windows registry - press "R"

[nuovo_record]

a frined has asked me to look at his pc. it has a windows registry error. the message says "insert disc and press R" wthe pc should then boot off the disc and into the recovery console.
pressing R causes the pc to power down and then reboot.
i have tried a reboot disc and it won't load from either of the CD / DVD drives  - any ideas?

[fuaran]

Go into the BIOS, and make sure the CD drive is set as the first boot device.

[nuovo_record]

Go into the BIOS, and make sure the CD drive is set as the first boot device.

BIOS checked and no difference..

1 thing, it was showing as having (from memory) 1,300000 ish of memory, which doesn't seem to tally up. what chances of 1 module going duff? woudl that make a difference?

[aidan.f]

how  about downloading a  Linux distro on bootable CD?

That  will allow you to prove drives processor and memory.

[nuovo_record]

thanks for the replies - stupid me picked up the wrong installation disc 
tis all fixed now