Need to install an OS, but cd drive doesn’t work :/

August 5th, 2016

I have a really old pc at home, Athlon K6 300mhz, 128mb RAM… that kind of pc. Currently it has Win2k installed, but it can’t handle that because there’s not enough RAM. I wanted to install a lightweight linux distro (puppy) on that pc so my mom can use it for Internet – Mail – Text editing, but guess what… that stupid crappy cd drive won’t read the boot-cd I burnt (the cd is ok, my computer can read it). It doesn’t support booting from USB either, so I’m out of ideas: how the heck can I install that linux distro without using a cd/usb drive? Or is there a way to, let’s say, update the BIOS so usb booting will be possible?
Fyi, the cd drive is a Toshiba (too lazy to check the details) and the driver is ok. It reads normal cd’s, but no self-burnt stuff
Thanks a lot for any help

Answer #1
Are you sure it’s a CD, not a DVD?
Answer #2
Yes. It’s a Philips CD-RW. I tried non-rewritables as well, but it simply does not recognise anything when you put them in the drive.
Answer #3
Take your the drive in your PC and put it in there. Just so you can finish installing. It might not be a problem with drive itself it might even be a damaged IDE cable. Cables can give out over time. You need to do some testing tbh
Answer #4
Buy a new drive..They are dirt cheap:
LiteON DH-16D3S-02C 16x Serial ATA DVD-ROM (Black) – OEM
�9.99 (�11.74)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-071-LO&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=&name=LiteON%20DH-16D3S-02C%2016x%20Serial%20ATA%20DVD-ROM%20(Black)%20-%20OEM
Answer #5
Try uninstalling the CD drive in device manager (or equivalent) then reboot PC.
Try disconnecting the drive inside your PC (data and power cables) reboot your PC. Then shut down PC reconnect cables and reboot again.
Try resetting the BIOS with the mobo jumper then reboot PC (but check BIOS first to make sure CD drive is first boot)
Check your CD drive has the jumper at the back set correctly (master/slave)
If your CD drive still doesn’t work, create a new partition on the HD, extract the Linux OS into a folder on the new partition then try installing from there. The new partition should act as a new drive to all intents and purposes.
Can’t think of anything else to try at the moment ……… Good luck with it walter !!

Answer #6
The weird thing is, the CD drive works. It just does not read anything I burnt myself, ‘official’ cd’s are no problem. I have no idea what it is, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the driver or IDE cables.
create a new partition on the HD
I have a new partition that is ready for use
extract the Linux OS into a folder on the new partition
How exactely do I do that? Looks like a good idea
Thanks for the help guys
Answer #7
extract the Linux OS into a folder on the new partition
It’s possible. I’ve seen people on Youtube do it. It’s not easy to install and OS from a partition on a HDD. I’ve never made it work before
How’re you so sure the IDE cables are fine? Check the BIOS. Even if it’s simple it’ll have one. See if it’s detected there or not. Take out the drive and test it in your machine. That’ll tell you if the drive is fine or not
Answer #8
Well, the drive DOES read CDs, so it should be fine. Do you think that a bad IDE cable could cause it not to read a specific type of CDs? Sounds pretty weird to me, but then again, I’m a total noob to hardware
Answer #9
The weird thing is, the CD drive works. It just does not read anything I burnt myself, 'official' cd's are no problem. I have no idea what it is, but I don't think it has anything to do with the driver or IDE cables.
create a new partition on the HD
I have a new partition that is ready for use
extract the Linux OS into a folder on the new partition
How exactely do I do that? Looks like a good idea
Thanks for the help guys

Extract the .ISO using winrar or PowerISO etc.
You don’t extract it onto the partition you want to install the OS to, it must be a different partition (doesn’t have to be a blank partition). For example, if you have windows 2000 installed you could extract it to a folder on that partition then install it onto a new blank partition, which has been formatted for linux (different formatting to XP/Vista etc).
It’s worth a try although I don’t know if it will work with Linux. I done it with XP in the past but that’s all.
Incidentally, if your drive reads ‘official’ CD’s and not the ones you burnt yourself than it has to be something to do with the burning or the CD’s and not the drive. If it’s very old then it could be the drive only supports 4x or 8x CD’s.
It’s so strange seeing you here as a VIP and not a mod mate …………. makes you one of the normal ones again
Answer #10
The weird thing is, the CD drive works. It just does not read anything I burnt myself, 'official' cd's are no problem.
I’ve seen that with older CD/DVD-ROM drives. they wont read burned media CD-R/RW & DVD-/+R, but will read official (pressed) discs. you can try burning @ a slower speed and check for a firmware update. i always keep a spare CD/DVD-ROM for OS installs on older hardware.
Answer #11
then install it onto a new blank partition
The question is, how?
which has been formatted for linux
Gah, I have a few partitioning tools to format to the ext3 format, but guess what… they’re on self-burnt cd’s . Does linux support FAT32?
Incidentally, if your drive reads 'official' CD's and not the ones you burnt yourself than it has to be something to do with the burning or the CD's and not the drive. If it's very old then it could be the drive only supports 4x or 8x CD's.
I don’t know, but the drive says 52x, so I guess that’s not the problem
It's so strange seeing you here as a VIP and not a mod mate ............. makes you one of the normal ones again
I never was abnormal
Thanks a lot for the help
Answer #12
To be perfectly honest you should just get a new CD drive. They sell for dirt cheap like Liony said. Don’t even get a DVD Drive just a cheapo CD-ROM will work
Meh if you live near me I could’ve given you drives for free. I throw out many PC’s at work and I scavenge parts before hand
Answer #13
Not worth the trouble. I should throw the whole pc away tbh, it’s garbage anyway
Answer #14

^|^ wrote: Select all

Take your the drive in your PC and put it in there. Just so you can finish installing. It might not be a problem with drive itself it might even be a damaged IDE cable. Cables can give out over time. You need to do some testing tbh
aw, i was going to say that…