Booting from external USB cd-rom drive

[andi_diver]

Here's the story: the laptop is a Dell Latitude 600 with Windows XP pro installed - which is not working properly anymore. The original windows cd was lost during hurricane, and I never registered it... anyway, now I'd like to change to Ubuntu, I have already downloaded the cd-rom with the .iso file.
Problem is I only have an external cd-rom drive to boot from (the rest is kaputt...), and there is only the options of 1. internal HDD or 2. internal cd-rom drive in the BIOS. :-(

Is there a way to set up the BIOS so the computer can be booted from the external drive???? If there would be a way, I'll need an explanation in very simple steps - I am a computer DUMMY!!! :rant:

THANK YOU!!!

Please put the message in the right forum if I posted it wrong - I'm new here!

[profdlp]

Is there a floppy drive in the machine? Is there an option in the BIOS like "Boot other devices" (Yes/No or Enable/Disable)?

[andi_diver]

There WAS a floppy, but the computer can't read the floppies anymore - no idea why, though. No option in the BIOS for booting from other devices, but I'll check again!

Thanks for now!

[andi_diver]

OK, here's what I've got as options: NONE, Internal HDD, Diskette Drive, CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive, Modular Bay HDD, PCI Slot NIC, MiniPCI or Dock NIC, CardBus NIC.
Doesn't look too good, does it??? Maybe I just have to throw that thing in the garbage - that'll solve the problem, no?? ;-)

[profdlp]

You could try and tell it to boot from the NIC, then have it connect to a machine set up as a server. That would take some doing, though.

Is it worth the money to get the internal cdrom drive or the floppy drive replaced? Maybe with an eBay special on something used you could piece it back together without spending too much dough.

Another alternative would be to borrow a laptop, put your drive in it and copy the files from your Ubuntu disc, then stick it back in your machine and go to town.

For about $15 you can buy an adapter which will allow you to hook the laptop drive up to an IDE cable in a desktop computer, then do the same file copy stuff.

You might also be able to find a boot cd that will supply the drivers to get your external drive detected.

[zero.counter]

Here's the story: the laptop is a Dell Latitude 600 with Windows XP pro installed - which is not working properly anymore. The original windows cd was lost during hurricane, and I never registered it... anyway, now I'd like to change to Ubuntu, I have already downloaded the cd-rom with the .iso file.
Problem is I only have an external cd-rom drive to boot from (the rest is kaputt...), and there is only the options of 1. internal HDD or 2. internal cd-rom drive in the BIOS. :-(

Is there a way to set up the BIOS so the computer can be booted from the external drive???? If there would be a way, I'll need an explanation in very simple steps - I am a computer DUMMY!!! :rant:

THANK YOU!!!

Please put the message in the right forum if I posted it wrong - I'm new here!
Have at it!
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/usb-boot.mspx

Or you can ebay a new CD-R/RW/DVD-ROM/RW drive for you laptop...