I'm not sure if I'm in the right forum for this problem or not but any advice is appreciated!
I have a second hand Dell Inspiron 1525 that I'm trying to format and re-install windows onto. There is a copy of Vista already installed but i do not have the password so I cant log in. I tried booting the laptop up with a password reset boot disc but it ignored it and went straight to loading Vista. (I did change the boot order in the Bios screen).
With this being unsuccessful i decided to just do a clean install from boot. Now I've tried all these steps with XP and Windows 7 with the exact same results.......
First I tried with a CD. I went into BIOS and selected the CD-ROM to be the first boot device. When I turn the laptop on it starts loading Vista.....
So I tried a one-time boot (F12) and selected CD-ROM, I get the message 'No Bootable Devices -Strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility, F5 to run onboard diagnostics'
I then went into BIOS and disabled every boot device except for the CD-ROM drive. Restart Laptop, It starts loading Vista from HDD.
Then i tried the exact same sequence but with a USB flash drive. Again selecting it as first boot up device and after another unsuccessful attempt disabling every other boot device except the USB, still the same thing happens. I get the same error message or if i just leave the laptop to do its thing it loads Vista from HDD.
I checked a couple of other forums and found that some people cured the problem by removing the battery for a while. I took mine out for half an hour and when i put it back in and tried again i had the exact same issues.
It seems like sometimes it just ignores the options ive chosen (boot order, one time boot) and loads Vista, other times it tells me there are 'no bootable devices'. I've tried using a CD, a USB drive and booting from onboard NIC (to which i just get the message 'Media test failure - Check cable' )
I'm all out of idea's now - if anyone can help I thank you in advance!
I have a second hand Dell Inspiron 1525 that I'm trying to format and re-install windows onto. There is a copy of Vista already installed but i do not have the password so I cant log in. I tried booting the laptop up with a password reset boot disc but it ignored it and went straight to loading Vista. (I did change the boot order in the Bios screen).
With this being unsuccessful i decided to just do a clean install from boot. Now I've tried all these steps with XP and Windows 7 with the exact same results.......
First I tried with a CD. I went into BIOS and selected the CD-ROM to be the first boot device. When I turn the laptop on it starts loading Vista.....
So I tried a one-time boot (F12) and selected CD-ROM, I get the message 'No Bootable Devices -Strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility, F5 to run onboard diagnostics'
I then went into BIOS and disabled every boot device except for the CD-ROM drive. Restart Laptop, It starts loading Vista from HDD.
Then i tried the exact same sequence but with a USB flash drive. Again selecting it as first boot up device and after another unsuccessful attempt disabling every other boot device except the USB, still the same thing happens. I get the same error message or if i just leave the laptop to do its thing it loads Vista from HDD.
I checked a couple of other forums and found that some people cured the problem by removing the battery for a while. I took mine out for half an hour and when i put it back in and tried again i had the exact same issues.
It seems like sometimes it just ignores the options ive chosen (boot order, one time boot) and loads Vista, other times it tells me there are 'no bootable devices'. I've tried using a CD, a USB drive and booting from onboard NIC (to which i just get the message 'Media test failure - Check cable' )
I'm all out of idea's now - if anyone can help I thank you in advance!
