Can't boot alternate OS's from CD - (caused by recent update?)

Hello,
I'm wondering whether a recent firmware update may have caused my macbook to refuse to boot installation CDs other than Windows. I'm trying to install a Linux distribution but no matter which burnt ISO I try, I can't get past the black screen and flashing cursor (remembering the days when your HDD went bad on a MS-DOS machine?)
The first funny thing is, that the ISOs I've burnt using the built-in superdrive, work fine in any other machine I've tried. Ubuntu, Gentoo, Sourcemage all fail to boot, either using rEFIt, 'C' at startup to force boot to CD or 'option' at boot to choose the boot device.
The second funny thing is that I've done this in the past and don't remember having any trouble like this. (I had MacOS X, Windows XP and Ubuntu all multibooting through rEFIt.)
Any help would be appreciated!
Brad

A lot of things could be wrong. You stated your story telling of someone deleting "all the files"? What does that mean? The only way to delete all the files is to do an erase of the drive. They can all be deleted that way.
Was this someone installing a firmware update and not following through with the proper procedure for installing the new firmware? If that's the case then I can understand having lots of issue from that point onward.
If you do not have a valid operating system on your hard drive then the computer should automatically boot with the install DVD even if you don't hold down any keys after hitting power. Since it appears that it does not then either your optical drive or logicboard components dealing with it would appear to be amiss. The question mark at boot means no valid OS can be found on any drive.
Without understanding what you meant and what was done with regard to someone "deleting all the files that could be deleted" I don't have any idea how to proceed.

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Hi everyone, first time here for me.
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By the way, I have the latest BIOS (UEFI actually) version: 6.70.
Well, congrats for reading all this :), sometimes I'm too verbose!
Now the questions:
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- To Toshiba forum personnel reading this: if it's a problem affecting this model, is Toshiba aware of the issue and/or doing something about it?
- Are there any workarounds other than using/setting up UEFI-enabled boot media? Yes, I know UEFI is the long-term solution and eventually every OS will support it, but right now not every OS does and I NEED to boot from other media for various reasons.
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> {quote:title=Tonny wrote:}{quote}
> >Just to comment on this.
> >I have a P850-31L with BIOS 6.70
> >I am unable to boot from ODD or USB. Even the Toshiba recovery media does not boot.
>
> Well, I found your other thread:
> http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=73847
> and it looks like this issue is already clarified.
>
> _You said:_
> +Firstly it's worth noting that it is possible to to disable secure boot in the 6.70 BIOS. However this option is only available when the user password is not set in the security menu. After enabling or disabling the password a reboot is required to make the secure boot enable/disable option either available or unavailable.+
> +...+
> +I selected the 'reset to factory defaults' option on the exit menu. The machine was then able to boot from USB and DVD. The boot order was also respected.+
Hi everyone, sorry for disappearing here, was busy... and couldn't carry on all the tests I wanted.
However, the good news is that what *michael_toshiba_forum* found apparently works for me, too!
*I loaded the setup defaults from the BIOS (UEFI) setup, and now it appers I can finally boot both CSM and UEFI media!*
Great find michael, thank you! By the way, USB sticks make and models now DO appear in the F12 menu while in CSM!
*EDIT:* of course, thanks to Tonny too, for pointing out the link to the other thread!
Didn't test all my media thoroughly, though. I'll post more accurate results as soon as I can.
However, while it looks like we have the solution to the problem, we still don't know the cause, and I feel this deserves to be investigated more.
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Message was edited by: BlackKatMike

Can I boot into Windows XP from a firewire enclosed Hard Drive? Boot Camp

I understand you can install XP (as long as it has service pack 2 or 3) on an Intel Mac using Boot Camp, but I was wondering if it would be possible to take a HD from a PC computer which already has XP installed, and, using an firewire HD enclosure, boot the Mac into XP from that. Would this be feasible?

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MPT Version 1.05, Firmware Version 1.27.00.00
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SPARC Enterprise T5120, No Keyboard
Copyright 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
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MaplegroveBob,
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littleshoulders
Message was edited by: littleshoulders

Can't boot alternate OS's from CD - (caused by recent update?)

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