ISO burned with macbook pro will not boot on new Servers or PCs

R

rayontheway

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I have been using a Macbook Pro almost exclusively for about a year now. The one challenge that keeps coming up is how to get Linux ISO's burned on my MBP to actually work on new servers to load a fresh Linux OS.

Im running the latest version of OS-X 10.5.5

I've tried using:
1. Disk Utility to simply burn the ISO
2. LiquidBurn
3. BurnX free

* All of these burn the disc without any errors, pass the media verify and are readable on the MBP.

The problem is that when put into a new Supermicro (or any other) server and started the server will not boot from the disc, in fact nothing but a mac seems to be able to boot from these discs.

I've taken the same exact ISO and moved it to a windows laptop and burned the ISO with Nero and those discs work and boot on the servers perfectly. This tells me it's not the media and not the ISO.

What am I missing here ? I feel stupid that I can't seem to get this to work and I'm getting really tired of making coasters.

I hope I'm not alone with this problem. If anyone has any ideas please fill me in.
 
That's strange -- I burn Linux ISO install images using Disk Utility (drag ISO into left-hand sidebar, insert CD-R, click "Burn," boot PC) frequently and they work flawlessly.

And what do you mean by "in fact nothing but a mac seems to be able to boot from these discs"? A Mac will only boot OS X without help from BootCamp or rEFit (as far as I know)... do you have either of those installed?

Just as a side note -- we have very similar setups here -- I've got my MacBook (not Pro), and a bunch of SuperMicro 1U servers. All Linux ISOs used to boot the SuperMicro servers were burned from my MacBook.
 
I'm sorry it was VERY late when I posted that.... long day... I meant to say that nothing would boot from it.

The MBP and all my PC's can see the disc and it's contents. The PC's will not boot from the discs made with my MBP, however using the same ISO and burning it with Nero on a windows machine produces discs that boot just fine in Supermicro and Dell servers.
 
Strange... I would suggest using Disk Utility to burn the CDs/DVDs, and doing it this way:

1) Drag the ISO image into the left-hand sidebar of Disk Utility. It will show up listed alongside your other drives and partitions.

2) Insert CD-R media into the optical drive.

3) Highlight the ISO image in the left-hand sidebar.

4) Click the "Burn" button at the top of the Disk Utility window.

Is this the procedure you're using?
 
Yeah I've tried that. I must have made 6 coasters now in various ways trying Disk Utility. The thing thats killing me is that I see everyone posting up that method and it seeming to work ... just not for me.

This is literally the only thing keeping me from being 100% daily mac and being windows free.... araaagh !
 
The only things I can think of are the following:

1) Try burning the CD-Rs at a lower speed.
2) The MacBook Pro's optical drive is damaged in some way.
3) The CD-R media itself is of sub-par quality.
4) Gremlins.

:O
 
I'm experiencing the exact same issue. Have literally burned thousands of CDs in the last 10 years and can't get my MBP to burn a legit bootable disc.
 
Not sure if this helps anyone. I made this mistake..... I was using a blank dvd thinking it was a cd. User error. The server I was making the boot disk for (on my MBP using Disk Util) only boots from cd's ( not dvd's).

BTW: I was unlucky as my dvd box had a cd front sheet. But still should have checked the disk to make sure it was what I thought it was:) So not a total moron - just a little.
 
I am having the same issue on a MBP that is a friend of mine. I have bricked my laptop and am trying to burn a copy of a linux dvd. Any and all media I put in the device gets ejected, or disk utility will try to burn but after a min will eject dvd and die. I have also tried to burn a copy of dban boot and nuke, a small <20MB iso image with no luck on CD or DVD's.

This is very frustrating as Mac's are suppose to "Just Work". As far as I know an iso image is a standard file showing the burning software how to burn the disc and all the data on said disc. An iso is and iso is an iso and should be platform agnostic.

Any help on this front would be helpful as my laptop is making a nice doorstop as we speak!
 
If the MacBook Pro is rejecting all media you insert into the optical drive, it sounds like the MacBook Pro has a defective optical drive.

Macs can and do "just work," but there isn't a computer in the world that can make a broken optical drive work like new. My suggestion is to fix the optical drive in the MacBook Pro and try burning again -- I can say from decades of experience with Macs that burning ISO images is straightforward, easy, and produces bootable CDs/DVDs just fine.
 
ElDiabloConCaca if you stop buying Apple products I think the company may go bust:)
I only have a itouch and MBP so some way to go to catch up to you.

But for what its worth I agree that it sounds like your optical drive needs replacing.
 
Most likely, from my experience, this happens when you are using a) bad quality optical media or b) the burning speed (maybe reduce it?)

I could be wrong but thats what i think. ;)

G-

ps i just read the part of "macbook rejecting discs". Add a third option c) its your optical drive
 
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