Can't boot from cd

maryfsan

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Apr 1, 2009
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18,510
my XP pc is crashing and i need to boot from cd. but when it says "press any key to boot from cd" my keyboard isn't recognized. can i boot from cd without keyboard confirmation?
 
Solution
You can try going into the bios and set the boot sequence to first boot from CD and disable the rest. That should work. I suspect your keyboard isn't being recognized is because it's a USB connected device, in which case you'll need a PS2 one for it to be recognized during bootup.
Try letting windows load and use windows "system restore" if possible. You pick an earlier point where your system was running normally. If this isn't possible, switch to a different keyboard; if using ps2, try a usb keyboard and use the "del" key to get into the bios.
 

flabbergasted

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Mar 1, 2006
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You can try going into the bios and set the boot sequence to first boot from CD and disable the rest. That should work. I suspect your keyboard isn't being recognized is because it's a USB connected device, in which case you'll need a PS2 one for it to be recognized during bootup.
 
Solution



Only problem I see with that is how do you go into the BIOS if the keyboard input is not being accepted so you can not press the Del key ?? - best bet is to get a ps2 keyboard and then go into your BIOS and set the USB support for the mouse and keyboard to active so that it will load the USB support before booting (it is kind of stupid that the MOBO makers disable this as default but many do)
 

maryfsan

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Apr 1, 2009
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Thanks for your replies...I just found them when I got emailed to rate the responses...anyway, problem solved. I went to BIOS and changed the keyboard USB emulation option.

It was confusing because the keyboard did work during POST so I could hit F2 to setup. It stopped working sometime after that but before "Hit any key to boot from CD..."

Thanks for your time guys/gals!