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[OCLUG-Tech] can't boot from older PC


I'm trying to boot a Fedora 10 Live CD from an 'older' PC that I want to use as a Linux platform, but it just won't detect the CD after a restart.

I verified that the PC can detect and boot from a Windows installation CD, so I know it's not something broken in the PC. I also verified that the Live CD is bootable on my 'newer' PC.
Is the LiveCD a CD-RW by chance? Some of the early CD-R drives don't like CD-RW's and will not recognize their presence at all. "Factory" stamped CD's, and usually CD-R's, will still work on these without a problem. My old laptop (now inherited by my father) is like that too. Have you tried a CD-R, or a different CD-R?

The second thing that can go wrong is that old drives can get out of alignment a bit. If the drive that burned the CD is also a bit out of alignment but in the opposite direction, the variance can be great enough to render CD's burned on one to be unreadable on the other. Try burning the CD on a different drive, or if possible on the drive of the target system.

Cheers,
Lisa