Dell Inspiron 9400 wont boot from cd

[Timek4]

Hi all,

Apologies if this is in the wrong section, can be moved if necessary.

Having trouble getting my brothers laptop to boot from cd, upgrading it from XP to WIN 7. I have changed the BIOS settings to boot from cd and pressed f12 and clicked on boot from cd in that menu, but no joy. A blank screen with _ flashing comes up the disk spins for a second but then it just goes straight to XP.

The CD is fine as I did a fresh reinstall on my own computer a couple of days ago.

If anyone has any ideas what I'm doing wrong or not doing it would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[theog]

You need to boot the Windows 7 DVD from a DVD drive, not a CD drive.

 

[Timek4]

You need to boot the Windows 7 DVD from a DVD drive, not a CD drive.

Sorry should have made it more clear, the option is CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive.

 

[fireberd]

Looking at the Dell manual, there were options for the optical drive. Some could be just CD drives.

BTW, you shouldn't have to change the boot order in the BIOS. Just press F12 for the Boot Menu.

 

[gregrocker]

Run Dell Diagnostics Utility - How to Run the
to check the hardware over first.

Then boot the DVD also via the F12 key, follow the steps here for Clean Install Windows 7. In Steps 5/6 delete all but the small Dell OEM bootable Diagnostics partition if it runs, create New partition in the space for new install.

If DVD still won't boot try burning another or writing the ISO to flash stick from Steps 1/2 of Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. The tools and methods in that link will also help you get and keep a perfect install, based on thousands we've helped with here.

 

[theog]

You need to boot the Windows 7 DVD from a DVD drive, not a CD drive.

Sorry should have made it more clear, the option is CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive.

Are you using a Genuine Microsoft Windows 7 PRESSED DVD, & not a downloaded ISO burnt to DVD?
As some older CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive's can not read burnt DVD.