This post is more than 5 years old
5 Posts
0
165745
can't boot from my dell restore cd
The hard drive on my dimension e510 died, so I just installed a new one. My problem is that I can't get my Dell OS CD for Windows XP to boot. I changed the boot sequence to boot from the CD drive. I can get the resource CD to boot, (so i know it's not a problem with my CD drive) but it will only run the diagnostic testing. When I put the OS CD in, it says "selected boot device not available". Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,
Kim
gcg123
8 Posts
2
October 28th, 2011 02:00
My 5 1/2 year old XPS 400 had the same problem. I tried everything on every forum I could find and nothing worked. After much experimenting HERE IS WHAT FINALLY WORKED FOR ME: Put the Dell OS CD into an external USB CD or DVD drive. The computer will recognize that. For some reason a lot of Dell computers won't recognize the internal IDE controlled DVD drives when the hard disk is replaced but, it will recognize an external drive. I bought a Vantec SATA/IDE to USB 2/0 Adapter for $18 plus shipping from TigerDirect and used an old extra internal DVD drive for my new external drive for the OS install. Everything worked without a hitch. I fully installed my OS yesterday from the old Dell OS Re-installation CD. Now my old Dell computer has new life and runs great! BTW, the same SATA/IDE to USB Adapter has allowed me to off load the data from the old drive onto the new (my problem was there was a hard disk error in the system file so the computer wouldn't boot up but, the data was still good).
Philip_Yip
7 Technologist
7 Technologist
•
16K Posts
0
October 11th, 2011 00:00
You are holding F12 at the Dell BIOs screen?
It may be time to duplicate the CD (maybe to a blank DVD) see wiki here on nlite to do this (use another computer to do this).
Make a new DVD with SP3, IE8 and WMP11 and then try again with this DVD.
kwatson1981
5 Posts
0
October 11th, 2011 16:00
I have held f12 at the bios screen. I don't think I need to duplicate the CD, I've never used it before. I actually broke the seal on the envelope when I opened it.
theflash1932
7 Technologist
7 Technologist
•
16.3K Posts
0
October 11th, 2011 20:00
Do you have another computer you can try booting to that CD on? It may be practically new, but that doesn't mean it works :)
Do you have another bootable CD you can try - to make sure your CD drive is functional? If not, download a Ubuntu CD or the Dell 32-bit diagnostics ISO to create a bootable CD (a CD writer is required, as is software capable of burning an ISO to CD like the built-in "copy/burn image to CD/DVD" in Windows 7 ... ISORecorder or CDBurnerXP.
F12 ... rather than "holding" it ... start tapping it about 1-2 times per second once you first see the prompt appear on the screen. Let there be no mistake for the computer that you want to select F12!
kwatson1981
5 Posts
0
October 11th, 2011 20:00
I have tapped, i have held :) I have no issue getting to where I need to be to boot, it just doesn't recognize the cd. I have a dell resource cd that will boot and run a diagnostic. you also have the option with the resource cd to press "q" to quit, and then a prompt comes up that suggests you get the help from dell support before proceeding.
I'm wondering if the os cd isn't being recognized because i'm missing drivers? i just don't know.
kwatson1981
5 Posts
0
October 11th, 2011 20:00
I have held f12 at the bios screen. I don't think I need to duplicate the CD, I've never used it before. I actually broke the seal on the envelope when I opened it.
theflash1932
7 Technologist
7 Technologist
•
16.3K Posts
0
October 11th, 2011 21:00
You can boot to your resource CD but not the OS CD ... your OS CD is bad. Just because it is or looks new doesn't mean it works.
No drivers are needed to boot to CD's.
DELL-Jesse L
Moderator
Moderator
•
16.7K Posts
0
October 12th, 2011 10:00
kwatson1981,
Thank you for using the Dell Comunity Forum.
theflash1932 is correct. Your disk is bad. You can click on the link that natakuc4 provided in his link to get the disk replaced.
kwatson1981
5 Posts
0
October 12th, 2011 17:00
ok, thanks- I'll try requesting one!
gcg123
8 Posts
0
October 27th, 2011 14:00
I had similar problem with my Dell XPS 400. The computer setup showed I have a DVD drive but, I got the exact same message as you when I put the restore CD into the drive. I came to this forum and several others looking for an answer and found none so I did some experimenting. A few years ago I put an extra Memorex DVD drive into the computer so it had two DVD drives with the Memorex being the slave drive. I disconnected the Memorex drive and connected it to a device that turned it into an external USB DVD drive. The same restore CD that would not work in either of the IDE internal DVD drives WORKS GREAT IN THE EXTERNAL USB DVD DRIVE (which ironically was previously one of the internal drives). Even as I write this, my computer is now formatting the partition to install the operating system, using the same restore CD that didn't work before.
Good luck,
Craig
theflash1932
7 Technologist
7 Technologist
•
16.3K Posts
0
October 28th, 2011 09:00
It is bad media. Many newer DVD drives can read through scratches that older/cheaper drives cannot, but it is still your media.
Anyway ... glad you got it working :)
gcg123
8 Posts
0
October 28th, 2011 13:00
It wasn't bad media. It was an unsealed, unused CD in pristine condition. The drive wouldn't read it when it was an internal IDE drive but, this same 5 year old drive did read it when I made it an external USB drive.
readdream
1 Message
0
December 18th, 2015 08:00
OK, here's the scoop. I had the same problem. After trying things from here and other sites, came up with the real solution: This computer cannot boot from P ATA drives. I hooked in a newer cd rom with SATA and it booted right up from the cd.