shokan Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 On an old Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop, I have a new CD replacement drive where the floppy drive used to be. Will the BIOS recognize this when I try to use a boot CD in its new location? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Not sure about laptops but in desktop machines the cabling/connections for a CD drive is completely different to that of a floppy. There may be also an issue of physical space available to accommodate a CD drive - they are normally much bigger than a floppy.Added to that, there is the potential problem of the machine being of Dell origin. Dell rarely follow industry standards in their manufacture and what may be true for a majority of machines may not be the case with yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 You say that you HAVE a new CD drive where the floppy used to be.That being the case - why not try booting with a boot CD inserted to see if it loads. You can always abort the programme before you install anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 Or you could put a data CD inside the drive. Maybe a normal music CD... It won't work if the BIOS doesn't detect it, so you know then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelpMYpc Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Or you could put a data CD inside the drive. Maybe a normal music CD... It won't work if the BIOS doesn't detect it, so you know then...I think for Dell, it should be able to detect the CD. Because they use the plug and play USB technology but you need their CD rom or you can basically buy an external USB drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shokan Posted March 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Definitely it will recognize your all CD as well as boot CD, Please check it out then please reply me again. I will help you again.It still says Optical drive not found. Shouldn't the BIOS skip this and then go to the next and see the CD-ROM in in the floppy slot? It doesn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 It still says Optical drive not found. Shouldn't the BIOS skip this and then go to the next and see the CD-ROM in in the floppy slot? It doesn't.Have you gone into the BIOS and looked at how the boot up preferences are set? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shokan Posted March 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 It still says Optical drive not found. Shouldn't the BIOS skip this and then go to the next and see the CD-ROM in in the floppy slot? It doesn't.Have you gone into the BIOS and looked at how the boot up preferences are set?OK, here is as far as I have gotten:I power up the Inspiron 8000 with a full install CD of WinXP Pro in the CD-ROM module and a new blank HD. The computer at last now recognizes the CD module (this was my original problem but now is apparently OK). I then get a BIOS-like screen which says:Hard disk #***01063458-D35B, the system primary HDD, is protected by a password authentication system. You cannot access data on this hard drive without the correct password. Please type in the hard-drive password and press<ENTER>.Wait... checking.Invalid password [Press ENTER to retry]so, since I do not know of any such password for the new blank hard-drive, I pressed ENTER and got:Invalid password [press ENTER to Abort].A blue BIOS-like Windows Setup screen appears and the loaded XP installation CD starts loading files (adapters, drivers, controllers, etc).Next, I get a similar BIOS-like screen headed Welcome to setup.I press ENTER for To setup Windows now. The two other choices are to repair and to quit.I get a screen then that says Setup did not find any hard disc drives installed on your computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program. Setup cannot continue. To quit setup, press F3.I tried the whole procedure again but there is still that first scree that asks for a password for the primary HDD like the beginning I described above.How can a blank hard drive have a password? It's never been used before. It's brand new. Do I need a Dell boot disc to do this? BTW, I could hear the HD running during the process above, so I know it is running. The pins are all the same as the old hard drive, which works but has Win2000 on it and requires a password that my friend can't remember. I can't figure this out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 Does the BIOS actually recognise the new HD ?If it is that old a laptop then a new HD may be unknown to it.What size was the old HD and what is the new one ?Have a look in here :-http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs...onsG/solgde.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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