fine, it
registers the disc fine, it just *won't* boot from it, no matter what boot
order is set.

my feeling is that it's something setup in the bios to only boot from
certain types of disc, with certain images present, but a flat refusal to
read an XP install disc (genuine one at that) is a bit odd when it reads
other discs. i'm wondering if anyone else has had this probelm. and if so
is there a cure?

the machines apparently under warrenty still, but when my mate took it to
pcworld.. well lets just say they told her it was a 'disc drive problem',
unny since they didn't even look at it from what i hear. Does she have to
go back and be a bit more forceful?

i'm lothed to give up on this if its a software problem, aftr learning all
about drive filters, and how to get rid of them... just to get xp to even
see the drive again..

ARGH.

any ideas?


--
Claire Rand

"Claire Rand" wrote in message
...
Hi.

I hae recently been given a pair of PCs to fix by family, the desktop is
now
running smooth (I nuked XP and reinstalled from an actual boot disc, not
an
'image' type recovery disc).
_________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

I use disk imaging for my collection of boot disk.
I have been writing boot disks for some time now
Not only do I use disk imaging but that is how the major producers catalogue
them
When donloading disk imaging assures that you will be formatted if
approriate and ready to go
__________________________________________________ ______
__________________________________________________ ____


then to the laptop, which had 'lost' its dvd drive, well after getting rid
of everything by sonic systems and the pxhelp20.sys drive filter problem
its sort of working, but the cd/dvd is somewhat erratic, it will *not*
read
an xp disc (I have several, non work) it will read a SuSE 6.1 disc fine,
everythime. a Suse 9. DVD never reads, various other discs work just fine.

the system however will *not* boot from *any* cd, i just get a message
about
the cd being non-bootabl, which it definatly is.

__________________________________________________ _____________
__________________________________________________ _____________
I also write bootable cd,s as floppies are becoming a thing of the past
A true Windows XP CD is a bootable Cd (if it is true and not a copy)
I can only validate truth
__________________________________________________ __________
__________________________________________________ __________

basically I'm trying to wipe this machine and reinstall from scratch. I
have
a network connection to another machine and read the XP disc, so i can
copy
files over, but i can't nuke the current install, since i can't boot
anything else.
__________________________________________________ ___________
__________________________________________________ _____________
Can the unit be wiped clean
Yes that can be made to happen
You could even go as far as to wipe the unit clean except for a folder that
contains a copy of XP
and made to boot from C drive

Can you borrow a USB CD drive ?
Have you ever used partition magic






The laptop has no floppy drive, thus i can't boot from that, i have no
idea
how to boot from usb, and i'm not sure my usb mp3 player is suitable
anyway.

does this sound like a hardware problem? the bios sees the drive fine, it
registers the disc fine, it just *won't* boot from it, no matter what boot
order is set.

my feeling is that it's something setup in the bios to only boot from
certain types of disc, with certain images present, but a flat refusal to
read an XP install disc (genuine one at that) is a bit odd when it reads
other discs. i'm wondering if anyone else has had this probelm. and if so
is there a cure?

the machines apparently under warrenty still, but when my mate took it to
pcworld.. well lets just say they told her it was a 'disc drive problem',
unny since they didn't even look at it from what i hear. Does she have to
go back and be a bit more forceful?

i'm lothed to give up on this if its a software problem, aftr learning all
about drive filters, and how to get rid of them... just to get xp to even
see the drive again..

ARGH.

any ideas?


--
Claire Rand

metronid wrote:


"Claire Rand" wrote in message
...
Hi.

I hae recently been given a pair of PCs to fix by family, the desktop is
now
running smooth (I nuked XP and reinstalled from an actual boot disc, not
an
'image' type recovery disc).
_________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

I use disk imaging for my collection of boot disk.
I have been writing boot disks for some time now
Not only do I use disk imaging but that is how the major producers
catalogue them
When donloading disk imaging assures that you will be formatted if
approriate and ready to go
__________________________________________________ ______
__________________________________________________ ____


then to the laptop, which had 'lost' its dvd drive, well after getting
rid of everything by sonic systems and the pxhelp20.sys drive filter
problem its sort of working, but the cd/dvd is somewhat erratic, it will
*not* read
an xp disc (I have several, non work) it will read a SuSE 6.1 disc fine,
everythime. a Suse 9. DVD never reads, various other discs work just
fine.

the system however will *not* boot from *any* cd, i just get a message
about
the cd being non-bootabl, which it definatly is.

__________________________________________________ _____________
__________________________________________________ _____________
I also write bootable cd,s as floppies are becoming a thing of the past
A true Windows XP CD is a bootable Cd (if it is true and not a copy)
I can only validate truth
__________________________________________________ __________
__________________________________________________ __________

basically I'm trying to wipe this machine and reinstall from scratch. I
have
a network connection to another machine and read the XP disc, so i can
copy
files over, but i can't nuke the current install, since i can't boot
anything else.
__________________________________________________ ___________
__________________________________________________ _____________
Can the unit be wiped clean
Yes that can be made to happen
You could even go as far as to wipe the unit clean except for a folder
that contains a copy of XP
and made to boot from C drive

Can you borrow a USB CD drive ?
Have you ever used partition magic






The laptop has no floppy drive, thus i can't boot from that, i have no
idea
how to boot from usb, and i'm not sure my usb mp3 player is suitable
anyway.

does this sound like a hardware problem? the bios sees the drive fine, it
registers the disc fine, it just *won't* boot from it, no matter what
boot order is set.

my feeling is that it's something setup in the bios to only boot from
certain types of disc, with certain images present, but a flat refusal to
read an XP install disc (genuine one at that) is a bit odd when it reads
other discs. i'm wondering if anyone else has had this probelm. and if so
is there a cure?

the machines apparently under warrenty still, but when my mate took it to
pcworld.. well lets just say they told her it was a 'disc drive problem',
unny since they didn't even look at it from what i hear. Does she have to
go back and be a bit more forceful?

i'm lothed to give up on this if its a software problem, aftr learning
all about drive filters, and how to get rid of them... just to get xp to
even see the drive again..

ARGH.

any ideas?


--
Claire Rand




after playing around with the laptop some more, well its going back to where
it came from, the dvd drive is fubar... its only some 6 months old as well.

ho hum.

ta anyway, i normally use grub as a boot manager, but then this laptop is
one of the very ew machines i use thats not set up to duel boot linux.

oh and the xp disc is genuine, the dvd drive will not ready any disc
consitently now, and will not boot from anything reliably either except the
hdd. as such, back it goes
--
Claire Rand