This thread is a bit bothersome for a lot of reasons. However, there is a lack of hard info so far.
When you say it isn't booting the CD, what does this mean? Does it try but fail with some error? Does it not even stop at the CD on the way to attempting to boot the hard disk? And let's see what the actual scope of the problem is: Does the official CD boot? (I think the point of this thread is for some people, no it doesn't). Does a copy of the official CD boot? (Is there any error reported when trying to make a copy?) For the people that say the official CD doesn't boot, do they have other machines they /can/ boot the official CD? If people are spotting some machines that do and some that don't, what happens if you move the CD drive from one that does boot to one that doesn't? Does the problem follow the machine or the drive? Does a CD made from install42.iso boot? Does a CD made from cd42.iso boot? Does a CD made from cdemu42.iso boot? If install42.iso or cd42.iso boot, don't be looking for code changes, sounds like we had a bum pressing of CDs or some other "quirk" in the way the master was made, as they all use the same boot process. Still needs to be identified and fixed for 4.3, but it wouldn't be a code problem. Nick.
