Can't boot from CD-ROM

[RoeG]

I need to restore my system to factory settings but my pc will not let me boot from the CD-Rom even thpough it is set as the first boot drive in the BIOS.  I have tried using the ESC ky to get the boot selection menu but that did not work.  I remember in the past, I've gotten a message to press any key to boot from CD, but I don't get that now. Please help.

[mdklassen]

> I remember in the past, I've gotten a message to press any key to boot from CD, but I don't get that now.

That message is the message you received when you did boot from CD, and the booted software detected that the disk-drive also is bootable.  So, it is a prompt "did you really mean to boot from CD, or did you really want to boot from the disk-drive".

Turn the computer off.

Hold down any alphabetic key.

Turn the computer on.

You might get a message like "keyboard error. Press <blah> to enter BIOS setup".

Once in BIOS setup, set the boot-order to put the CD/DVD as the first option.

[RoeG]

Thanks. It is already set up as the first boot drive and the recovery CD is in the drive. It seems to ignore the bios and go right to windows. I tried using the escape key and selecting the CD DRIVE and it still goes right to windows. The last time (over a year ago) that I wanted to boot from the CD drive, I used the boot menu, selected CD and got message to press any key to boot from CD. I'm not getting this msg now

[mdklassen · Accepted solution]

> The last time (over a year ago) that I wanted to boot from the CD drive, I used the boot menu, selected CD

Can you try booting from that CD in some other computer, just to prove that the CD itself is OK?

> and got message to press any key to boot from CD.

That message is the result of a SUCCESSFUL boot from the CD, when the booted system detects that the disk-drive itself is bootable.  If the disk-drive is NOT bootable (i.e., "empty"), you will not get that message, and the boot from the CD will contnue.