Boot from usb-cd drive

[johndoe2]

Hi all

We have a fit-pc2 without a monitor that we have to boot from a usb external cd drive. When the system was installed, it was done from such a drive so the BIOS is setup for being able to boot from the cd. But it doesn't, it boots from HD.

Do we need to press a key during boot to make the bios read the cd drive in stead of the HD?

Thanks a lot.

[yogev_ezra]

What are you trying to boot?

If it's Windows XP, then it searches for installed operating systems on hard disk. If found, it will present "Press any key to boot from CD..." and give you about 3 seconds. If you don't press anything during this time, it will start booting from hard disk even if CD is present.
If Windows XP CD does not find any OS on the hard disk, then it will boot from the CD automatically.

[johndoe2]

Thank you!

It's a linux live cd. But that shouldn't matter, I guess. The bios should just search for something to boot from and not analyze it before starting the boot process.

So, the trick must be to hit any key at startup until the cd drive spins up. Thanks again!

[yogev_ezra]

I know that some Linux boot CDs behave the same as Windows XP. So try to hit Enter a few times immediately when you hear the CD spins.