Older computers won't have an option to boot from a removable disk. That's a fairly new feature to computers.

Again, the only thing I can really tell you is that I think the drive is defective. If it was able to boot from a disk but not read disks in Windows, that's one thing. But if your BIOS recognizes that you have a drive and you set the BIOS to boot from the drive and multiple boot disks don't work, I'm pretty sure your optical drive is just bad.

There isn't much to an optical drive. Especially in a laptop. It will either work, or not work. There aren't a bunch of software/hardware changes you can make to an optical drive to make it foul up. And in a laptop, there are no jumpers or anything to worry about.

It sounds to me like you just have a bad drive. Considering the laptop's age, it's probably a good guess.

There are no other troubleshooting methods to do. You reseated the drive, reset defaults in the BIOS, and tried to boot from multiple disks through boot priority and F12. There is nothing else I can really offer you to help.

I wouldn't recommend trying to find a new drive, cause it will be too expensive. An external USB optical drive won't help cause your BIOS is too old to boot from a removable disk. So I'd say it's time for a new computer.

Wadd thanks for all your help I have one to many computers to begin with.... I'm just to stubborn to let it beat me. Your right its not worth the time or money. Thanks again!

I tried a different cd rom and I also pulled the battery from the cpu board. The defaults were restored. But it still wont boot from the cd..........

Does anyone have any other ideas or can explain what stopped working on the MB.

I can't stand when I can't make it work........I'm just that stubborn.

If a new drive still fails to boot to a disk and you are definitely sure that drive is working, then the problem is on the motherboard itself.

Unless there is some kind of detail that's missing from your symptoms, it has to be the motherboard. Some detail like, the disks you are using to boot aren't actually bootable, aren't created correctly, or just defective disks. You don't have the new drive seated correctly. You are trying to use a DVD in a CD-ROM drive. Have you tried the disks on another, working machine? Reseating the new drive? Checked the type of drive and disk you are using?

With laptops, there is no IDE cable that could be at fault. There are no jumpers to set on the optical drive. It should just plug in and work.

So the problem is most likely even worse than expected and definitely not worth the time. Just about everything inside a laptop is built in on the motherboard. It could be a bad IDE port, a bad IDE controller, a bad southbridge, short, etc.

At this point you either 1. Need a new motherboard that supports booting off of a USB device, which would then require you to upgrade all the other components (basically, a completely impossible situation) or 2. Need a new exact replacement motherboard (also, not worth the money or effort.....if you can even find that motherboard).

If you still want to have a go at it, try looking on EBay or similar type websites to see if you can find an old working/partially working, same model laptop. Maybe one with a bad screen or bad speakers or something like that. You could try tearing it to pieces and replacing the motherboard and/or optical drive. If you do all that and it still has the same problem, don't post it in here cause I will sob like a small child....

Thanks again! I will part it out to someone who might need the lcd or other parts.......

I give up and I will move on........