vista RTM DVD will not boot on one of three laptops - advice pleas

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Guest

I have the Vista RTM DVD ISO - filename
'en_windows_vista_x86_dvd_X12-34293.iso' and have burnt it to several DVDs,
+R, -R, you name it - with several different applications - Nero 6, burnimg,
etc, and all with the same result - my philips X51 'freevents' laptop will
not boot off it. I get the 'press any key to boot from CD or DVD', and as
soon as a key is pressed, the machine hangs.
It'll boot off an old Fedora Core 4 DVD, will boot off CDs - for example I
can install XP pro on it with no problems.
My other two laptops can both burn the dvd and then boot off it, so I know
the image is good.

Do you have any advice as to what I should check next? I'm assuming it's
either a media compatibility problem or my laptop is just refusing to boot
from burnt DVDs - I could use some advice for things to check, maybe a small
dvd image for something else I could burn to see if it's the drive, as I
don't want to spend hours downloading a different dvd image to find out that
doesn't boot either.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
Open your BIOS and set your DVD drive to the first bootable device.
And make sure the laptop actually has a DVD drive installed.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I have the Vista RTM DVD ISO - filename
| 'en_windows_vista_x86_dvd_X12-34293.iso' and have burnt it to several DVDs,
| +R, -R, you name it - with several different applications - Nero 6, burnimg,
| etc, and all with the same result - my philips X51 'freevents' laptop will
| not boot off it. I get the 'press any key to boot from CD or DVD', and as
| soon as a key is pressed, the machine hangs.
| It'll boot off an old Fedora Core 4 DVD, will boot off CDs - for example I
| can install XP pro on it with no problems.
| My other two laptops can both burn the dvd and then boot off it, so I know
| the image is good.
|
| Do you have any advice as to what I should check next? I'm assuming it's
| either a media compatibility problem or my laptop is just refusing to boot
| from burnt DVDs - I could use some advice for things to check, maybe a small
| dvd image for something else I could burn to see if it's the drive, as I
| don't want to spend hours downloading a different dvd image to find out that
| doesn't boot either.
|
| Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
Thanks for your response, Carey, but as I mentioned in my post, my laptop can
boot off an XP CD and a Fedora Core 4 DVD.

The BIOS is set to boot off the DVD Drive first, and yes, the laptop has a
DVD drive in it... I did think to check the fundamentals before posting a
question in this forum!

So, to reiterate -
Can boot from a 'commercial' DVD (Fedora Core 4)
Can boot from a burnt image of XP (slipstreamed SP2 version)
Cannot boot from a burnt DVD (Vista)

Just to avoid obvious questions - I am an MCSE with 8 years experience with
Microsoft OSes, and whilst I understand that doesn't necessarily mean I won't
make dopey mistakes, I do have enough technical experience to check the
obvious points before posting. Can you help diagnose the problem further?

Thanks
John.
 
WOW am MCSE with 8 years exp and Carey, kinda feel out of my depth,

As a way of further diagnosing the fault I'd try see if you can install you
ISO by virtual DVD, such as Daemon tools, Magic iso etc (It does mean having
to find a PC with an OS on it), but it would rule out a bad burn, you could
also check the checksum for your download.

Colin T
 
Thanks for your help, Colin, I'll learn to just accept the help in future!

I've tried it with Daemon tools v3.47 - and it loads fine. I've burnt the
image to multiple DVDs and they all boot OK on the two other laptops I have
access to - the iso will also boot in Microsoft Virtual PC and VMWare
workstation.

All I can think of is that either my laptop, for some reason, will not boot
from a newly burnt DVD - and yes, I am burning a DVD from the image, not
copying the ISO file onto a DVD - as the fedora install DVD boots fine.

Any other ideas? Thanks in advance for your help.

cheers

John
 
To me that only leaves the Laptop DVD drive and the media. I take it the
firmware of the DVD drive is up to date and it has read from a different DVD
of that media type both bootable/non bootable.

I have heard of problems where one drive can handle a burn but another can't
and it took it to be burned at 2x speed.

If you have another type of media perhaps you could try that.

Colin T
 
Thanks Colin - I hadn't considered the burn speed.
I've been using DVD-R and +R media, and the choice of that doesn't seem to
make any difference. The laptop is a Philips (rebadged Twinhead), and as yet
no updated firmware has been released for the drive - i'll dig a little bit
more and see if I can find an update.

I'll also have to locate an alternate DVD ISO that I can burn and test to
see if it's just the vista images it won't boot from.

So - some more work for me to do, anyway! Thanks for your help.

Cheers

John.
 
jjleonard said:
Thanks Colin - I hadn't considered the burn speed.
I've been using DVD-R and +R media, and the choice of that doesn't seem to
make any difference. The laptop is a Philips (rebadged Twinhead), and as
yet
no updated firmware has been released for the drive - i'll dig a little
bit
more and see if I can find an update.

I'll also have to locate an alternate DVD ISO that I can burn and test to
see if it's just the vista images it won't boot from.

So - some more work for me to do, anyway! Thanks for your help.

Cheers

John.
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