I want to boot from second CD Drive but Can't

[washdup]

My Dell PC has a virus. I realized a reinstallation of the OS was the fix, but didn't have the original disk. So I reqeusted one from Dell and they sent one right away, to their credit. So I backed everything up and made a list of all my apps to reinstall and set about to try to boot from the disk.

However, I have run into a snag. My original Dell CD-Rom drive broke awhile back, so I installed a Sony CD/DVD-RW drive in the slot below the original drive, leaving the original drive in place. The Sony drive works fine for playing disks, but--and here's the problem--the computer will not boot from it.

I figured I would just disconnect the old drive so the computer would be forced to see the new drive, but that did not work. The computer then would not recognize any disk drive at all. Then I tried switching the positions of the two drives (replacing the cables accordingly), but again came up with a beep during the startup and a message saying no disk drive was recognized.

So, frustrated, I then put the broken drive back in again as drive O and the Sony as drive 1, as originally, and the computer started up and appeared to operate normally again (no beep during startup), but of course it still will not boot from the Sony drive in position 1.

I tried searching the web, but could find nothing for this particular set of facts.

Thanks in advance,

Mitch

[Allan]

Make sure the cd drive is ahead of the hd in the boot order in bios.

[washdup]

Thanks, I should have mentioned that I did that. 

[Allan]

Forgive a silly question, but are you certain the disc is bootable?

[washdup]

Hey Allan--

I assume so.  It's the disk I received from Dell.  It is labeled "Reinstallation CD".   

--Mitch

[Allan]

Let's be 100% certain. Try booting to a KNOWN bootable cd or dvd.

[washdup]

That was my original issue.  I don't know where the original disks are. 

[washdup]

Was there a switch changing the drives from "master" to "slave" I should have used?  I vaguely remember something about that when installing the drive, but I just pulled them out and looked for a switch and for the life of me I can't find it.

I obviously should have indicated "beginner" not "intermediate".   

[Allan]

ANY bootable disc. Borrow one. While it's certainly possible you are having a hw problem, there's a chance you are not. Let's be certain.

[washdup]

I had failed to change the jumper position.   

[patio]

I had failed to change the jumper position.   

This would have nothing to do with being able to boot a bootable CD...

[washdup]

It had everything to do with whether the computer would boot from that drive.