Dell Dimension 8400 cd roms not booting from disc

[spkenny]

I have a dell dimension 8400 that I am simply reformatting and installing windows xp. The problem is that the cd roms aren't booting the disc. There are 2 of them. First I checked the obvious settings in the boot menu, and selected usb or onboard cd rom selection for first boot device. Next I checked the settings jumperwise. Both were set for CS, so I set the first for master, and the second for slave. The message coming up is "No boot device available. Strike F1 to retry boot, F2 to enter setup." I'm thinking of checking the ribbon cable to the cd-roms, but doubt that is what it is since the cd roms are showing up in the bios setup.

 

[Renegeek]

do u have 2 IDE HD chanels... (= 4 hd's or cdroms)

try fliping the cd rom, and put them on the HD chanel, and put the HD on the CD chanel.

 

[spkenny]

The hard drive is SATA, not IDE. So I cant flip the hard drive. I will switch the cable to the second ide channel if there is one. Anyone else have a suggestion?

 

[jasonbernal]

change the drive