trying to get computer to boot from cd-rom drive

T

topgun129

New Member
Hi,

I have desktop Dell Dimension 5100 and it has got 2 cd-rom drives in it. The top one (dvd) doesn't work. What I need to do is have the bottom one run in the boot sequence (I have a bootable cd that needs to run). I have gone into the bios startup options and did change the order but it only checks the top one then goes to startup XP.

I did try to swap the cables for the 2 drives but still no luck. It was giving me some boot errors.

Any ideas?
 
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its the older gray cables. I have an iso program on the disc that wipes out the hard drive clean. after that i'll run the restore disc.
 
Have you tried pushing F10 on start up to set to factory settings
Ok remove cables from cd drives, remove cd drive that works, on the back where the power supply and grey cable attach, there should be a set of pins with two covered with a cap , you have to move this cap to master settings( should be a little diagram somewhere on the drive) then plug it back in with the top cd drive cables and try
 
sounds good, but i think when i went to do this both drives were set to master. is this possible? i could be wrong though.
 
Both shouldnt be set to master, but it is possible just have the working one set to master and leave the other one redundent
 
They either need to be set as cable select or one needs to master and the other slave. If the one is dead then remove it and hook the other one as master as usually only the master drive will be bootable.
 
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