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Need help. I can't use Dell's recovery DVD
Hello. I would really appreciate it if someone could help me out here.
I have a Dell XPS 600 with a Dell installed DVD drive and a Dell installed CD Drive. I'm about 18 months out of warranty.
My hard drive failed so I had to go out and get another. I installed the hard drive without a problem. The BIOS sees the hard drive available.
Here's where my problem occurs - when the desktop boots up it looks to the hard drive and the CD drive but never to the DVD drive. Thereby rendering my Recovery DVD...useless.
Through the BIOS, I can see the hard drive and both the CD drive and the DVD drive, but I can't instruct the BIOS to make the DVD a bootable drive.
Help.
So far, Dell has proven incredibly useless. I have spent $50 just to talk to a human being, in Asia, of course,...no help. Another tech told me he would order me the recovery disk on CD's, but guess what I got when DHL delivered the package...guess...c'mon guess....alright, I'll tell you...I received another recovery disk on DVD.
Incredible.
I've tried all the usual fixes. Swapping cables, removing drives, in short, everything that was discussed in the following two threads and more;
http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_winxp&thread.id=234333&view=by_date_ascending&page=1
http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=Tech_Talk_XPS&message.id=26069&query.id=49836#M26069
Any ideas?
Thanks,
stefanrp97
538 Posts
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August 8th, 2008 23:00
lonetime
6 Posts
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August 8th, 2008 23:00
Sorry, I should have made my post clearer.
I, and the BIOS, can see the DVD drive. However, the DVD drive does not appear as a selectable drive on the boot order menu.
Otherwise, the DVD drive is on the end of the cable and positioned as suggested. Thanks, though, but not a fix.
Davet50
14.4K Posts
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August 9th, 2008 00:00
lonetime
6 Posts
0
August 9th, 2008 01:00
lonetime
6 Posts
0
August 9th, 2008 03:00
XP MCE.
I don't know if the BIOS is current, I haven't messed around with it. However, I'm assuming if it was built with the BIOS then current and I'm using the then pressed DVD, updating the BIOS shouldn't change things.
Also, I really have no way of updating the BIOS now, do I?
I don't have a floppy disk and I can't get the PC to the point where I can issue commands.
Thanks
hccsf
26 Posts
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August 9th, 2008 03:00
XP or Vista?
And is BIOS current?
TDOGS630I
72 Posts
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August 9th, 2008 11:00
You have probably already thought of this, but most CD drives will "read" a DVD even though they won't "write" to it.
If this is the case with yours, just pop the DVD in the CD drive, and boot to the CD drive.
lonetime
6 Posts
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August 11th, 2008 02:00
Thanks, but my CD won't read a DVD - or at least won't read one enough to boot from.
Thanks for the help everyone, but I messed around too darn long with this thing. I went out an got XP on CD today. I'm up and running.
Thanks for nothing, Dell. Choke on my $50.
Davet50
14.4K Posts
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August 11th, 2008 10:00
Does the DVD drive work now that you have the OS Installed?
lonetime
6 Posts
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August 11th, 2008 15:00