Can't boot from cd. Any ideas why?

[Jones]

My computer is suppose to be able to boot from cd. I use Windows XP Pro. There have been times I've needed to boot from cd. I went into the bios and changed the boot order and have tried it over and over again but it won't do it. I've cleaned the cd, etc. and still no luck. But, if I format the hard drive and reinstall Windows, it boots beautifully from the cd. Why? What is the difference? I don't want to have to format each time I need to boot from cd. Any idea? Thanks! Jones

 

[Shroud]

Is your WINXP CD and burned copy or the original from Microsoft? The difference is that for a CD to be truely "bootable" it must have a boot image.

When you run XP setup from within windows and format your PC is pointed to the CD for startup for you.

 

[Seloce]

Check your boot order. It sounds like your bios is checking your HD first, then the cd. so in the case of the formatted HD, there is nothing to boot so the bios logically moves onto the cd-rom.

 

[imation]

" I went into the bios and changed the boot order and have tried it over and over again but it won't do it."

^ already done.

 

[Max Paws]

As a work-around, you might try configuring a bootable floppy with CD drivers & run Setup (or whatever program you need on the CD) on the CD at that point. Can't come up with any logical reasons why you can't boot directly from CD given the things you've already tried.