Not booting from DVD drive

meetdilip

meetdilip

Computer Addict
I tried almost all kinds of DVD. An old Windows Insider, 14,04, 16.04 ( used to work before ), 18.04.3, Aomei Rescue Disk etc. None of the boots from DVD even I select it from the startup option pressing F12 on my Dell laptop.

When I open it through 18.04 Nautilus, I can see it mounted and can browse the contents without any issue.

I never noticed this as, since some time, I am using bootable USBs to install OS. Any idea to fix the DVD boot issue ?

In short, not booting, but can open through File Manager and browse and use etc. Thanks.
 
Desmond

Desmond

Destroy Erase Improve
Staff member
Admin
Which laptop are you using (as in how old) and what boot mode are you using (legacy or UEFI)?
 
Desmond

Desmond

Destroy Erase Improve
Staff member
Admin
meetdilip said:
It is a Vostro 3550 from Dell. This laptop is around 9 years old.



I am not sure. Is there any method to find out ? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Hmm...no direct way to find out AFAIK. Perhaps it will be mentioned in the manual? All modern BIOS these days are UEFI BIOS. On these systems, if you go to the boot menu, it will give two options for a drive, one for legacy BIOS and one for UEFI BIOS. A bootable medium made for UEFI BIOS will not boot in legacy BIOS though medium made for legacy BIOS should be able to boot in UEFI BIOS in legacy mode. I am not entirely sure this is your problem, but we can check and eliminate this at least.
 
OP
meetdilip

meetdilip

Computer Addict
I checked, there is no mention about UEFI in BIOS

Desmond David said:
A bootable medium made for UEFI BIOS will not boot in legacy BIOS though medium made for legacy BIOS should be able to boot in UEFI BIOS in legacy mode
Click to expand...

I asked someone and was told that the Ubuntu DVD can work with both legacy and UEFI. I am not sure how correct it is.

Considering WinPE and Windows DVDs are not also being used, I think he might have been correct on this. Just assuming.
 
OP
meetdilip

meetdilip

Computer Addict
Desmond David said:
I would recommend flashing your bootable ISOs to a pen drive and boot from that.
Click to expand...

That is what I have been doing lately. I was hoping to bring the boot from DVD back so that I can use the pen drive for other purposes. Boot from DVD used to work. But at some point, this error came into being. I didn't notice and modernised myself with boot from USB.

Is there anything in BIOS that will tell not to boot from DVD ?
 
Desmond

Desmond

Destroy Erase Improve
Staff member
Admin
meetdilip said:
That is what I have been doing lately. I was hoping to bring the boot from DVD back so that I can use the pen drive for other purposes. Boot from DVD used to work. But at some point, this error came into being. I didn't notice and modernised myself with boot from USB.

Is there anything in BIOS that will tell not to boot from DVD ?
Click to expand...
Then I am not sure. Since the behaviour is dictated by a custom BIOS written by Dell, I don't think there will be a standard solution to your problem except asking some Dell technician.
 
Last edited:
OP
meetdilip

meetdilip

Computer Addict
Which one to choose for SATA operation ?

AHCI or ATA ? It is currently AHCI.

Edit :

BIOS detects SATA ODD as HL -DT -ST DVD +- RW GT50N
 
Last edited:
patkim

patkim

Cyborg Agent
I believe that in your BIOS settings, DVD is set as first boot option.

AHCI is recommended, however you can also try with IDE ATA option. SATA device I/O will be a bit slower in that case. However most likely it will cause your OS to reconfigure itself to work with SATA mode as ATA and in worst case it might fail to boot. Since it's a laptop it may be difficult for you to remove the HDD, otherwise one try is to remove the HDD and see the response of BIOS when there's no other boot device present except DVD drive.

It might be that the interval for which BIOS would wait for the DVD drive to be ready is more than expected and hence BIOS ignores the DVD and moves to the next boot drive in the sequence. This is based on assumption that the same bootable DVD works on another PC. It might be due to ageing DVD drive. Is there any LED on the DVD drive? Does it blink at boot time indicating that the DVD is spinning and getting ready to be read?

Have to tried with both DVD (4.7 GB) as well as CD (700 MB) media? Do you have any bootable CD to try as well?
 
OP
meetdilip

meetdilip

Computer Addict
patkim said:
in your BIOS settings, DVD is set as first boot option.
Click to expand...

It is " Diskette Drive "

2. Hard Drive
3. USB Storage Device
4.CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive
5.eSATA
6.Network

patkim said:
This is based on assumption that the same bootable DVD works on another PC
Click to expand...

Yes, it works.

patkim said:
Is there any LED on the DVD drive? Does it blink at boot time indicating that the DVD is spinning and getting ready to be read?
Click to expand...

Never checked, will see. Thanks.

patkim said:
Have to tried with both DVD (4.7 GB) as well as CD (700 MB) media? Do you have any bootable CD to try as well?
Click to expand...

I do not have any CD. CD is no longer available here.
 
OP
meetdilip

meetdilip

Computer Addict
Talked to Dell support for over an hours. Tried a few instructions. In the end, they agreed that it is a strange situation and suggested replacing the motherboard.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom