creating a bootable cd

[bpinto]

i downloaded the ADRIANE-KNOPPIX_V6.2.1CD-2010-01-31-DE.iso and burnt it on a CD as an ISO.
i tried to boot another computer with this CD but it does not recognize it and requests to enter a system disk.
i assume i did something wrong.
what should i have done to create a bootable CD from the downloaded ISO ?

[Harry Kuhman]

Burning as an ISO is all that is needed to make a disc bootable. Any option that tries to make it bootable will lead to problems.

If you want a German version you may want to stick with the ISO that you have, if you want an English version then get a version with EN and not DE in the name.

If you are sight impaired then the Adriane version is what you want, but most Knoppix users prefer the version without Adriane in the name.

It is important to check the md5 checksum to confirm a good download, and to burn the disc at low speed. I suggest 4x for DVDs and never over 8x for CDs (4x for CDs is even better but some new software pretends that it can't go slower than 8x even though other software can do it on the same hardware).

Obviously the BIOS must be set to boot from CD/DVD before hard disk.

[Harry Kuhman]

Follow the documentation link near the top of the page and read the Downloading FAQ for details.

[bpinto]

i downloaded the English version as you suggested (KNOPPIX_V6.2CD-2009-11-18-EN) and burnt a CD as ISO. i have inserted this CD in the desktop I am trying to fix. when i reboot the computer it starts the process and stops with a "disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter" message.
now what?

[Harry Kuhman]

Same as I said before. Something is wrong, but you don't seem likely to tell me what it is.

You clearly have a working computer, since you burnt the disc in it. Can THAT computer boot the CD?

Did you confirm the md5 checksum of the ISO file? Did you burn at low speed?

I know nothing about the computer that is failing. What make and model is it, what vintage, and so on? Is it even a PC and not a Mac or a Commodore 64? Did you go into the BIOS setup and make sure that it is trying to boot from the CD before the hard disk? Does it even have that option? Are there more than one disc drive and are you using the primary one (the one that is master, assuming they are IDE drives and not SATA drives)?

Did you read the downloading FAQ? When we have had problems in the past with someone not being able to get a new CD to boot we've updated the FAQ to include what we have learned, so you either have a completely new problem or it should be covered somewhere in the FAQ.

Do you know that the optical drive in the system that you are trying to boot is functional? That seems like the most likely point of failure if all of my other concerns have been addressed.

[bpinto]

the CD itself seems to be ok as the autorun starts when i try it on another computer.
the PC i am attempting to fix has a windows XP OS that i was trying to upgrade from a XP installation disk. the process was stopped when 39 minutes were left with an error message 426. the PC is now stuck in a loop where it tries to continue the installation and fails again and again.
following some options of breaking this loop i ended up with the option of trying to reboot from a CD with another OS, hoping it will allow me to do something on the computer, even formating it and starting from scratch...
i have set the bios boot sequence to boot from CDROM and disabled all other possible devices. i think your idea of the process not reading the CDROM at all is correct because i have inserted the windows XP installation disk again and now it does not recognize it either.
i am really at a loss here and will appreciate any help.

[bpinto]

urgent update!!!
i changed something in the bios boot sequence and now the PC loaded the knoppix OS and i can see all documents on the HDD.
i will back all this up and would want to attempt the XP installation again - i may be a fool but that's the OS i know... :-)
do you have any word of advice on how to do this without getting stuck again? do i need to format the HD or can i attempt the installation as is?

[Harry Kuhman]

Again, I don't have any information to base help on. Same questions apply, one CD drive or two? Do you have another drive that you could swap in? If you post actual details about the computer in question then you might get a response from someone with the same hardware.

Why just boot the CD up to see autorun start? Sounds like you didn't go all of the way into Knoppix, which makes me wonder if you have additional issues. You're not answering simple things, like did you confirm the md5 and burn at low speed. Believe me, I'm asking these because they matter, a cd burnt at high speed could well boot on one system but not boot at all on another (although your new report of the Windows CD not booting either does make it sound like a drive issue).

[Harry Kuhman]

You know, it might be a little helpful to the next guy if you gave more technical details than just saying "I changed something".

Knoppix will be fine for backing up your documents, to a flash drive or to another computer on the network (I like to use FTP for that), or even e-mail them to yourself. As to reinstalling Windows, this isn't a Windows forum and I don't know what went wrong the first time so I can't suggest what to do next. But once you have your needed information backed up you should be able to experiment and get things working, assuming it is not a hardware failure that mucked up the install.

Hint: if you boot the Knoppix CD and type memtest at the boot prompt you can run memtest86. Considering the failure, I would try that.