Debian not booting from CD

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gordontate

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I am new to Linux so please bear with me. I burned a (small) CD from which to boot a Debian O/S and altered the BIOS to select the DVD/CD for start up. Each time I tried, however, my laptop (a Compaq Presario CQ56 ) booted up Windows 7. The ISO file I downloaded and burned to disk was amd64 as the laptop runs on an amd 64bit processor. Could anyone suggest what might be the problem? I should explain that I wish to try a Linux O/S out of interest at this time and I am not too keen on having two operating systems on the hard disk until I have had experience with Linux. Thank you.
 


What Debian version did you download and from where? Many of the Debian versions are for install and are not LiveCDs.

Do you know that it was a good burn? A common mistake among noobies is to simply copy the ISO to the CD. No, burning an iso is a special operation to create a bootable Linux disk. Look at the CD through Windows 7. Does it have many files or just a few?

A good guide to burning an ISO is here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto
 
yeah I remember making that boo boo once.. I know you have to use power iso, or that's what I used to burn the iso file on the disc.. good luck!!
 
Thanks for your interest. The file I am trying to use is named<debian-6.0.7-amd64-netinst.iso> which is about 166MB. I downloaded it from a debian introduction/instruction site. I thought I had done a proper burn but maybe not. I noticed that the file does not open unless I use a procedure referred to as 'Mount'. I will try again with a new CD. I have a CD burn program called Burnaware as well as the usual Windows 7 burn facility. I noticed that the Burnaware program gives options of making an ISO disk or a Bootable ISO. If I use Burnaware should I go for the Bootable ISO or the plain ISO option.
 
Don't really know BurnAware. You might look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwlwDJQ28jI

Another common problem among noobies is "to make a bootable disk". The danger there is that it makes a DOS bootable section. That is not what you want. You want to burn an iso which makes a Linux bootable section.
 
I went for the bootable ISO option and in fact, on the 2nd attempt I nearly got there I think but I got cold feet and bought a bootable ISO disk on ebay for Linux Mint 14. It cost me very little, £1.20 in fact. However, once again I have come unstuck in trying to find an easy to understand description of how to partition the hard drive for dual booting. I expect I will get there in the end but believe me many of the articals I have read on Linux websites regarding disk partitioning are quite difficult to follow. At this stage I don't want a technical explanation of ins and outs of partitioning. I just want a simple step by step guide giving the essential moves to get Linux up and running. Desirable improvements can come after I find my way around the new operating system I would hope.
Regards to all.
 
I had a similar problem with an old laptop with amd64 when I was trying to boot Ubuntu. The CD worked correctly on newer laptop (with intel processor, I am not sure witch one), so the bug wasn't in the CD. Both times I picked CD/DVD boot option, but it worked only on the new laptop, the older one wasn't able to detect it, even if I was able to see the CD in windows.
I ended up with making a bootable USB stick and it worked.
I was wondering if there could be any problem with older amd processors (or generally with laptops) which aren't able to detect linux? Or is this just a coincidence?
 
I am fairly sure the problem was of my own making and not the laptops. I was probably not taking all the necessary steps for fear of messing up the boot system.
 
ok....I have an acer netbook ao725-0687 64bit windoz 8. I've been to a number of forums and tried many times to get into the bios to disable the wonderful UEFI(EFI) garbage so I can install some form of Linux! sadly, this micro beast will not let me change anything in the bios except maybe the boot device(hard drive or usb).
what I need to find out is this....which is my best option of Linux distros to install that will install without much problems? should I try the ISO(usb or dvd) or should I go with the wubi(?) in short....HELP! lol
 
1) Please don't hijack somebody else's thread by tagging on at the end. It is not good forum etiquette. You should start a new thread about your own particular problem.

2) Have you seen http://www.alexkidd.altervista.org/alien/AO725_Debianized/index.html ?
It talks about: "A LiveCD/USB image of a recent version of Kubuntu seems to boot also on UEFI. The BIOS InsydeH2O allows to boot in legacy mode " ...and flashing the BIOS to get a new version...
 

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