Dell complaints

j67309

I have a Inspiron 1501 that came with Vista Home Basic. Needless to say, I did not like the OS. I have another OS I want to put on it and the computer will not boot from the instalation DVDR, nor will it show that it is in the drive in my computer. I have this OS in my other non dell computers, and had no problems. The DVD R/RW is fine, I've had it checked and replaced. I even tried to put the OS on a friends Dell, and it would not boot or even recognize the DVDR either. I then found every dell I could and same results. Proprietary? Anyone know how to get around this? I watch the forum, so reply here or email me at j67309@yahoo.com

captainhowdy · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:14 am Post subject:

what OS is it? is it a retail copy or is it a OEM disk? is it a burned copy of a OS disc?
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diashto · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:33 am Post subject:

Can it boot from any other OS disks? For example an Ubuntu LiveDVD?

The other computers that you have this OS installed on, did you use the same disc to install it there?

If its a freshly burned DVD-R, and you did not burn it from an image, it may not be a bootable disc in the first place.

j67309 · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:42 am Post subject:

j67309 · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:44 am Post subject:

diashto · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:00 am Post subject:

Hrm. can't say that i've run into that one before. Can you boot off any other DVD? (like the resource dvd for example?)

j67309 · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:34 am Post subject:

diashto · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:21 pm Post subject:

Wierd. Bios update maybe?

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:51 pm Post subject:

What's not clear here is the exact nature of the media.

Optical drives read burned media at their own discretion. Put your ear right down on the drive when you put the disc in. If it goes b-z-z-t--t-z-z-b three or four times, it's not able to identify the media.
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FallenAngel · Super Hater Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 1493

When you choose to use a "custom" OS disk, you're taking a chance that it may or may not work universally.

You also mentioned that it was attempted on another system, and failed. This is a chance that we all assume when using "custom" media.

Dipankar · Regular Hater Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 10

what about the Dell disks that came with the system, like the Resource CD or OS Cd if it came along. does that boot?

HellResident · Dances with Hate Joined: 20 Nov 2005 Posts: 123

Dell OEM cd's contain proprietary IDE or SATA drivers. If you dont have those drivers ( and any custom CD's or other retail CD's even MSDN Cd's or dvd's wont have them) then the cd's wont be able to boot the machine. They likely will blue screen before you even get a prompt except the press f6 to lad additional drivers prompt. To my knowledge the DATA and IDE drivers for dells arent available anywhere for download. You need an original Dell CD for XP.

HellResident

danield1993 · Regular Hater Joined: 02 Aug 2008 Posts: 12

Have you gone in to the BIOS and set it to boot from the CD drive.
If you have it might be the drive. Some drives are very slow at recognising DVDs. Mine takes a minute or two to recognise. You should go in to the BIOS and set the boot menu so the CD drive is the second last and Hard drive is the last