Dell Inspiron HDD&DVD Drive problem...

have a DellInspiron 8000, 1ghz 256mb ram, 20gb HDD and DVD Rom.

I recently had some issues with the Laptop restarting uncontrollably and now it does not detect my HDD or DVD-Rom(fixed optical drive).

I know I can change it in the bios, but when I enter the bios it only allows me to change the time and date. I should be able to scroll through with the arrows and other keys, but I don't know which ones(I have tried practically every button randomly) and nothing. Just time and date. I see it does not detect the HDD and DVDRom drive since it is listed on Page 1 of 7, so how do I go about fixing this?

I tried removing both the HDD and DVDRom and I re-inserted them both and it still says they are not installed. How do I move about in the bios? It should be the same as my PC but I cant do a single thing.

All help on how to get it going again is greatly appreciated. It is a pretty good Laptop for some small things like playing music, watching movies and such and I want it back because it is so much easier to move around then a desktop....

I have same problem with my dell latitude d600 notebook, it wont let me change anything in the bios except time and date

If you find anything out, let me know adn i'll do the same.

have a DellInspiron 8000, 1ghz 256mb ram, 20gb HDD and DVD Rom. I recently had some issues with the Laptop restarting uncontrollably and now it does not detect my HDD or DVD-Rom(fixed optical drive). I know I can change it in the bios, but when I enter the bios it only allows me to change the time and date. I should be able to scroll through with the arrows and other keys, but I don't know which ones(I have tried practically every button randomly) and nothing. Just time and date. I see it does not detect the HDD and DVDRom drive since it is listed on Page 1 of 7, so how do I go about fixing this? I tried removing both the HDD and DVDRom and I re-inserted them both and it still says they are not installed. How do I move about in the bios? It should be the same as my PC but I cant do a single thing. All help on how to get it going again is greatly appreciated. It is a pretty good Laptop for some small things like playing music, watching movies and such and I want it back because it is so much easier to move around then a desktop....

Do you care about losing your information? If not just format the machine and it'll do it for you with the window's CD

Yes format it because:
A) It does not detect my Fixed Optical Drive aka my only DVDRom drive, no I do not have a CD Drive and...
B) It doesn't let me change anything in the BIOS, which in some cases it simply malfunctions and disables things on its own, but since I can only change the date and time, I can not configure it to detect any drives and...
C) It doesn't detect my HDD, so how am I suppose to install something on it without enabling it.

If you can answer any of these, let me know.

Edit:

I have found some WinXP Boot/initiate install floppy disks. I am thinking that if I start off with these, could the WinXP installation detect my drives, allwing me to switch to the CD to finish the installation and actually have a drive to put it on?

Yes, format your harddrive.........


Boot from your CD, go to the partition screen and delete the existing one, create a new one and install windows. Windows should do to rest.

Nope, after using floppies then switching to CD, it still does not dtect the HDD.

Prolly need a new one.