Trying to fix a laptop for a disabled friend (i.e.-no money to buy new one).
I replaced a bad hard drive, but cannot get it to boot to the CD to install an OS.
When I try to select the CD/DVD drive in boot menu and move it to the top of the list, it puts an exclamation point next to it.
When I boot up, it doesn't offer the option to boot from CD, then tells me the OS cannot be found (duh, hard drive is empty!).
I ran the Dell diagnostic from F12 on boot and no errors were found (it DOES warn me about the bad battery, incorrect charger though).
The CD/DVD drive IS recognized and shown in the drives list.
I can't set up a flash drive to boot from (none handy).
Any ideas before I get extreme with it?
Rob
I replaced a bad hard drive, but cannot get it to boot to the CD to install an OS.
When I try to select the CD/DVD drive in boot menu and move it to the top of the list, it puts an exclamation point next to it.
When I boot up, it doesn't offer the option to boot from CD, then tells me the OS cannot be found (duh, hard drive is empty!).
I ran the Dell diagnostic from F12 on boot and no errors were found (it DOES warn me about the bad battery, incorrect charger though).
The CD/DVD drive IS recognized and shown in the drives list.
I can't set up a flash drive to boot from (none handy).
Any ideas before I get extreme with it?
Rob