Hey guys, got a Dell Inspiron 2200 laptop that I got out of storage. It has been sitting for a few years untouched. I actually need it now and need it to work.
When I first started it up, it worked fine but was very slow and cluttered with files. I barely tested it at all, and reformatted it almost immediately after starting it up for the first time in many years. The only problem at that time was that it was slow and the DVD RW drive was stuck, and could only be manually opened, but it still recognized a Music CD I had in there.
After reformatting, it won't recognize the DVD RW drive at all, and it won't start up without either asking me to choose between two Windows XP versions (one works the other doesn't) or it won't even give me an option and just say there aren't any bootable devices.
This is very confusing to me, as I know the basics to computers but this is a bit beyond me. This also warrants more details as to what symptoms I am having so here are the laptop's symptoms:
1) It initially worked fine prior to reformatting except for the DVD RW drive ejecting properly since it was stuck closed. I could only manually open it with a pin. After reformatting, it now gives issues with recognizing bootable devices and the DVD RW drive. It was able to recognize the DVD RW drive before since it had a music CD in it, now it can not recognize the DVD RW drive at all.
2) The DVD RW drive will not open unless you manually eject it with a pin
3) Whenever I start the laptop by pressing the actual power button on the laptop, it will give you two options of Windows XP to run. If you pick the top one, it will work and take you to Windows XP. If you pick the bottom one, it will not load. It will say “Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware. Please check the Windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information.”
4) When restarting (vs using the power button to start) the laptop, it will simply say “No bootable devices—strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility.” If you press F1 it just repeats the error message and if you press F2 and enter setup and go to Device info in the blue screen… the “Primary Hard Drive” and “Modular Bay Device” both say “{none}”
5) When you do pick the top Windows XP choice when starting the laptop using the power button, the laptop will work as if there are no problems except for not being able to recognize the DVD RW drive.
6) For some reason, if you turn off the laptop completely instead of rebooting/restarting…and then turn it back on by pressing the power button, it takes you to the proper screen where you can choose between the two XP versions. But if you restart it, it will not give you the option of the two XP versions and will say “No bootable devices—strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility.”
I'm not so concerned about the stuck DVD RW drive right now. The things I want to get working is to get it to start normally without having to ask me to pick between two XP operating systems or saying there are no bootable devices. I would also need to get it to recognize my DVD RW drive. Please help me, I really need this laptop to work, I will be so grateful.
When I first started it up, it worked fine but was very slow and cluttered with files. I barely tested it at all, and reformatted it almost immediately after starting it up for the first time in many years. The only problem at that time was that it was slow and the DVD RW drive was stuck, and could only be manually opened, but it still recognized a Music CD I had in there.
After reformatting, it won't recognize the DVD RW drive at all, and it won't start up without either asking me to choose between two Windows XP versions (one works the other doesn't) or it won't even give me an option and just say there aren't any bootable devices.
This is very confusing to me, as I know the basics to computers but this is a bit beyond me. This also warrants more details as to what symptoms I am having so here are the laptop's symptoms:
1) It initially worked fine prior to reformatting except for the DVD RW drive ejecting properly since it was stuck closed. I could only manually open it with a pin. After reformatting, it now gives issues with recognizing bootable devices and the DVD RW drive. It was able to recognize the DVD RW drive before since it had a music CD in it, now it can not recognize the DVD RW drive at all.
2) The DVD RW drive will not open unless you manually eject it with a pin
3) Whenever I start the laptop by pressing the actual power button on the laptop, it will give you two options of Windows XP to run. If you pick the top one, it will work and take you to Windows XP. If you pick the bottom one, it will not load. It will say “Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware. Please check the Windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information.”
4) When restarting (vs using the power button to start) the laptop, it will simply say “No bootable devices—strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility.” If you press F1 it just repeats the error message and if you press F2 and enter setup and go to Device info in the blue screen… the “Primary Hard Drive” and “Modular Bay Device” both say “{none}”
5) When you do pick the top Windows XP choice when starting the laptop using the power button, the laptop will work as if there are no problems except for not being able to recognize the DVD RW drive.
6) For some reason, if you turn off the laptop completely instead of rebooting/restarting…and then turn it back on by pressing the power button, it takes you to the proper screen where you can choose between the two XP versions. But if you restart it, it will not give you the option of the two XP versions and will say “No bootable devices—strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility.”
I'm not so concerned about the stuck DVD RW drive right now. The things I want to get working is to get it to start normally without having to ask me to pick between two XP operating systems or saying there are no bootable devices. I would also need to get it to recognize my DVD RW drive. Please help me, I really need this laptop to work, I will be so grateful.
