Unable to boot from external hdd or cd/dvdrom

[iu101]

hello,

I have a gateway laptop model number M1622 it came originally with windows vista home edition 32bit. after working with it for awhile it crashed and whenever i tried to start the computer it kept on restarting.

here is a list of thing i have tried so far:
1. booting for cd/dvdrom/(windows 7 dvd) external hdd (loaded with windows 7 installation file) --> keep going back to the windows recovery menu
2. start windows in safe mode or pretty much any option under the f8 windows boot menu - keeps restarting
3. tried starting the computer after testing the ram stick by removing each one individually and trying to reboot --> laptop still restarting
4. I took the hdd out install it in a external hdd case and reformat the hdd put it back inside this time i tried booting the computer from the external hdd and i was getting the following error message : 0xc000000f " the boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible'  if press enter the laptop restarts again.
when trying to boot from the cd/dvdrom im getting standard missing NTLDR error message.

Any help or suggestion will be appreciated  and thanks in advance

[Geek-9pm]

Welcome!
Computer Hope is the number one location for free computer help.
The forum will help everyone with all computer questions.

Check the BIOS to see what boot options are available.
See if the BIOS has found the  DVD Drive and the Hard Drive.
Remove the Hard Drive. Attempt to boot the Vista DVD.  Or try to boot any CD or DVD that has a OS on the media. This is to verify that the laptop is mostly usable  If you can boot a Ubuntu CD*, this would indicate the laptop is mostly good and the Hard Drive may be the problem.

If neither the DVD or HDD works, you may have a motherboard problem.

*But my  favorite is Puppy Linux. It seldom fails. Quick download.

[iu101]

thanks a lot for the reply i will try your suggestions and i will post the results later today