Laptops :: Can't find my cd drive

If the cdrom is connected by a pcmcia card and DSL begins to boot from it but then fails... Try booting like this

boot: dsl ide2=0x180 nopcmcia

For the usb one, are you sure the cdrom is good, sounds like corruption on the burn or the reader is just having difficultly to read it.

Hi thanks for trying roberts

Ive managed to boot DSL2.1 straight from the cdrom in another box with an internal drive so theres no problem with the actual disk.
I tried using the bootdisks and the USB CDROM on the same PC that worked with the internal drive and I got all the same failures as the laptop did. So I guess either the bootdisk isn't picking up on the hardware or the reader is broken. I suspect the former because the drive doesn't act like its getting any instructions (it is plugged in).
If I can get hold of one I'll try another reader.
Anymore suggestions?

It works! You are a dude and a genius roberts.

Thanks for your help

Sorry stan_dard but I dont know how to help you.

If the end result is to install on an old laptop then this is what I do:

I have an old laptop with an extenal cdrom which is not recognized. But I do have a floppy drive and a usb 1.1 port.

So, I used another more capable machine to boot from cdrom and install to a usb pendrive.

Then on the old laptop, I use the usb boot floppy with the usbpendrive plugged in. At the first boot prompt I type install.

boot: install

Then you can do a frugal or traditional install from the pendrive.

HTH

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