All DVD-ROMs are capable of reading CDs and DVDs. Check if it will read a CD. If it will not, run the Dell Diagnostics on that drive. You can do that by booting your system with the Dell Resources disc (Utility and Drivers disc).
I'm not sure if I am running the right Diagnostics program. All the dell stuff got deleted when I formatted and reinstalled everything yesterday. I haven't finished reinstalling all the Cd's the computer came with.
One of the Cd's the one with the drivers on it I can't get that one to boot up from the F12 screen. That was what I was suppose to do right?
It didn't find any problems. I am just gunna give up on my DVD drive for now. I did buy a new one for it so i might just install that one instead. I have a feeling its just an Old DVD drive.
You set the system to boot from the CD drive then insert the Dell Resources CD and restart the system. That will load the Diagnostics.
Your system might not have the Diagnostics on the hard drive. After pressing F12 you will be in the boot menu. If the diagnostics are there, it will be listed as Diagnostics or Utility Partition.
Utility Parition is listed there but when i try to boot from it my computer just boots normaly and comes into Xp. I tired to have my computer only boot from the Cd in both of my drives and it says there is nothing to boot from. I can not get that CD to work.
Have you changed the Boot Sequence in the Setup (BIOS)? After doing that, the drive on the end of the IDE cable (Master) is the boot drive, unless it has a problem reading the CD because it has failed. If you want to try the other drive, you will need to reposition the drives on the IDE cable so the desired boot drive is on the end of the cable.
Yeah I changed it so only the Cd drive would boot but all I got was an error message then asking me to either retry or to go back into the bios and change it back. I will go in and see if i can make it work with the other drive then.
kklockmann
15 Posts
0
May 11th, 2008 00:00
Right now I just noticed I have been kind of mixing up the words DVD and CD. So when I said CD I actually meant DVD.
Skybird
10.9K Posts
0
May 11th, 2008 00:00
If it will not, run the Dell Diagnostics on that drive. You can do that by
booting your system with the Dell Resources disc (Utility and Drivers disc).
Skybird
10.9K Posts
0
May 11th, 2008 01:00
position. Let us know how it goes.
kklockmann
15 Posts
0
May 11th, 2008 01:00
I'm not sure if I am running the right Diagnostics program. All the dell stuff got deleted when I formatted and reinstalled everything yesterday. I haven't finished reinstalling all the Cd's the computer came with.
One of the Cd's the one with the drivers on it I can't get that one to boot up from the F12 screen. That was what I was suppose to do right?
kklockmann
15 Posts
0
May 11th, 2008 01:00
It didn't find any problems. I am just gunna give up on my DVD drive for now. I did buy a new one for it so i might just install that one instead. I have a feeling its just an Old DVD drive.
Skybird
10.9K Posts
0
May 11th, 2008 01:00
You set the system to boot from the CD drive then insert the Dell Resources
CD and restart the system. That will load the Diagnostics.
Your system might not have the Diagnostics on the hard drive. After pressing
F12 you will be in the boot menu. If the diagnostics are there, it will be
listed as Diagnostics or Utility Partition.
kklockmann
15 Posts
0
May 11th, 2008 14:00
Skybird
10.9K Posts
0
May 11th, 2008 15:00
the drive on the end of the IDE cable (Master) is the boot drive, unless it
has a problem reading the CD because it has failed. If you want to try the
other drive, you will need to reposition the drives on the IDE cable so the
desired boot drive is on the end of the cable.
kklockmann
15 Posts
0
May 11th, 2008 15:00
Yeah I changed it so only the Cd drive would boot but all I got was an error message then asking me to either retry or to go back into the bios and change it back. I will go in and see if i can make it work with the other drive then.
kklockmann
15 Posts
0
May 11th, 2008 16:00