The BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is used to find the device on which the operating system is located and starts it up. It's also used for the initial hardware configuration and low-level hardware access.
The appearance of
plug'n'play
devices and their widespread use means that all
modern BIOSes can initialize these devices. In order for
Linux to recognize plug'n'play
devices, your
BIOS must be configured to initialize them.
Changing your BIOS'
settings is usually performed by holding down the
Del key (some BIOSes use the
F1, F2, F10 or
Esc keys instead) right after the computer is
switched on. Unfortunately, there are many types of
BIOSes. Therefore you will need to look for the
appropriate option yourself. It's often called (or ). Set this option to No
and the BIOS will then initialize any plug'n'play
devices, which helps Linux to recognize them.
All recent systems can boot from a CD-ROM. Look for Boot sequence or First boot device in the BIOS' features setup, and set the CD-ROM as the first boot device. If your system can't boot from a CD-ROM you will need to use a floppy boot disk.