Winodws XP Media Center edition CD

Yes I have a CDRW. As far as how they are connected, I have no idea. Please see attached. I'm going to try to learn one of these day if I live long enough.

The DVD is not enabled as "Auto Run" but I'll try that now and see what happens.

 

Sorry Mudd. Guess I should pay more attention to those things. Who installed the DVD for you or did they both come with the computer when you bought it? More than likely it's just a matter of changing how the two drives are set up in the computer to get it to use the DVD to boot from instead of the other one. You'll have to look inside to see how things are connected. If both cd drives are connected to the same controller it may just be a matter of unplugging each of them from the cable they're connected to and reconnecting the cable in the opposite manner. This would depend on how the jumpers are set on the drive. If they are both set to cable select switching the cable around would probably do the trick. This would probably change their drive letters in windows but that can be fixed easy enough using the disk management tool.

You can try changing the cable around and if things work you should be good to go. If not, you'll have to look at the jumpers on the drive and change them accordingly and then connect the cable in the proper manner. It's hard to say just what you have to do without knowing whether they're on the same controller (in other words, using the same cable) or if one of them is connected to the controller your hard drive is on (using the same cable as your hard drive does) or whatever the case may be. How many hard drives do you have and how is everything connected. As I said, you need to look and see just how things are set up in there.

If you look at the jumpers on the back of the drive there's most likely a diagram on the drive that you can look at to see how the drive is currently set (slave, master or cable select). You may have to remove the drives to be able to see this though. Can't say for sure.

 

Zander

Tomorrow I'll open the case and using your reference look to see what I can figure out. I understand Slave and Master but have never had to opportunity to figure, rather, configure drives.

I set the CD drive for boot first hoping what you said in previous post might work. The PC did hesitate for about 20 seconds, like it was trying to find something, then went on to boot from HD.

This machine came assembled by Dell.

CPU3.2HT
160GBARRAY
CDRW 48X
DVD NEC 3450A 16X+-RW

Copied from the Device Manager.

Will let you know what I find (?) inside tomorrow. Thanks again for the information.

 

May be a stretch for your Motherboard but most of the higher end Asus and Abit boards will give you an option in the BIOS to select CDROM drive order as a sub category under the CD boot option. You may want to check this out before you even open your case.

 

This PC has a Dell Motherboard, made my Intel for Dell. The only option for boot on this one is CDROM install or on USB and the Hard Drive. As mentioned, there is no Floppy on this Unit.

 

Hey Rock, I never realized that was available. I've got an Asus board and I just checked and I can select which drive I want to boot from just as you said. I never realized that the sub catagory was there. I do ok with hardware but it's not really one of my strengths. I'd checked this before to see if I could select which drive to use but I never bothered to press enter when the DVD drive was highlighted. I just looked at the drives available and didn't see it so.... Glad you saw this. It may save Mudd some trouble. Learned something new today.

 

Reason for a DVD - Answer from Dell US Support

Hi all, This appears to be the best answer for why a DVD and not a CD. It is what it is, but there is a reason.
Thanks for all the input. This is the first time I have received a comminication from US Dell support instead of an outsourced group.

Jorjab

"I have read your mail and I understand that the DVD that was sent to
you is not bootable.

... as per your order number, you have been shipped with Windows XP
Media Center, for which its not a CD a DVD that is used for installation
purpose.
This is because the Windows Media Center Operating System files are
large in data and can be stored in a DVD only.
When you boot using a DVD, you have to configure the System Setup to
boot from the DVD drive in the boot options.
Please refer to the link below to enter the Bios and configure the boot
option to boot from the DVD drive.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8400/SM/syssetup.htm#wp1052327

Dell US Technical Support
http://support.dell.com "

 

jorjab - not all is necessarily as it appears to be.

 

Zander

Looked inside today. The CDRW is mounted on top, or first, the DVD just below. The Cable goes to the DVD and ends at the CDRW.

The Jumpers are set to the far right on each of them, with two options open. Could not see or read anything without pulling the drives that I could give you more information.

I've decided to quit worrying about anything this simple. Got bigger things to worry about. I have everything I need backed up, I think! If I do see any posts that give more information I'll follow that.

I thank you and the others for the help.

 

Mudd
Did you try Rockster2U's suggestion in post #24 of this thread? I had a look in my bios and was able to select either of the two drives I have. It's not immediately apparent though. In the boot order, you have to highlight the cdrw drive and then press enter. Doing this on mine (also an Asus board) allows me to select the cdrw drive instead of the dvd.

 

Yes Sir I did. Looked closely. There is nothing at all about Second Drive or DVD that I can see. From memory there are probably 6, maybe 7 entries. Only two are active and they are the Hard Drive and CDROM. The others, names I forgot, are titled as "Not Present." Now maybe there is something I can do to make them present, such as the DVD. I'll have to play around with this. I'm assuming that if I ***** something up and know about it I can exit without saving to save myself, right?

 

Yes, you always have the option to exit and discard changes. Just use the down arrow on your keyboard to highlight the cdrw and then press enter. If you have the option another small menu will pop with your dvd in it. Highlight it and press enter.

 

Out of curiosity... how much data is on the DVD?

 

It shows 2.80GB from properties.

 

Mudd
Sort of a long shot here but if your bios doesn't support booting from the dvd drive perhaps a bios update would do it?

 

Got the latest update the week the PC arrived, AO4 from Dell. They do have on thing that I like on this PC, if I continue to trust them! There is a program installed called "Support" and it will scan your PC, check the Dell supported software and hardware and then send an update to the desktop if there is one. Of course you can change the options, such as alert me rather than download. That's where I got the latest BIOS update. Just appeared on the desktop one morning.