Cannot boot from CD or external USB

[Colin Law]

On 21 August 2014 11:03, Thomas Blasejewicz <thomas at s7.dion.ne.jp> wrote:
>
> (2014/08/21 18:19), Colin Law wrote:
>>
>> On 21 August 2014 09:29, Thomas Blasejewicz <thomas at s7.dion.ne.jp> wrote:
>>>
>>> Good afternoon
>>> I do have an old HP nx9005 laptop, used exclusively for "experimenting"
>>> with Linux.
>>> Currently: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (installed from CD)
>>>
>>> due to the limited hardware I would like to install Lubuntu 14.04
>>> However:
>>> * when the live CD is in the drive, the PC does not read it at startup
>>> and boots "normally" from HDD
>>
>> Boot into the BIOS setup and somewhere in there you should find a Boot
>> Order setting.  In there check that the CD is shown before the HDD.
>> Alternatively one of the options shown on booting (in the BIOS startup
>> screen) there may be an option to Select Boot Device or something
>> similar which will allow you to select the CD for this boot without
>> affecting the BIOS settings.
>>
>> Colin
>
> Yes I know.
> As far as I remember the order:
> 1)    CD drive
> 2)    external USB drive
> 3)    internal HDD
> 4)    LAN (?)
> But I can move ONLY up and down through that list. The enter key does not
> work.
> And pressing Esc leaves that menu without any changes.
> So, at present I cannot change the boot order to USB drive first.
>
> And since the enter key does NOT work, neither in the BIOS nor any other
> "setup menu", there is actually NOTHING that I can choose.
> THAT is my problem.

Well that is nothing to do with Lubuntu.  Are you sure that it is
enter you are supposed to use?  But anyway I thought it was the CD you
wanted and that is shown at the top of the list so it should try to
boot off that.

Perhaps your BIOS is locked with a password.  That should be in the
settings somewhere.

Also is there not the option to hit a key (at the time you normally
hit F? to get into the BIOS) to select the boot order for this boot
only?  Look on the startup screen where it tells you which key to
press to get into the BIOS.

Finally I wonder whether the CD is burned correctly.  When you plug it
in after booting and look on the CD in the file browser what do you
see?  You should see folders such as boot, casper, dists, install and
so on.  Not a .iso file.

Colin