Vista DVD not bootable

Rubik · 24 Jan 2007 at 18:47

I've purchased a Windows Vista Buisness DVD, but unfortuanely it's not bootable. I dont have anyother windows disk to install first as this is my first build. What options do I have? Can the DVD be used to make a bootable disk on another machine, or is possible to use some sort of startup disk to allow use of the installation DVD?

Any ideas welcome.

Thanks & regards,

Craig

Clarkey · 24 Jan 2007 at 18:51

then its a poor illegal copy :/

Energize · 24 Jan 2007 at 18:53

I doubt it, it would be obvious from the disk colour, and you don't get bad illegal copies of software as they are so simple to make an idiot could do it.

First build, sounds more like a problem with the pc setup, have you set up the bios so that it boots from the dvd drive before the hard drive? Does the pc pick up the optical drive correctly?

Clarkey · 24 Jan 2007 at 18:54

yes you do get bad copies, like this one, which does not boot.

Energize · 24 Jan 2007 at 18:55

Clarkey said:
yes you do get bad copies, like this one, which does not boot.

It could be any number of things, you shouldnt jump to conclusions.

REDD555 · 24 Jan 2007 at 18:55

Where did you get it from fella and does it have the watermark anywhere on the box/case/cd?

Clarkey · 24 Jan 2007 at 18:57

Energize said:
It could be any number of things, you shouldnt jump to conclusions.

like what? Any genuine dvd would be bootable.

REDD555 · 24 Jan 2007 at 18:59

It might just be a cranky bios or hardwire problem before we jump into pirate copies?

Energize · 24 Jan 2007 at 19:01

Clarkey said:
like what? Any genuine dvd would be bootable.

The optical drive not working properly, the bios not setup correctly, a loose connection, the bios not interpreting the data correctly, the disk being damaged, or even the pressing process going wrong and the data did not get copied to the disk correctly.

Burnsy2023 · 24 Jan 2007 at 19:02

Clarkey said:
like what? Any genuine dvd would be bootable.

I agree with Energize, it's by far most likely user error rather then the disc.

Could be a BIOS problem, keyboard issue (USB), many things, but unlikely to be the disc.

Burnsy

bledd · 24 Jan 2007 at 19:06

check the bios to see if the boot order is set to dvd first

-also check to see if the drive you're using is a dvd rom!

Energize · 24 Jan 2007 at 19:07

Apparantly he's using a sata dvd drive, possibly could be an issue?

If the disk works fine from in windows like he says in his other thread I don't see how it couldn't boot unless it was a problem with the computer setup as the data is obivously on the cd whether it is a copy or not.

PinkPig · 24 Jan 2007 at 19:11

What exactly do you mean by "not bootable"? (Obviously if the person who sold it to you said "this isn't a bootable disk" then it's certainly illegal, you should get a genuine disk and use that).

Presumably you've set up your BIOS to boot from a CD? It would be irresponsible here for anyone to give advice on copying the disk and making it bootable - if it's a genuine disk it will be bootable, and you should return it for a refund if it's actually not.

Atari · 24 Jan 2007 at 19:14

I'm having the same problem with my Business DVD. I copied it last night from an image, it's worked so far on the MacBook, but not on my personal computer. It doesn't even recognise it in my computer for some reason, and my writer reads DVD-R, and +R which is what I've copied it onto.

Not sure what's going on :confused:

Energize · 24 Jan 2007 at 19:16

In his other thread he says he got the message "no bootable device"

"Diagnosis: All of the bootable drives in the system are not functioning. Normally this means that the floppy disk drive is either absent or not functioning, or has no disk in it, and the hard disk is either not connected or has no bootable active partition on it."

So I would think we are looking at a drive problem here.

Rubik · 24 Jan 2007 at 19:16

Thanks for all the quick responses, I did suspect a hardware issue originally with it being my first build and tried all those suggested possible problems through advice given in the hardware forums. Turns out here was no issue with my build though as I managed to get a Knoppix CD i had to work on it fine.

I contacted the supplier and they confirmed its a non-bootable but DVD I dont realey understand why as it's supposed to be the full version?

Here's the product details

http://www.citnexus.co.uk/acatalog/info_7_VISTABPCMB.html

lordedmond · 24 Jan 2007 at 19:17

which thread do you want the answers in ?

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17682306

can you try another known bootable disk in your PC

Burnsy2023 · 24 Jan 2007 at 19:21

Rubik said:
Thanks for all the quick responses, I did suspect a hardware issue originally with it being my first build and tried all those suggested possible problems through advice given in the hardware forums. Turns out here was no issue with my build though as I managed to get a Knoppix CD i had to work on it fine.

I contacted the supplier and they confirmed its a non-bootable but DVD I dont realey understand why as it's supposed to be the full version?

Here's the product details

http://www.citnexus.co.uk/acatalog/info_7_VISTABPCMB.html

Let me guess it's a VLA edition which is upgrade only?

In which case you'll need to upgrade from Windows.

Burnsy

jNive · 24 Jan 2007 at 19:42

not if the computer isnt attempting to boot it, or if you have your DVD Drive connected to a GigaRAID IDE port or any other sort of addon-hardware not recognised by Windows.

Even if you bios sees the device, if windows doesnt have a driver, it wont boot from it. [ response to bootable DVD not booting ]

As for your disc, then eitehr its upgrade-only, or a really bad copy

Rubik · 24 Jan 2007 at 20:30

It certainly seems to point to it being an upgrade version, below is the Installation window that appears on my XP laptop when inserting the DVD while logged in. Any quick way to tell if it's one or the other?