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When trying to boot from CD, no bootable devices found
Hello,
I just bough a Dell Inspiron 15 30000, which has Windows 10 already installed. However, I bought this laptop to do some research which requires me to install Scientific Linux instead.
I have changed by BIOS to Legacy, and when I try to boot from my CD/DVD Drive, I get the message "No bootable devices-- stike F1 to try reboot ..." etc. I understand various other people have had this issue but in a different context, windows 10 is actually working fine (ie, I can boot from the hard drive just fine)- I can go back into that, but I want to format the computer and install SL on it.
I have checked the CD drive by going into windows, and when I placed the boot DVD it could read the contents fine. I have also burned another CD and tried that, while also burning a live CD, all with the same result.
Any help on what I could do to get SL on this laptop would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
kebabvendor
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March 6th, 2018 18:00
Okay, I tried again, two times with an Ubuntu DVD I just burned, and two more times with the SL DVD. I get the same message, on a black screen (No bootable devices-- etc).
These are all CDs/DVDs I have taken from the office and they might be old, but as I mentioned, the computer can read the contents when in windows, and I've used one of the SL CD's to do an install on a VM. I'm kind of confused as to what could be wrong- I'm going to try live booting lubuntu from a USB next. Thank you for your time, any more suggestions are greatly appreciated!
ieee488
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March 6th, 2018 18:00
Live CDs are suppose to be bootable, but that doesn't mean they are.
The quality of the blank media can be an issue.
Which is why I asked whether you tried booting from it. Put the CD in the tray. Reboot. Does Scientific Linux appear?
ieee488
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March 6th, 2018 18:00
How do you know that the CD you burned is bootable? Have you tried on another PC ?
kebabvendor
6 Posts
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March 6th, 2018 18:00
Hello, thanks for answering. I have used the first CD I tried to install SL on a virtual machine on another computer, doesn't this mean that it is bootable? Also, I tried a Live CD, which as far as my, limited to be fair, understanding goes, is meant to be bootable.
Do you think I should try another Linux distribution, like Ubuntu?
kebabvendor
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March 6th, 2018 19:00
I have *kind off* solved my problem by using a bootable USB and installing Ubuntu for now. I am leaving this open because I'm not sure why the CD/DVD Drive didn't work (and I also dont have a USB large enough for SL, so a solution would still help me).
Thank you again to the user who took some time to try and help me out!
Philip_Yip
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March 7th, 2018 09:00
The Optical Drive doesn't show as a Bootable Device when Secure Boot is Enabled. Anyway as you've found out it is better to install using a Bootable USB.
kebabvendor
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March 7th, 2018 13:00
Thank for your post, but as I mentioned, I am in Legacy boot mode which has Secure Boot disabled, I have changed the Boot order already, this is not my problem.
After installing from a USB stick, Ubuntu seemed to work fine. However, after closing the computer, whenever I open it, one of two things happens (yes, I've changed the boot order with hard disk first):
a.Nothing- the laptop goes to a black screen, and stays there.
b.The Ubuntu login screen freezes.
A different USB stick with a lubuntu distribution freezes before the installation can even begin. My only doubts are to whether, perhaps, using a bootable USB causes a faulty install- I do not however have another choice.
I am assuming that this is a faulty laptop and am returning this to Dell. Service was helpful, however I am extremely disapointed that I have wasted over a day of research time, while on a tight deadline- no compensation was offered, and I was told that if I wanted a different OS, I would have to instead of replacing the laptop for a new one, return it and make a new order. After confirming the return, and 30 minutes into the call, I was informed that there are no OS available, apart from Windows. I wasn't actually lied to, but I was told half the truth, resulting in even more time being wasted.
While I proceeded to purchase another laptop from Dell, I have wasted a lot of personal and research time. When discussing the above problem, I was offered, instead of a solution, the choice to purchase a laptop with a better CD/DVD drive, for an increase in price by 300$. While stupidity is trying the same thing expecting different results, I am hoping that my next order will meet the tough criteria of having an actual bootable CD/DVD drive, for less than 500$.