Hi,

I currently own a Dell Inspiron 4150 (windows xp Pentium 4M) and there has been a firmware update for my DVD Drive to correctly read DVD+Rs. However, the firmware creates a boot-disk which needs to be done in MS-Dos. The problem lies in the number of available modular drives. I have the floppy drive but there is only one slot and the Dvd drive must be in at the same time to update the firmware. The Model is HLDS GDR-8081N 8X Slim DVD, and was wondering if you guys can find an answer to my increasingly annoying problem. In addition to trying ways to load the firmware, I have tried to use a bootable USB Drive for the floppy but my System BIOS does not support USB booting. Can anyone help me out there.

Thanks

Did you actually try to boot the floppy?

As this setup is intended for your laptop it would be strange if Dell expected the DVD to be in place.

Install

1. Insert the first (or the only) disk of the set into the Floppy
drive.
2. Click Start, click Shutdown, click Restart, and then click OK.
Windows XP Users need only click restart.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions.

http://support.dell.com/support/down...1&fileid=59339

Unfortunately the bootable disk REQUIRES the DVD drive to be installed simultaneously as the information is being read off the disk. I have tried the USB as I have said but my computer is not compatable. I am thinking about purchasing an IDE Cable to try and mock the DVD as the Primary Master ( or secondary) and let the drive be installed that way. I think Hitachi and Dell are working together to make my life worse . But thanks for the prompt response.

Burn a CD-R as an MS-Dos boot disk with the firmware on it, then put it in the DVD drive and boot from there.

Good idea, however the Utility says that no disc can be present in the drive during the flashing process.

You can get an external floppy cable with the computer and use the modular floppy connected to that cable to boot and use the floppy disk. Did you get that with our computer?

I didn't get that accessory with my computer however, I am going to buy one on ebay. I just wanted to confirm this with the seller that one is able to boot from the external drive connected to the parallel port. Once I get the hardware I will inform you guyz on what happens. This website ROCKS!