I cannot boot from any CD or DVD on my laptop. I know it is a bootable CD/DVD as I have tried it on my other computer. When I enter the bios, on my laptop, I have only 2 options under the menu boot: 1st boot device:[PM-SAMSUNG MP0804H] 2nd boot device:[YUKON PXE] However, I used to have a 3rd boot device option:[SM-MATs**tADVD-RAM] which, now, does not appear in the list. any help would be appreciated...
Couse I dont know the exact settings of your bios, I cant tell you exactly what to do, but this is the default action for all kind of bioses. It seems that your bios doesnt recognizes the device, or its settings are wrong. For starters, load setup defaults, save them and restart. Then again enter your bios setup and check if you see the device from wich you want to boot from...e.g...:[SM-MATs**tADVD-RAM] If you cant see it again, it means that you have some hardware probem.
ok, I loaded the optimum defaults and retried and, again, it wasn't there. so does this mean that the cause is defiantly hardware related?
Well, I cant say for certain that it is hardware realated, but it propably is. You can do one more check. Go to the bios tab where you set up your Hard Disks and CD/DVD roms. And set them all to Auto, or if your bios has an option to detect new Hard Disks, CD/DVD roms, force him to search for new hardware devices. If you cant see it again, it is propably hardware fault, but what kind, I cant tell. It could be the CD/DVD rom it self, the controler, the cable (if there is any) or it mey be something else.
ok it turns out the cd/dvd rom drive wasn't inserted in correctly. There was a loose screw inside which I took out and then reinserted the drive. I then went to the bios and it was there . Thanks for your help anyway