[woodworks]

Sorry to hear you questioning me. I did in fact do as you told me to do. I did go into bios and change the drive sequence. I can hear the cd rom start up when I turn on the computer and it goes into it's mode of booting up.

Yes, I did install it as an alternative OS. The following is what it had before I started...

Windows 2000
Windows

After I did what I did, it said the following...

Windows XP
Windows 2000
Windows

I then tried to install again so that I could clear the partitions as you had said earlier (which I didnot do the first time).

So after that it looked like the following...

Windows XP
Windows 2000
Windows
Windows XP

I gave me the option of deleting the partition, but it would NOT delete it. I said it couldn't. So the last XP did not get installed all the way, because I hit the F3 as it said to do to quit the install.

But yes, I do know that CD is good.

Now, as for the laptop...I am going to try and send you what you asked for, please remember, this is my first laptop so I'm not sure if what I send is what you want.

It is a Dell Latitude C600/500

Other then that, I can't really see anything that I can send you. If there is something in particular, please advise and I will try and send it.

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Sorry, I should have mentioned this...

I have two of these. I took out the CD-ROM drive from the other laptop and it does the exact same thing.

I went into bios again and here is the sequence...

CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive
>Internal HDD
>Diskette Drive (which it doesn't have installed)
Modular Bay HDD
Cardbus NIC
C/Port ll or C/Dock ll NIC
C/Dock or C/Dock ll top PCI slot NIC
C/Dock ll bottom PCI slot NIC
Mini-PCI NIC

You can figure this out because your a lot better then I am. I have no idea other then the sequence of the drives.

And thanks again.

Sorry, I should have answered these questions.

Next:
Is the hard drive recognized in bios? Yes

What is the make and model of the computer so I can look for a manual? Already answered

Do you get the question during bootup similar to "boot from CD....press any key"? No, it just says nothing recognized

Is the CD drive recognized during bootup? It never gives any indication of recognizing anything.

Do you get a flash of light on the drive that indicates the bios is aleast looking for the drive? Since I don't know what light goes to what, I am not able to give you an answer to this one. I do hear the CD ROM turning. That is the best I can tell you on that.

I might add that I have to manully open the cd rom because it won't open any other way.

Edited by woodworks, 06 February 2009 - 02:16 PM.

[woodworks]

Sorry, I should have mentioned this...

I have two of these. I took out the CD-ROM drive from the other laptop and it does the exact same thing.

I went into bios again and here is the sequence...

CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive
>Internal HDD
>Diskette Drive (which it doesn't have installed)
Modular Bay HDD
Cardbus NIC
C/Port ll or C/Dock ll NIC
C/Dock or C/Dock ll top PCI slot NIC
C/Dock ll bottom PCI slot NIC
Mini-PCI NIC

You can figure this out because your a lot better then I am. I have no idea other then the sequence of the drives.

And thanks again.

Sorry, I should have answered these questions.

Next:
Is the hard drive recognized in bios? Yes

What is the make and model of the computer so I can look for a manual? Already answered

Do you get the question during bootup similar to "boot from CD....press any key"? No, it just says nothing recognized

Is the CD drive recognized during bootup? It never gives any indication of recognizing anything.

Do you get a flash of light on the drive that indicates the bios is aleast looking for the drive? Since I don't know what light goes to what, I am not able to give you an answer to this one. I do hear the CD ROM turning. That is the best I can tell you on that.

I might add that I have to manully open the cd rom because it won't open any other way.

Edited by woodworks, 06 February 2009 - 02:16 PM.

[123Runner]

I am questioning because not a lot is making sense.

You evidently had the cd drive working at 1 time because you installed 2 more windows and Dban'd the drive.
It is not recognizing either the cd drive or the cd as being bootable.

You have the boot sequence correct. If a cd is not recognized, it will then try the hard drive. The hard drive is not bootable, hence your "no boot device"

I am suspecting a bad cd drive

I might add that I have to manully open the cd rom because it won't open any other way.

, or a bad board at this time.

Look at the cd drive itself as you boot up. There is a led on the door. It will light and then go off as the drive is accessed.

[woodworks]

No the drive does NOT have a light. There are lights on the side of the computer, but I have no idea what one goes where. I have switched the CD-ROM drives from one computer to the other and they both work just fine. I put the one into the other one and they both do the exact same thing. Neither one works in the one computer, but they both work in the other computer.

UPDATE:

I have NO clue what happened, but when I switched CD-ROM drive back, it worked and windows is now installed on the computer. I am going through the updating process now as I type this.

I have no idea what the problem was or why it all of a sudden started working, but at this point, I don't care. I'm just glad to get it fixed.

Thank you once again for your time and effort. I know I will be back again to get more help, but I think this problem is solved. Even though I do have one more laptop to do.

Question: Should I DBAN it FIRST or just try to install windows? The last time I installed windows, it didn't work out so well. But, after DBANing it, that didn't work so well with the CD-ROM not working either.
What do you suggest?

Jay

Edited by woodworks, 06 February 2009 - 05:03 PM.

[123Runner]

As I suspected, you have an issue with the cd drive. Evidently not with the physical drive, but how it latches in to the laptop. That will continue to be an issue.

The Dban did not create the problem with the drive not working.

What you did to not get the windows XP cd to not partition and format will be a mystery.

You should be able to put the CD in and do as we have discussed numerous times. If that does not work, then by all means use Dban. It is not necessary, but won't hurt.

Thanks for letting us know.
Good luck.