Friday, October 02, 2009

Workaround for CDBOOT: Cannot boot from CD - Code 5 Error

I tried to install Windows 7 on an older home-brew PC (MSI 875P NEO FIS2R motherboard, Pentium 4 2.8GHz), but when I tried to boot to the install DVD, the following message comes up: "CDBOOT: Cannot boot from CD - Code 5". I spent hours researching different ways to get my old machine to boot from the Windows 7 install DVD, but I finally found one that worked for me:
  1. Download Gujin boot/system loader (scroll to the bottom for the latest version, standard-2.7.tar.gz, as of the time of this post)
  2. Use 7-Zip to unpack the file you just downloaded
  3. In 7-Zip, with the standard-2.7.tar.gz file opened, double-click on the nested file standard-2.7.tar, and then double-click on the nested file full.img.gz
  4. Drag the file floppy.144 out of 7-Zip to your desktop, and close 7-Zip
  5. Use InfraRecorder to create a bootable CD that will emulate a floppy drive (using floppy.144 as the image)
    • Launch InfraRecorder and create a new data CD
    • Click File, Project Properties, and click the Boot tab
    • Click the plus + button to open the floppy.144 file you extracted in step 4 above
    • Leave the Emulation type set to Floppy and click OK, and click OK again
    • Click the CD icon in InfraRecorder to burn the current compilation to a CD
  6. Once the CD is finished, boot the machine with the new Gujin CD you just made
  7. If you have two CD/DVD drives, insert your Windows 7 install DVD also. If you only have one CD/DVD drive, wait until Gujin loads, then insert your Windows 7 install DVD
  8. Once Gujin loads, it will search your computer for all bootable drives, follow the instructions and then select your Windows 7 install DVD from the menu and watch the Windows 7 install load!  No more "CDBOOT: Cannot boot from CD - Code 5" errors! Whew!
(Source: Windows 7 Forums)

6 comments:

  1. I LOVE Windows 7. Running it on this machine. Awesome. How did they not think of some of these things earlier!? I'm just having a problem with my Intel graphics card, so can't play StarCraft.. :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, I wasn't able to run certain older games on Windows 7. You might have some luck running it or even installing it with compatibility mode for XP enabled. I've gotten some older games to kind of work. If you have Windows 7 Professional or above, you can try XP mode, with Virtual PC, although you may find that the extra overhead might be too much to realistically play the game.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow this worked and now I can stop beating myself over the head on this trying to figure it out :)
    Thanks a million

    ReplyDelete
  4. Same Problem wird a Dell Server and Windows 2008R2. I do not have Hardware Access to this mochine ans Gujin does not detect the 2 Virtual Drives the DRAC 4 Controller offers to me..

    Only possibility: Running linux and installing Windows in a VMWare..

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is why I love the internet! I can't thank you enough for your method that just worked for me on my doomed old laptop. Cheers! :)

    ReplyDelete