Can't get refurb win 7 dell latitude to boot from dvd drive

[guitarfiend]

No matter what I seem to do I cannot seem to get my pc to boot from the DVD drive ! This pc is a refurbished) Dell laptop model "Latitude D630" REALLY PISSING ME OFF...because this is SO MUCH WORSE than that complete POS Presario that I had before it (that took a COMPLETE dump with no warning) !!! WHY won't this thing boot to a Xubuntu (Ver 14) dvd ?????

 

[HAVOC]

Have you tried pressing F2 right as the computer is booting? Maybe the DVD drive is dead. Does it work within Windows?

 

[AddRAM]

create a usb installer.

Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

 

[ignatzatsonic]

No matter what I seem to do

Tell us what all of those things are.

In considerable detail.

 

[guitarfiend]

Have you tried pressing F2 right as the computer is booting? Maybe the DVD drive is dead. Does it work within Windows?

Havoc...first,thanks for your reply.As this is a new optical drive,I;m not absolutely certain that the DVD part of the drive does actually work.I can hear it running when I put a DVD (Xubuntu) in it.But,I have no actual video discs to try in it.I do know the CD part of it works,though.I think the problem is that this is a refurbished pc .And,that somehow whoever refurbished it (Microsoft authorized refurbisher) has made it so that you cannot boot from anything other than the hard drive.I have changed the boot order but,it seems to make no difference.And,I know this Xubuntu DVD I;m trying to boot from is good because I've used it on an old desktop. Although,it is Xubuntu ver 14.I wonder if that makes a difference.I wonder if it could be too out of date ? I don't see why that would make a difference,though.

 

[townsbg]

The dvd function might be bad. Have you tried playing a dvd from within Windows? I doubt that they would disable booting from dvd.

 

[paul1149]

Put a blank DVD disk in and burn some data to it and see if it's readable. Even burn a small boot disk, such as puppy linux.

Then pull the hard drive and try booting from the DVD.

 

[guitarfiend]

create a usb installer.

Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

Rufus,thank you for this advice.I will consider this.But,I am unfamiliar with this.So,It may be awhile

 

[guitarfiend]

Put a blank DVD disk in and burn some data to it and see if it's readable. Even burn a small boot disk, such as puppy linux.

Then pull the hard drive and try booting from the DVD.

Thanks ,Paul.I will consider this.It's just a matter of timing

 

[guitarfiend]

Have you tried pressing F2 right as the computer is booting? Maybe the DVD drive is dead. Does it work within Windows?

Havoc,yes...I have been able to get into the boot menu at startup.But,it still refuses to boot from my Xubuntu dvd.And,I KNOW the Xubuntu dvd is good.I can listen to music cd's & burn them.But,I don';t know about the dvd funcionality (I have no dvd's) I'm trying to borrow one (Old school)

 

[marsmimar]

Have you checked the BIOS to see if the DVD is the first device to be checked during boot sequence? The computer might have the hard drive as #1. If so, it's my understanding that as soon as the boot sequence finds an operating system on the hard drive it will ignore all other devices. If I've misunderstood your question I'm sincerely sorry.

 

[HAVOC]

Keep us informed.
I haven't seen a drive fail where a CD will work but not a DVD. It could happen though.

 

[townsbg]

Keep us informed.
I haven't seen a drive fail where a CD will work but not a DVD. It could happen though.

I believe that DVD and cd use different lasers so it is possible. If I recall correctly when I lost my drive I think the dvd went out first. They are inexpensive but inexperienced users might have trouble changing them out on a laptop.

 

[bigmck]

Have you tried pressing F2 right as the computer is booting? Maybe the DVD drive is dead. Does it work within Windows?

Havoc,yes...I have been able to get into the boot menu at startup.But,it still refuses to boot from my Xubuntu dvd.And,I KNOW the Xubuntu dvd is good.I can listen to music cd's & burn them.But,I don';t know about the dvd funcionality (I have no dvd's) I'm trying to borrow one (Old school)

When you were in the BIOS, did you set the boot sequence so that the DVD was the first to boot? If you don't do that, you won't ever get it to boot from the DVD.