I need a bootable cdrom

WeedoWeedo New
edited July 2004 in Science & Tech
I need a good bootable cdrom. Yeah, I ran a Google search on it and some websites came up for 'easily' making a bootable cdrom but they are so full of BS it's ridiculous. Is there a TRULY easy way to do this?

Comments

  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    Bootable CD-Rom for what purpose/application?
  • WeedoWeedo New
    edited July 2004
    I want to be able to boot a pc and fdisk and format the harddrive. The one I'm currently working on doesn't have a working floppy drive. I tried making one through Nero but it failed.
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    here u go
    http://www.bootdisk.com/nero.htm
  • WeedoWeedo New
    edited July 2004
    I just tried that twice a few minutes ago and it failed. Said files not cacheable.
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    have u tried using a bootable windows xp cd to do the work??
  • FormFactorFormFactor At the core of forgotten
    edited July 2004
    or make a bootable floppy with win95/98 and copy the files off of it and burn them onto a cd using nero's bootable cd option.

    or just use an xp cd like leishi85 suggested.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited July 2004
    It took me a few tries, but this site helped me make all sorts of nifty bootable diagnostic/utility CD's. It'll take some reading, though. :)
  • WeedoWeedo New
    edited July 2004
    I've tried booting from my XP cd and it says there isn't enough extended memory, thought there is 128mb. I've tried using Nero but it keeps saying 'files not cacheable' and failing. So I'm studying Bart's way though it seems needlessly complicated.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    OK, can you make the CD on another box??? AND, have you run MemTest86-- lacking EXTENDED memory error out of WINDOWS can be caused by a bad or partly unseated RAM stick, with bad place in first module in line on stick, and Memtest86 will tell you if this is RAM related??? Lack of being able to cache a download says bad file system or RAM, or that Windows is really badly messed up, or the HD is virused, or BIOS has lost ability to retain settings due to dead CMOS battery and HD parms are bad (having BIOS set a HD to CHS safety mode can cause all sorts of weird things to happen-- when battery gets almost dead, BIOS tends to do just this kind of safetying HD settings to CHS and XP or 2000 likes that NOT AT ALL and gives weird errors-- but THIS SET looks like RAM or pagefile or a badly cored Windows kernel level software set from local worm infections like MSBLAST and the like), or some combo of more than one of these. Do you have a friend who has a real legit Partition Magic CD??? That CD will boot and let you DELETE the files on HD if you want, ALL of them, by deleting the partitions themselves, but let the Windows install CD create new partitions if this is XP please. Second, if this is an HP or Compaq box and you have no XP CD, let us know bafore you wipe the whole HD. Compaq and HP and sometimes Dell have been known to hide the base Windows recovery stuff ON the HD in a hidden way and they charge for a seperate XP CD if you wipe that hidden stuff and sometimes simply make you ship the box back so they can check it out and give you a new partition set on HD with hidden partion put back if this box has the hidden Windows recovery partition on it. If the box is out of warranty they simply charge tech support fees and shipping also lots of the time. If it is warranty, have arrangem,ents made for them to look at it, please, if this is from HP or Compaq or Dell. Gateway has been known to do this also. I've gotten so many boxes where owner trashed his recovery stuff I gotta warn about this if a computer owner asks how to reformat.

    Almost nothing is worse than losing your recovery (hidden) partition by wiping it accidentally if this computer is out of warranty. You cannot wipe the whole HD and have a recovery option on some XP boxes made by major mfrs, so we GOTTA know this to keep this from happening. Unfortunately, the NOT wiping your whole HD might not even work under certain circumstances, so if this box is under warranty for support, talk to the mfr's support folks about options before wiping the whole HD.
  • CaffeineMeCaffeineMe Cedar Rapids, IA
    edited July 2004
    profdlp wrote:
    It took me a few tries, but this site helped me make all sorts of nifty bootable diagnostic/utility CD's. It'll take some reading, though. :)


    Bart's Site!!! I've no clue who Bart actually is, but his site has always yielded good results for me!
  • WeedoWeedo New
    edited July 2004
    This is not a Dell, Compaq or Gateway. I build all my own computers to avoid the things you mentioned those manufacturers do. This rig's specs:

    PCChips M811LU motherboard w/128mb pc3200
    Duron 800
    ATI Radeon 7000 32mb video
    Maxtor 15gb HD

    Yes, I do have other pc's to make the BCD on I just haven't had any success doing it yet. A good BCD with all the good stuff on it has to be worth it's weight in gold, getting one is seeming like some quest for the holy grail at this point. I don't have access to a Partition Magic cd. I will be installing Win98. I have 2 copies of XP home but they are installed on other machines. Using them to boot caused that unexpected memory error.
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