Boot/Recover from CD/DVD drive

[z10566sa]

Previous to the last 2 or 3 Win10 updates. The CD/DVD drive worked as expected with read, write and boot.
It was possible to place a boot or recovery DVD disk in the drive and boot the machine.

As this machine is presently, it is still possible to read/write to the CD drive.
But the machine will not recognize a boot disk in the drive. That feature is not available until the drive is enabled as the first read device in the BIOS.

So then, in a working system. When there is a need to recover an image of the HDD/SSD from an external backup, the system will not recognize the recovery boot disk in the CD drive. It is first necessary to enable the CD drive in the BIOS.

And once the recovery is finished it is advised to return the BIOS to the original setting because the system can become unstable.

Therefore the question is, when there is a situation where the machine won't boot from the internal HDD/SDD, can the recovery be done from a disk in the CD drive, since changing the BIOS may or may not be available ?

 

[Saltgrass]

I suppose therenmay be a situation where you particular DVD drive is not being recognized or may need a firmware ugrade to work.

Otherwise, if the media is inserted in the drive prior to booting, can you access a Boot Device Menu. If so, does the media show up in that?

Are you working with a Legacy or UEFI system?

This media has been tested and worked earlier?

The only system I have with a DVD drive is a desktop system and it seems to be behaving in an inconsistent manner.

 

[z10566sa]

I suppose therenmay be a situation where you particular DVD drive is not being recognized or may need a firmware ugrade to work.

Otherwise, if the media is inserted in the drive prior to booting, can you access a Boot Device Menu. If so, does the media show up in that?

Are you working with a Legacy or UEFI system?

This media has been tested and worked earlier?

The only system I have with a DVD drive is a desktop system and it seems to be behaving in an inconsistent manner.

All software and hardware upgrade available are present on this machine.

with a working system
media in drive the drive is in the Boot Device Menu

UEFI system

Known good boot media recognized on older machine also working

What is unknown is if the box is dead will it see the boot media in the CD drive after the POST run

 

[Saltgrass]

Not really sure what you mean by "box is dead". What you are doing does not rely on Windows being installed, it is a Bios function.

You should not have to enable the DVD drive as the first boot drive as long as you have the Boot Device menu which overrides the Bios primary boot device.

 

[z10566sa]

I am using "Box is dead" to indicate a condition where the machine is plugged in and powered up but nothing else happens no display no keyboard input.
With a boot disk in the CD drive and turning off and turning on, Power cycling the machine, it does not see the boot media even though the Boot Device menu indicates that the CD is the first Boot device.
Since this is a working system, it Boots from to the HDD
What if it couldn't boot from the HDD what then ?
would the CD become active then by default ?

 

[Grizzly]

In addition to that you may have an issue with the boot device. Since your PC is apparently running UEFI system, an Boot disk in the dvd drive that is not UEFI compatible will not work. You need to set the boot system to "MBR" or "Legacy" instead to be able to boot. That unfortunately offers a new problem. If you want to recover the system it will need to run as MBR unless your recovery medium is able to recover in UEFI mode. After recovery of course you need to change the boot system back to UEFI (but only if the recovery was made for this mode), otherwise leave it in MBR/Legacy mode...

I have an ACER desktop at work that will not run MBR boot media, only boot media that are made for UEFI. If I set it to legacy it will boot any medium that does not have UEFI as boot system (meaning older boot media)...

 

[Saltgrass]

A system will normally look for a second or third boot device listed in the Bios. Does the DVD show listed as secondary boot device?

Folks install Windows to a clean drive all the time, so normally the system will boot correctly. Your scenario with not having display or keyboard would require the system to have more serious problems than just a normal boot device.

 

[Clintlgm]

CD/DVD recovery media is legacy most computer are not even coming with Optical drives. You need to create your recovery to a USB Thumb Drive

 

[BigFeet]

Yeah, most systems nowadays don't come with an optical drive at all. Just about everything is done using a thumb drive.

 

[davehc]

"When there is a need to recover an image of the HDD/SSD from an external backup, the system will not recognize the recovery boot disk in the CD drive. It is first necessary to enable the CD drive in the BIOS."

Long time back since I had a use for the feature on windows 7, but wasn't that always the caase?


t is advised to return the BIOS to the original setting because the system can become unstable. - Why would it become unstable? Do you have a link.. etc stating that? I still have Computers/Laptops with internat optical drives. I have not personally, ever had "stability" problems -can't really se how it could occur, but you may be right.

can the recovery be done from a disk in the CD drive, since changing the BIOS may or may not be available ?
The answer there lies with your previous quote. If you leave the CD/DVD as the first bootable drive, then there will not be that problem.

The advice given regarding the use of a USB bootable device is good advice. As stated, your next computer will most certainly not have a n optical drive, although you can always attach an external. But time to move on, perhaps. The same argument ypu have put forward will, however, still apply. It would still be a good idea to have the USB port listed as an early boot option in the Bios. But the selectable Boot menu is always there, of course.

 

[Comp Cmndo]

No need to change boot order in BIOS (UEFI).
Start the computer and press ESC, F1, F2, F8 or F10 during the initial startup screen. Depending on the BIOS manufacturer, a menu may appear.

 

[davehc]

If it is a Dell then F12. But Imho, easier just to have the boot order already in the Bios, with the DVD/USB first.

 

[Comp Cmndo]

HP is F9.

 

[davehc]

LOL. Looks like a job for seven fingers.
Sometimes a popup will be seen, very quickly, telling you which key to press for the boot menu. Even easier, is to look in the manual or browse for your particular key.

 

[StevenG]

Previous to the last 2 or 3 Win10 updates. The CD/DVD drive worked as expected with read, write and boot.
It was possible to place a boot or recovery DVD disk in the drive and boot the machine.

As this machine is presently, it is still possible to read/write to the CD drive.
But the machine will not recognize a boot disk in the drive. That feature is not available until the drive is enabled as the first read device in the BIOS.

So then, in a working system. When there is a need to recover an image of the HDD/SSD from an external backup, the system will not recognize the recovery boot disk in the CD drive. It is first necessary to enable the CD drive in the BIOS.

And once the recovery is finished it is advised to return the BIOS to the original setting because the system can become unstable.

Therefore the question is, when there is a situation where the machine won't boot from the internal HDD/SDD, can the recovery be done from a disk in the CD drive, since changing the BIOS may or may not be available ?

First, it’s very unusual that the BIOS doesn’t recognise your HDD/SSD drives if its placed as a second priority drive, when the HDD/SSD has got the operating system on it? It doesn’t matter what the Boot Priority Order’ is, the first can be an ATAPI CD/DVD ROM, an HDD-0, USB HDD etc but, if you don’t have a DVD or a USB and only have your HDD-0 then it will and should boot from your HDD-0 as that is where your windows boot files are, its very unusual that this does not happen. There must be something wrong with your BIOS and you should re-flash your bios to a new version (if its available) or re-flash it to the existing. What windows does is always boot the system from a recognisable boot drive e.g. your HDD-0 where windows is or your windows installation DVD or USB.

If you have a ‘Windows 10 installation’ media in your ATAPI CD/DVD ROM (and it’s the first Boot Priority Oder) and it works, try to do a repair as it will always go to an install process and from that you can repair your computer with available options in Troubleshoot > Advance Options. Follow these steps:

1. Create a bootable Windows 10 install DVD disk or USB media, if you don't have one already? (Use a USB thumb drive of 8GB capacity) to create an install media go to Microsoft and download the 'Media Creation Tool' from this link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 this link will also explain how to do it either with a USB media or a DVD.

2. Boot Computer from your media DVD or USB (Make sure that your BIOS is set to boot either from an ATAPI CDROM for a DVD media disk or a USB HDD for a USB thumb drive as that should be its 'First Boot Priority Order'!

3. Click > Next (once all the settings are correct e.g. language, time and currency, keyboard)

4. Click > Repair Your Computer (bottom of page, you can then see the Choose an option screen)

5. Click > Troubleshoot

Also, there could be a problem with your CD/DVD drive, it must be faulty and/or the cables or plugs are faulty have a look at that. Hope this helps, cheers!

 

[davehc]

To clarify, and reference to Stevens first sentence in the previous post. It is not sted as such in your posts, apparently all you are asking, is a way to use/reactivate your Optical drive?

You are able to boot into your OS on the HDD?