Booting from 2nd CD-ROM Drive

Question

I have a Dim 4600 with a DVD drive in the top and a CD-RW in the bottom. I changed the BIOS to boot from the ROM Device first before the HD. It does that, but will only boot from the top DVD drive. I see no option to change things in the BIOS to boot from the second (CD-RW) drive. I want to boot from the CD-RW drive instead.

I've searched in these forums for the answer, but can only find that this computer will only boot from ONE CD-ROM device.

So, must I swap the cables on the motherboard to make this work, or will that mess up anything?

Predator · Answer

Hi DLWood,To add with Gramps, Dell ships their system using the Cable Select jumper settings. So if you CS, you will have to move the CD/RW to the Top Bay, 'end' connection of the IDE cable and the DVD drive to the second bay, 'middle' connections.If you do not wish to move the drives, you will have to change the jumper on the CD/RW to Master and the DVD to Slave.Best Regards God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell thedifference. CD/RW Link

RowannesGrandpa · Answer

Switching cables (ribbons) won't do it. My guess is that the BIOS only allows you to boot from the master CD drive.  You might try setting the jumper or switch on the back of each drive.  (I don't remember the setting or if one or the other has a switch or jumper.)   Good luck.   Gramps

RowannesGrandpa · Answer

The Dell God works in mysterious ways.  I suggest doing what Dell says to do.   Perhaps you can tell me.  After a few years, I reformatted my hard disk thinking that all the applications were on the Dell disks.  Problem is I had a CD burner application, that I think came from Dell and was installed at the time of purchase.  Predator has been helping me and it seems I should have a separate disk just for the CD Burn software, whether it was Sonic or Roxio.  I can't find anything like that.  Did something come with your system and, if so, what is it and on what disk is the program?   Thanks.   Gramps

DLWood · Answer

Thanks for the reply Gramps. Your idea seems more reasonable to me too.

I contacted Dell support via IM chat. They told me to swap out the cables (ribbons) at the motherboard and upon boot up, the other CD drive would be recognized as the boot drive.

Things are really working quite well, so I don't want to mess anything up by mucking around with connections and such if I don't have to. But I'm experimenting with booting Puppy Linux from CD, and need it to boot in a burner to be able to save the changes on the boot CD.

DLWood · Answer

Thanks to both of you for your help.

So if I understand your directions Predator, I can either:

1. switch (swap) the data connection (wherever they plug in) endings, or
2. find the switches on the drives themselves and change the DVD from master to slave and the CD-RW from slave to master.

Or does number 1. involve physically moving the drives from top bay to bottom, etc.?

Gramps, to answer your question, I did get a Sonic CD with my computer. It's Sonic RecordNow 6.5 (made by Roxio I think) and I like it very much. It's simple and works well. There are some very good open source burner software out there though. One that I like very much is CDBurnerXP Pro 3. It will also let you burn ISO images to disk and has tons of options (lots more complicated too).

Predator · Answer

HI DLWood,Your drives will be on the motherboards Secondary IDE channel, so #1 using Cable Select will be physically moving the drives from one bay to the next.Best Regards God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell thedifference. CD/RW Link

RowannesGrandpa · Answer

Go with option no. 1.  Just be careful to line the ribbon connector keyway up with the pins on the drives and ground yourself so as not to generate static.   Thanks for the info on the sonic burner.  I used that chat support and Dell is sending me disks for Roxio and also DVD burner software by Cyberlink.   Gramps

DLWood · Answer

Well, believe it or not, I did swap the ROM drives in their bays w/o messing anything up. I would have had to take them out anyway to change the jumper from slave to master. Piece of cake once you do it a time or two. The Dell rep was off saying to swap the ribbon cable on the motherboard....there is only ONE input!!

I've now booted the Puppy Linux from the CD-RW drive and hope to be able to save all my settings when I shut down. It's a neat OS if you haven't tried it yet. I'm sending this post from its SeaMonkey app.

Glad to hear that Dell will send you the disks Gramps....always nice to hear of a good ending from a satisfied customer.

Thanks to both of you for your help.

Storage, Drives & Media

Booting from 2nd CD-ROM Drive

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