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Telexx - 27 Apr 2008 06:45 GMT

I've been working with these machines since 1994, and I have never seen such
an anomalie.

Usually, I would build my own machine, but I was lazy and bought a Dell XPS
410. It came with Vista Home Premium.

Now, I find myself needing to get on a test domain, so I downloaded the x86
Vista Ultimate SP1 DVD iso. Burned it and tried to boot from it. All I get is
a black screen with a flashing cursor in the top-left corner.

If I take the same exact disc and put it in the server I built, it works
just fine. But if I take the restore disc for this Dell XPS 410, it can boot
up with it, and a different Vista disc as well.

I call Dell, and sure enough, I go through 3 techs, and finally they point
me back at Microsoft. Hmmm, I *think* this issue has *something* to do with
their proprietary SATA (EISA) drive configuration, or lack of non-OEM OS boot
disk support, but these are just guesses.

Can anyone put an end to my nightmare?? Please!?

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In the middle of testing Windows 2008/Vista SP1.

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Malke - 27 Apr 2008 13:20 GMT

> I've been working with these machines since 1994, and I have never seen
> such an anomalie.
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> Can anyone put an end to my nightmare?? Please!?

I don't think this has anything to do with Dell's partitioning scheme since
I have no problems booting Dells with various CD/DVDs I've made with all
sorts of operating systems on them (Linux, Vista, XP, Bart's, etc.),
including DVDs made from MSDN/Technet .isos. It doesn't matter what model
Dell and it doesn't matter if the optical drives are SATA or IDE.

Things to try:

1. Check your boot order. You can press F12 to get a temporary boot priority
menu or F2 for the BIOS setup.

2. If you have two optical drives, try putting your boot DVD into the other
drive.

3. Burn another disk from your .iso at a slower speed and possibly on
different media.

Malke

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MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

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Telexx - 27 Apr 2008 18:49 GMT

> Things to try:
>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> Malke

Thanks for writing:

1. Checked and verified - not the issue...

2. Going to try a different drive soon on the same machine.. good idea..

3. Tried, and still have the same failure.

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DellCA - 28 Apr 2008 22:27 GMT

Dell uses industry standard SATA connections on all of our computers.
From what you describe I'm not sure what the problem is, but I would
also suggest trying different media to see if that makes a difference.

The first thing that comes to mind is what flavor of DVD did you burn,
and what flavor of DVD drive does your system have (i.e., what type of
disks can it read)? Most of the drives from are DVD+/-R so either type
of DVD (+ or -) should work, but the exact type you used might be making
a difference.

Assuming the disk itself isn't the problem (which, based on what you've
posted, it probably isn't) what shows up on the monitor when you boot
the computer with the disk in? I know it gets to the blank screen with
cursor, but does it show anything else before then? What happens if you
boot without the disk in the drive?

Larry
Dell Customer Advocate

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DellCA

http://forums.techarena.in

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Telexx - 01 May 2008 02:22 GMT

> Dell uses industry standard SATA connections on all of our computers.
> From what you describe I'm not sure what the problem is, but I would
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> Larry
> Dell Customer Advocate

An external DVD drive boots the iso correctly, (thanks Malke), and I now
have a different issue altogether I'll post later lol...

I contacted Dell for a 4th time, and they recommended to flash the BIOS and
DVD firmware before they will offer me a replacement drive. Since the BIOS is
already at the present version, I will proceed to look at the firmware for
the drive. If that is current as well, then I will call them again for a
replacement. Basically, the problem is that the drive will let you boot
certain OS CDs/DVDs, and not others. Unfortunately, it is not a consistent
problem.

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DellCA - 02 May 2008 16:13 GMT

Telexx;3705157 Wrote:

> > Dell uses industry standard SATA connections on all of our
> computers.
[quoted text clipped - 42 lines]
> consistent
> problem.

Does the drive have problems with other store bought disks (not ones
you have burned) as well as ones you have burned yourself? If it does,
then I would say it is probably the drive. If it only has a problem
with disks you have burned then I would be more inclined to think the
problem is with the type of DVDs you used for writing.

Larry
Dell Customer Advocate

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DellCA

http://forums.techarena.in

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philo - 27 Apr 2008 13:23 GMT

> I've been working with these machines since 1994, and I have never seen such
> an anomalie.
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> Can anyone put an end to my nightmare?? Please!?

Swap the DVD drives between your Dell and the server to isolate where the
problem lies

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