USB CD-Rom Drive

ID:186397
 
Jul 9 2005, 7:21 am
Is there a way to make my computer boot a CD-Rom from my USB CD-Rom drive? When I go into the BIOS I only have the options of my hard drive, built-in CD-Rom drive, and floppy drive.

-Ryan
Jul 9 2005, 8:24 am
It depends on if your motherboard supports it, which it appears your's doesn't.
Jul 9 2005, 10:32 am
In response to Shun Di
Crud. Maybe y'all know how to fix my broken internal cd-rom working? I've tried reinstalling the driver and everything. It responsed to me using the eject option but it doesn't read any data from a CD-rom...
Jul 9 2005, 12:32 pm
In response to Ry4n
Open up your case and check to make sure there's an IDE cable leading to your CD-ROM drive. (An IDE cable is a big flat grey ribbon cable - unless you have Serial ATA, in which case it looks more like a "normal" thin wire.)

There should be two cables leading to it: A power cable (this is easily identifiable by its bright colours and the fact that it connects to the power supply), and a data cable (the IDE cable). As the drive ejects correctly, the power cable must be fine; so just check the data cable. Try taking it out and dusting it off, then putting it back in again.

If there isn't a data cable, you'll have to put one in, and there are rules for how it's done (IDE cables are notoriously finicky).

Or your CD-ROM drive may just be broken, but let's try the above first. =)
Jul 9 2005, 12:34 pm
In response to Crispy
The problem is that the USB drive isn't getting listed on the BIOS boot list...

-Ryan
Jul 9 2005, 12:38 pm
In response to Ry4n
I edited my post, read it again. =)

I know what the problem is, but there is probably no way to fix it short of getting a new motherboard. I'm offering suggestions to fix your internal CD-ROM drive, as you asked.
Jul 10 2005, 7:54 am
In response to Crispy
Sometimes updating the bios helps.