dvd rom wont boot

[Prodigy146]

i cannot install any operating system except ubuntu. windows xp sp3, server 2008, vista 64 bit, windows 7, will not boot from dvd. my bios wont even recognize any bootable dvd and ubuntu cant mount,burn, or read my dvd rom drive.

before this happened i had server 2008 r2, i cleaned my comp with an air can and i added a creative soundblaster audigy se sound card.

i've tried dissconnecting and reconnecting, editing bios options. nothing works please help.

Specs
Lakeport-G i945g intel mobo
3gb ram
3.0 p4 HT 630
ATAPI dvd rom burner dvd dual layer burner
80 gb wd hard drive sata
creative soundblaster audigy se
Passport usb hard drive 320gb

 

[eyeCpc]

I just replaced a dvd burner here that was seeing a list of problems until one day hearing a grinding sound. At first swapping the data cable helped to see live distros as well as the XP and Vista disks booted from until hearing that. Time for a new one! The drive was a year old and needed retirement.

 

[Johanster]

Question, are you booting from a downloaded CD/DVD? If you are, then you might have put the ISO file on the CD/DVD wrong.

Try putting the ISO file on a different CD/DVD, and try again.

 

[Prodigy146]

i tried 6 different iso's that have worked before, i tried taking the bios battery out and putting it back. no dice

also it makes a weird noise when it trys to boot, it winds up, stops makes a weird noise and winds up again and then ubuntu boots.

i really dont want to be stuck just using ubuntu. is there anyway i can make my 320gb western digital usb passport bootable?? i also have an extra ide hard drive. can i make that bootable?

 

[Johanster]

Probably Hardware failure?

Do you have a spare DVD drive laying around?

You might be able to make your Passport bootable, just make sure you can put it at the top of the boot list without it changing positions. Yes you can also make your spare IDE HDD bootable, you will just need to install an OS on it.

= )

 

[Prodigy146]

what i mean is puttting an iso on a usb drive and installing that iso to my main sata hard drive

is there anyway f*cking way i can do that Please

 

[eyeCpc]

Well pardoning the atmosphere if you mount the image on a virtual drive you should be able to run the installer from there. A few programs like Virtual Clone Drive come to mind for that since your optical drive seems to have run into the same type of crash.

People have asked how to see the beta release for Windows 7 installed when no dvd drive was present on laptops. http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html