I've wondered about the CD/DVD drive, but it did work with Power DVD software, and when I tried correcting the filter settings, the settings information made no sense. Maybe it's been a problem with software or firmware. I'll see about getting a flash drive; I can't remember the last time I used one. Thanks.
You could check the Dell website to see if there are any new drivers or BIOS updates available for the laptop.
You would need to check for the specific Dell Latitude model you have.
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As I said, the CD/DVD drive did work with Power DVD software and the settings information for the drive made no sense, so the problem might not be in the hardware. Dell informed me that the laptop shipped on 2008/1/31, and it supports Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, so Dell has no drivers for more recent versions of Windows. Thanks.
With the Bootable Partition Manager, I don't get the Bootable Media Builder, nor do I get any other option of making a bootable flash drive instead of a bootable disk. Thanks.
I made a Bootable Partition Manager DVD, copied all the files to a flash drive, put the flash drive in the Dell Latitude, and the Dell still tells me: "No bootable devices." Thanks.
If i understand what you see, you don't get the option to build a bootable flash drive in the Bootable Media Builder.
You have to scroll down to see these instructions.
Here is a snip showing what the instructions have for how to build a bootable flash drive.
The source for this screen print and instructions is:
How to build Boot CD/DVD Discs and Boot Flash Drive with Bootable Media Builder?
Maybe I hit the correct key, as with an Easter egg, but the Dell is loading Windows from the Dell Windows 7 disk right now. Thanks.
OK; my Dell Latitude now works, sort of, but the CD/DVD drive problems still seem too inconsistent to be strictly problems with the hardware. When I push the button to eject, sometimes the drive opens, and sometimes it doesn't. When I put in a software disk, even a Dell software disk, sometimes it follows the default setting to run the software, and usually it doesn't. When I go to "Computer", and double-click the D drive, sometimes it runs the software, and sometimes it just shows me the files on the disk. Thanks.
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