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From: Salvador Freemanson on 3 Feb 2010 17:55
On 03/02/2010 20:52, me/2 wrote:
> On Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:42:58 +0100, Salvador Freemanson<spam(a)go.home>
> wrote:
>
> :>Someone handed me his old laptop, which had a dead battery (i.e. if you
> :>remove the power cord, it immediately stops. The battery holds no charge
> :>whatsoever), the computer was full of viruses and wouldn't boot.
> :>
> :>I changed the hard drive and put the original hard disc asside to
> :>recover the guy's files for him.
> :>It booted up fine from various linux live DVDs, and from a copy of XP.
> :>But it wouldn't boot from the manufacturer's master recovery CD. I've
> :>checked the CD on another machine, and it's fine. The machine's internal
> :>drive is fine as it boots from other CDs
> :>
> :>Any ideas anybody?
> :>It's a Packard Bell R4604 by the way.
>
> I know on some older Toshiba models the factory restore CD was not bootable.
> You had to boot from a floppy disk that loaded the CD-ROM drivers and then
> continued the setup from the CD. You said you checked the CD on another
> machine. Did it boot on the other machine or did you just check it for
> readability?
>
> me/2


I just checked it for readability, as these CD's only boot on the right
machine and I ddn't have another similar machine. I did ask the guy
whether he was sure it was the right CD, as other members of his family
also have packard bell machines. He insists that it is. Anyone know if
there is any way of telling by reading the files? The label just says
Packard Bell Master CD 1 (there's also a 2) plus a part number.

But the floppy disc can't be the solution - the machine doesn't have a
floppy drive!
In the meantime, I'll try Barry's suggestion of copying it. Also, I
wonder whether it might boot from an external drive.
From: Bob Villa on 4 Feb 2010 07:40
>In the meantime, I'll try Barry's suggestion of copying it. Also, I
wonder whether it might boot from an external drive.

I think I said it 1st, Sal!

bob
From: Salvador Freemanson on 4 Feb 2010 08:28
On 04/02/2010 13:40, Bob Villa wrote:
>> In the meantime, I'll try Barry's suggestion of copying it. Also, I
> wonder whether it might boot from an external drive.
>
> I think I said it 1st, Sal!
>
> bob


Well Bob, your reply said to make a copy from the machine that boots.
In a later post, I said that other machines can read this CD but I don't
have a machine of the same model for it to boot.
From: BillW50 on 4 Feb 2010 10:14
In news:hkcqqe$s2k$1(a)news.eternal-september.org,
Barry Watzman typed on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:45:47 -0500:
> That's true, but the reason was that, at that time (1990's) CDs were
> not bootable PERIOD. Bootable CDs didn't come along until about 2000.
> Toshiba laptops since CDs became bootable have all been bootable, but
> if you go back to something like a Satellite 445 .... yes, you had
> start from a floppy.
>
> me/2 wrote:
>
>> I know on some older Toshiba models the factory restore CD was not
>> bootable. You had to boot from a floppy disk that loaded the CD-ROM
>> drivers and then continued the setup from the CD. You said you
>> checked the CD on another machine. Did it boot on the other machine
>> or did you just check it for readability?
>>
>> me/2

I am pretty sure that when Windows 95 was released on CD back in Aug
'95, that was bootable. You know you had the original release version,
as it would accept all zeros as a keycode. That quickly got fixed with
later versions. The story I heard was that the Windows 95 beta testers
were using all zeros as the keycode and they forgot to plug it during
the first release.

And I am positive my Windows 98SE CD is bootable. As I used it all of
the time as a boot disc. I don't recall if my Toshiba recovery disc are
bootable or not from '99. They probably are, as I have no floppy start
disc for them. Although I believe I only used them once and put them
away.

The oldest Windows CD I have is from a Packer Bell 486 with Windows 3.1
from '93. I am pretty sure this one won't boot on its own. As that one
did come with a floppy boot disc.

My Toshiba T1950CS 486 ('94) had floppies for reinstallation. Hmm... I
don't think it had a CD drive in that laptop either. It didn't have a
fan either and it cooked itself in 5 years. And I haven't heard of any
of them still working for about 8 or so years now. Maybe they all are
dead by now.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3


From: Barry Watzman on 4 Feb 2010 19:47
I may have been a year or two off in my recollection of when bootable
CDs came along. But the point of the post (that you had to start from a
floppy because on those OLD computers, NO CDs were "bootable") is still
correct.


the wharf rat wrote:
> In article <hkcqqe$s2k$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>,
> Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOSPAM(a)neo.rr.com> wrote:
>> That's true, but the reason was that, at that time (1990's) CDs were not
>> bootable PERIOD. Bootable CDs didn't come along until about 2000.
>
> Ummmmmm, the windows 98 install cd was bootable...
>
> So was the Solaris X86 cd for that matter.
>
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