If you experience problems booting from the CD or DVD, there may be a number of reasons for this. If your CD-ROM drive is an older model, it is possible that it is not supported.

The boot sequence in the BIOS (basic input output system) may be incorrect. Information about changing the BIOS settings is provided in the documentation of your motherboard and also in the following paragraphs.

The BIOS is a piece of software that enables the very basic functions of a computer. Motherboard vendors provide a BIOS specifically made for their hardware.

Normally, the BIOS setup can only be accessed at a specific time — when the machine is booting. During this initialization phase, the machine performs a number of diagnostic hardware tests. One of them is a memory check, as indicated by a memory counter. When the counter appears, look for a line, usually below the counter or somewhere at the bottom, mentioning the key to press to access the BIOS setup. Usually the key to press is Del, F1, or Esc. Press this key until the BIOS setup screen appears.

	Keyboard Layout in the BIOS
The BIOS is often limited to the US keyboard layout.

To change the boot sequence in an AWARD BIOS, look for the ‘BIOS FEATURES SETUP’ entry. Other manufacturers may have a different name for this, such as ‘ADVANCED CMOS SETUP’. When you have found the entry, select it and confirm with Enter.

In the screen that opens, look for a subentry called ‘BOOT SEQUENCE’. The boot sequence is often set to something like C,A or A,C. In the former case, the machine first searches the hard disk (C) then the floppy drive (A) to find a bootable medium. Change the settings by pressing PgUp or PgDown until the sequence is A,CDROM,C.

Leave the BIOS setup screen by pressing Esc. To save the changes, select ‘SAVE & EXIT SETUP’ or press F10. To confirm that your settings should be saved, press Y.

If you have a SCSI CD-ROM drive, change the setup of the SCSI BIOS. In the case of an Adaptec host adapter, for instance, open the setup by pressing Ctrl-A. After that, select ‘Disk Utilities’, which displays the connected hardware components. Make a note of the SCSI ID for your CD-ROM drive. Exit the menu with Esc then open ‘Configure Adapter Settings’. Under ‘Additional Options’, select ‘Boot Device Options’ and press Enter. Enter the ID of the CD-ROM drive and press Enter again. Then press Esc twice to return to the start screen of the SCSI BIOS. Exit this screen and confirm with ‘Yes’ to boot the computer.