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Question

Dell Boot Issue

Feb 1, 2015 4:01AM PST

I have a Dell Dimension E521.
I purchased a new HDD and a Windows 7 Professional (for new PC) DVD.
My problem is that my internal DVD drives do not show up as an options in my boot sequence list.
Both drives were available when I have my Vista HDD in the machine.
How can I Boot from my DVD drive so I can install the new operating system?

Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
You seem to be describing 2 problems w/few details
Feb 1, 2015 4:08AM PST

Apparent problem 1 - your hard drives aren't showing up when you boot. Problem 2 - you can't boot from your DVD drive. It's anything but obvious what the connection between these two is. Normally you'd boot from the Windows 7 DVD and it would identify your drives and tell you whether they're formatted or not. What happens when you do this? Or are you doing this? Have you formatted the new drive? NTFS or GPT? The answers you get are only going to be as good as the info you provide!

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A little more info - have you tried F12 when booting?
Feb 1, 2015 4:21AM PST

I've done a little more research into this, and found a post on the Tom's Hardware website that when you boot, you can hit F12 and it will give you the option to boot from the CD/DVD drive. Have you tried this? Here's the link:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/56358-2-boot-dell-dimension-e521

I would think this would be documented in your user guide.

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Yes I have hit f12,
Feb 1, 2015 4:40AM PST

But my dvd drives are not an option.
I see my new hard drive via the BIOS, and it seems my dvd drives are listed as SATA drives, but are not viable devices from which to boot.

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Try Bob's suggestions, but you may have hdwe problems.
Feb 1, 2015 4:49AM PST

That's a pretty old computer you've got there. It may just be that it needs replacing, but by all means invest $25 or so in an external DVD drive & give it a try.

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OK
Feb 1, 2015 8:24AM PST

Yeah it's an older one. I have been trying to create a boot-able thumb drive but none of the ISO to USB programs will read my ISO file, tried three ISO rippers. What a hassle.

I'll see if I can get my hands on an external DVD.

Thanks for your Help!!

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two part process
Feb 1, 2015 2:16PM PST

first you rip the DVD to create the ISO file, then you use a USB flashdrive and "burn" the ISO onto it.

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So the BIOS did come up and you...
Feb 1, 2015 5:06AM PST

make the selection but the dvd did not boot when reboot? Is this an upgrade OS? That maybe the problem, although I am not too sure.

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"it seems my dvd drives are listed as SATA drives"
Feb 1, 2015 9:24AM PST

That's how these new bios are. Something else I have notice is that you cannot change the boot sequence and "save" like the old day. It will go back to the old order when reboot. Here's how I do it; after changing the boot sequence, I listen to the spinning sound of the drive then hit "enter" in quick succession and if the disc is a bootable disc, it should boot.

As for the usb drive, I can see what difference it would make. It will still boot the harddrive and won't recognize the dvd drive.

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Answer
I see prior discussions of booting E521's
Feb 1, 2015 4:04AM PST

Let's say those don't work. Try an extrernal USB DVDRW and be sure to see if Dell issued a new BIOS for this model.
Bob

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Example discussion.
Feb 1, 2015 4:47AM PST