"Walter" == Walter Tautz <wtautz@math.uwaterloo.ca> writes:
Walter> the cd drive is a USB external, model plextor PX-208U
Walter> CD-RW alas the system doesn't boot from the external
Walter> drive...
So, how do you boot it?
Did you consider booting from hard disk (DOS)?
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-rescue-boot.en.html#s-install-drive
Cheers!
Shyamal