OK, I'm drawing a blank. I suppose there could be some problem with the actual boot files on the DVD that actually make it bootable. I was wondering, when you hit the key to boot from CD, do you hear any activity going on, or do you see that activity light on the DVD player as though it's attempting to boot the DVD, how long does the screen stay blank (or black) and does it always result in the same results, like the bootmgr missing message, that you mentioned in your original post or does it just stay black