Recently, I've been trying to create a multipurpose Bootable DOS CD to aid in diagnosing and repairing simple PC problems. So far I've managed to add USB support, long file name support, and a host of DOS utilities. (I have a boot menu to enable or disable this support.) And I can get it to boot successfully in most modern PCs. HOWEVER, I want this boot CD to be UNIVERSAL and for some reason I can not get it to boot in old PCs such as my ATX unit with an ASUS P5A mainboard. (Even though boot from CD is enabled in my P5A BIOS.)

Is this simply a matter of a mainboard that does not support this capability? (It is a "Pentium Super7" (Socket 7) mainboard dated from about 1999 and installed with an AMD K6-2 500.) This seems unlikely as I am able to get this old unit to successfully boot other CDs, including "Boot CD+" and other DOS-based utility disks. The "Boot CD+" disk includes the following two boot image files:

BOOTCAT.BIN
BOOTIMG.BIN

And these two binary files appears just like the two files found on CDs I create with Roxio Easy CD Creator 5.

The method I've been using to create a bootable CD is via the "Bootable CD" project option in Roxio Easy CD Creator 5. Specifically, I've been doing it through the "Floppy Disk Emulation (1.44 MB)." I have not yet tried either the "Hard Disk Emulation" or "No Emulation" because it would require a lot of work to edit my complex batch files and change all the drive letters.

Do you think either "Hard Disk Emulation" or "No Emulation" would have a better chance of success? And Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 gives these two options for bootable CD creation:

"Generate Image from Floppy"
"Using Existing Image File"

I've tried both methods and neither seems to work in my ASUS P5A. Frustrating...
Perhaps I should try a different program to create my bootable image file?

Please, can somebody recommend different methods to create bootable CDs? (Preferably something done with either freeware, shareware, or a demo...)

"The ruling class has the schools & press under its thumb. This enables it to sway the emotions of the masses." -- Einstein

"for some reason I can not get it to boot in old PCs"

If you're trying to boot from a CDRW be aware that
CDROM's in some older hardware cannot read RW disks and some cannot read newly created CDR's. Something to do with reflectivity.

More info here..
http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=e...

Good luck

Thank you for the reply.

Very intersting. However: Even though I could not get this boot CD to boot on my old ASUS P5A system I could get it to read the CD once it had booted to Windows 98SE. And I burned this onto a CD-R (not a CD-RW). That said, the CD-R I burned it on is really old media. (Maximum 4x burning speed and about 8 or 9 years old!) I burned several copies on this stuff, but while they work on modern machines it won't BOOT on my old system. I may try to burn it on more modern media to see if it will work.

"The ruling class has the schools & press under its thumb. This enables it to sway the emotions of the masses." -- Einstein

You might want to give this a try:

http://bootcd.narod.ru/bcdl.htm
Bootable CD Loader v1.50Z

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Salutations,

Michel Samson
a/s Bicéphale