Help me please! I cannot seem to run Darik's Boot and Nuke at all on my CD-R

Hi

1. Download the DBAN iso from here: DBAN ISO (direct link)

2. Once you have saved it to your PC burn it to a CD with a program like Imgburn (or Nero/NTI/EasyCDCreator/CDBurnerXP etc)

3. Once you have written it to CD restart the PC and enter the BIOS. Change the boot sequence so that the CD/DVD/Optical drive is the first boot device. Save your changes

4. Boot with your CD.

Note that if your hard drive/CD Drive is connected via a RAID or SATA controller DBAN might not recognize your hard drive (Although DBAN does contain drivers for a few RAID/SATA controllers). If this is the case you will have to enter the BIOS again and search through the options looking for your hard drive controller type and change it from RAID/AHCI/Enhanced to Legacy/IDE and then try again.

Hi jordanllgg45,

So you are trying to run Darik's Boot and Nuke to completely wipe the contents of your hard drive. You have burned the Darik's Boot and Nuke ISO that you downloaded to CD, but are unable to use it, correct?

Let's start from the top.

1] Download the Darik's Boot and Nuke ISO from here.

The link you want is this one:-

Preview Releases
DBAN 2.2.6 Beta for CD-R and DVD-R media.
(Burn this file to a blank disc and boot the computer with it. Do not unzip this file.)

Click to expand...

2] Burn it to a new CD (you may have been using a faulty CD) using Imgburn (use a slow burn like x4 as faster burning can sometimes cause a mis-burn) Or what ever burning software you prefer.

3] You will now have to change the boot order (see attached images for some help, these are from my computer so it will look slightly different on yours) for your computer in BIOS so that the hard drive won't be the first boot device, but instead the CD will. To do this press either DEL or F2 (this will vary depending on your motherboard, but when you first start your computer you should see an option to do this before the operating system kicks in) If you are unsure which button to press, then post your system specs here and we can tell you. If you don't know them, download CPU-Z and run the program. When it's finished generating the information, go to the 'About' tab, and at the bottom, hit the 'Save as html' button and then attach that to your next post, so we can help you out more.

4] When you get to BIOS go to the Advanced BIOS Features tab (use your up/down/left/right arrow keys and the Enter button to open). The name of this may again vary on your computer due to the different ways BIOS appears on different PC's. Change the boot order from Hard Disk to CD, and press F10 to confirm your decision followed by 'Y' (yes) and hit Enter. The system will now reboot. Make sure you have the Darik's Boot and Nuke CD/DVD in the tray

5] As the computer boots up, you will be prompted to 'Press any key' to boot from CD. Just tap the spacebar a few times and Darik's Boot and Nuke will start. Here is a good tutorial on how to use Darik's Boot and Nuke once you are at the screen. Make sure that you don't have any USB sticks still inserted or external HDD's attached to the computer or you might accidently wipe those as well. You don't have to wipe using 35 passes as 3 or 7 will be sufficient to securely remove all sensitive data.

I have attached some images that may help, but there is a limitation of 2 images per post, so I have placed 4 of the BIOS images into one. Hopefully this all make sense. Any questions, just ask.

[Edit] Just seen AlbertMC2's post. Sorry, took a while to type up. Do as AlbertMC2 suggests.

I am not to sure yet on how to use DBAN yet. I might need to flash my bios or get PC

Hi there. Thanks for getting back to me on this stuff, I really appreciate it a lot from you. I tried to do what you told me to do, but my bios is really old and outdated. And my bios is not even a blue screen like yours! My bios is pretty old and crappy like from 2004, and it doesn't even the Advanced bios settings in my bios! That really sucks a lot. But I think that I am supposed to flash my bios, because it is really old and outdated. And I do not think I even have hyper-threading in my PC. Oh well. Because my bios is really old. So should I upgrade and flash my bios? But I have no idea on how to do this process. And that's probably why I cannot even start up my Darik's Boot and Nuke on my computer. I don't even have hyperthreading at all on my computer! :upset: :sigh: I am so mad and upset about this situation that I am in right now. So all I am asking here is that you please help me out on what I should do in order to fix this awful problem that I am having. :4-dontkno

By the way, just so you know I have a Dell Dimension 4600 with XP Professional and Service Pack 2 with that. Also, it has a Pentium 4 processor with that course. I remember I just got my computer in 2004. And it might have had hyper-threading in the bios, or maybe it didn't have it at all! Who knows. I called Dell yesterday, and I talked to them about how to enable my hyper-threading. And they said that I don't have hyper-threading anymore, because my PC warranty information was old and had expired. And when they told me this over the phone, I got really upset to myself and I was really mad too. But I got over it, I guess.


But what I am thinking is that my computer used to have hyper-threading on it, but the warranty is no good anymore, so I guess that's what happened. Is that correct? So I should have renewed my warranty or got a new one for gods sakes. That wasn't smart at all what I did! But I guess I learned my lesson for good. But I could get a new warranty, but it was very expensive and they could probably charge me too. Anyway, I won't get into the details about it, or else I will be upset with this. So what I think is that I should get a new and a much better PC, that's for sure. I kept telling my Mom that I need a new computer, but she just won't let me buy a new one! :upset: But I will just save my money up for a new one, that's for sure. I really need a new PC as soon as possible, that's for sure.

Well anyway, sorry for this long letter, but I am trying to make a point here on what I am saying to you. So I have no idea at all on how to flash my bios, enable my hyper-threading or run DBan from my CD-R disc. So please read this letter, it is very important to me. And don't forget to get back to me as soon as you possibly can. I am still here, and I am not going anywhere. So don't forget now, I will be waiting for a response from you! So thanks a lot now. :grin:

Hi jordanllgg45,

Before we look into flashing you BIOS as this may or may not be required, can you confirm that you are intending on completely wiping your hard drive Darik's Boot and Nuke and then re-installing XP with a Windows XP Disk that you must have in order to do the re-install once the disk has been wiped. Also, have you got everything backed up from the computer (pictures, music etc) saved to an external hard drive or CD/DVD, as you won't be ale to get them back once Darik's Boot and Nuke has finished wiping.

If you don't have a Windows XP disk in order to do a re-install, then we may be able to help you get rid of some of the programs that may be causing your system to have become laggy over time. This would probably be the better solution rather that doing a complete re-install, unless of course you want to have a clean version of XP installed. If you would like us to see if we can speed up the overall performance of your computer then I would like you to do two things:-

1] Can you download and install Autoruns and run it. Let it generate all the information (shouldn't take long) then go File>Save and save the AutoRuns.arn file to the desktop. Zip it (right click on the .arn file and select 'send to' and choose 'Compressed zipped folder) and attach it back. Basically want to have a look and see if we can figure out what may be interfering.

2] Can you post your system specs. If you don't know them, download CPU-Z and run the program. When it's finished generating the information, go to the 'About' tab, and at the bottom, hit the 'Save as html' button and then attach that to your next post.

If you do have a Windows XP Disk and want to wipe the hard drive using Darik's Boot and Nuke disk that you have previously created, then on the Dell Dimension 4600 you should be able to press F12 (keep taping it until the boot order menu comes up) as the computer is first booting to change the boot order that way. Set it to boot to CD as first boot device and then reboot, making sure that the Darik's Boot and Nuke disk that you have previously created is in the CD tray. Then when the program runs from the disk, refer to the tutorial that I Linked in the previous post.

About my bios info for you again

I have read those bios instructions that they have given me before, but I couldn't understand on what they were talking about at all. They said to download the file to the Desktop, and then they said to click Download Now. But I don't know what they are talking about here because I went to the Dell site, and I did not see a Download Now button to click on. I really don't have any clue on how to flash my bios still. I mean they helped me out somewhat, but not all that much yet. Also, there are some other bioses for my Dimension 4600 that say Flash Bios, instead of System bios. So maybe I should try to download the Flash bios instead of my own bios, which is my system bios. But A12 is the latest version of my bios, I know that.


But some of the bioses that say Flash bios are older than A12, like A07 and A03. But it says Flash bios here, not System bios. So that was a very important piece of information that I just wanted to share with you, right there. Well anyway, please get back to me with answers on how I should do this step-by-step, the easy way with no problems. So this way, I would have a much better understand on how to do this. :grin: You know what I'm saying? So thanks a lot now for your time, and I will be waiting for a response from you soon. So thank you very much now. :4-dontkno :sigh:

How do I enable my hyper-threading and how do I use the Dell PC Restore function?

Hi there. I think that I am going to forget about my Darik's Boot and Nuke for a while, because I do not want to mess up my computer, that's for sure. Because I am afraid it might not start up or something. So I do not want to go there. So instead, can you explain to me how to use the Dell PC Restore feature? Because this way, my computer will restore everything back to it's own factory settings, like just when I bought it in 2004. That's when I first purchased my computer.


Also, I cannot seem to find my hyper-threading option to enable or disable in my bios. Because my bios is very old and outdated. But I have no idea on how to flash it at all. But I have already been to the Dell site many times, but the latest version of my bios is A12. But when I am in my bios, I look under the CPU Information section there, and my hyper-threading option is not there at all. It is missing there in my bios. Also, in my Task Manager I only have 1 stupid CPU graph! But I wish that I had 2 CPU graphs, instead of one. And also, just to let you know that when I am in the Performance section in my Task Manager, I go my CPU History, and it says "One Graph Per CPU" there. But the "One Graph, All CPU's" option is not there yet. I think I know why now that this is actually happening. It would say "All Graphs, One CPU" there, but the reason it's not saying that is because my hyper-threading is disabled, I believe. Is that correct?

And probably that is why I cannot enable or disable it in my bios. Because my bios is old and outdated. And that means I should flash my bios so that it gets updated! Oh well! :sigh: But maybe you can help me figure this out on why this is happening to me for. Because I would really appreciate that a lot from you. And now, I would like to figure out on how to use the Dell PC Restore feature. So how do I do this? Do I press Alt and my F11 keys at the same time when my computer first boots up? Because I tried this many times, and I cannot seem to get it to work at all. But I would really like to try and figure this out, so that I can get my computer back to it's original factory settings, like just when I first bought it.

Because then I will be much happier, that's for sure. And then maybe my hyper-threading enable and disable option will come back in my bios! :grin: Who knows? Or maybe my bios never had that option. Who knows! Well anyway, sorry for this really long letter, but I am trying to make a point here so you understand me more clearly. All righty then? So please don't forget to get back to me as soon as soon as you can. I will be waiting for a response from you very soon! So thank you very much now for your time. :grin: