So, My mom got anew computer, And I'm trying to use her old one. I want to reinstall XP on it (Because she REALLY junked it up)

But here's the problem.

The laptops around 5 year old. I try to put in the CD and it doesn't let me reinstall the OS. (Becuase I believe the CD drive is broken)
I have an backup CD/DVD reader and I try to use that instead of the normal cd drive but it won't read it.

Can anyone help?

The simplest thing to do is replace the CD drive. They are around $40 US.

Are you sure it's defective?

Will the computer boot into XP at all? If so, create a new Administrator level account then logoff the existing account and login to the new one. Put a CD (music or data) in the drive and see if you can access it. If yes then the drive is okay and you should be able to boot the XP Install CD from it.

Have you set the CD drive as the first device in the Boot Priority?

I don't believe the Inspiron 6000 will boot from an external device of any kind, CD/DVD or Flash.

It may have a Recovery partition on the hard drive though. If so you can restore it to Factory State using it. This is what the manual says:

Using Dell PC Restore by Symantec

NOTE: Dell PC Restore is available only on computers purchased in certain regions.
Use Dell PC Restore by Symantec only as the last method to restore your operating system. PC Restore restores your hard drive to the operating state it was in when you purchased the computer. Any programs or files added since you received your computer—including data files—are permanently deleted from the hard drive. Data files include documents, spreadsheets, e-mail messages, digital photos, music files, and so on.

If possible, back up all data before using PC Restore.

NOTICE: Using PC Restore permanently deletes all data on the hard drive and removes any applications or drivers installed after you received your computer. If possible, back up the data before using PC Restore.

To use PC Restore:

1 Turn on the computer. During the boot process, a blue bar with Dell appears at the top of the screen.

2 Immediately upon seeing the blue bar, press <Ctrl><F11>.
If you do not press <Ctrl><F11> in time, let the computer finish restarting, and then restart the computer again.
NOTICE: If you do not want to proceed with PC Restore, click Reboot in the following step.

3 On the next screen that appears, click Restore.

4 On the next screen, click Confirm.
The restore process takes approximately 6–10 minutes to complete.

5 When prompted, click Finish to reboot the computer.
NOTE: Do not manually shut down the computer. Click Finish and let the computer completely reboot.

Hmm. I try CTRL and F11 but i'm not having that screen. :l

Timing is critical. Try it several times.

I've tried...nothing. :[

"I try to put in the CD and it doesn't let me reinstall the OS."

So you have an XP CD.

On many laptops, you have to select "booting from the CDROM" (or similar). On the bootup "splash screen" there's usually a choice you "arrow to" (using the Left/Right arrow keys). Have you tried this, or seen a similar entity on the spash screen?

It may not have a recovery partition then. My Inspiron 6000 did have one but I created an image backup then nuked it and added the space to my boot partition.

Can you boot to XP and play a usic CD ro view a data CD? If so then check BIOS and make sure the CD is the frist boot device.

Originally Posted by Dan Penny

"I try to put in the CD and it doesn't let me reinstall the OS."

So you have an XP CD.

On many laptops, you have to select "booting from the CDROM" (or similar). On the bootup "splash screen" there's usually a choice you "arrow to" (using the Left/Right arrow keys). Have you tried this, or seen a similar entity on the spash screen?

Well. The CD drive doesn't work on the laptop anymore. :l

Replace the CD then as I suggested earlier. It's easy to do. Remove 1 screw, pop the old CD/DVD out, put the new one in and replace the screw.

Another possible fix (read it on a help forum, maybe here) is to power down, disconnect pwr/data cables from the optical drive, power it up, then power down again and reconnect the cables. Sort of a "hard reset" to the hardware and O/S.