Vostro 3400 Won't Boot from Any Device

[stevieb]

I have a dell vostro 3400 that I cannot get to boot from DVD or USB stick. Trying to install Win7 Pro to a new hard drive. Both medias are working as I tested them on other machines. The only other thing I could think to try is the built in Diagnostics which came back all good!
When I power it up, it will sit at the network boot page with blinking cursor. If I hit F12 and select boot from selection, it will sit a black screen with blinking cursor. The bios is set to boot network, usb, dvd, hdd. There is a admin bios password that I do not have, however, don't think I need it as it's already set to the order I need.

Any thoughts on why it will not boot?

 

[Altster]

There is a admin bios password that I do not have, however, don't think I need it as it's already set to the order I need.

You "really" need this (admin password) to allow you to override the boot order using F12. Otherwise it will revert to network boot as default.

I'm assuming that your other boot devices work in other units?

 

[NviGate Systems]

Failing that, remove the HDD and manually apply the wim from the install media, set partition as active and use bcdboot to write boot files.

Pop HDD back in and you are golden. Windows setup will start once the other options time out.

 

[stevieb]

I don't need the admin password to use F12. When I press F12, it brings up the boot menu. I've used it to try and boot from each device and also to enter into diagnostic menu.

 

[stevieb]

I saw one (years ago) that would only boot from USB if it was connected to a network - that network could be anything, including a powered-up but otherwise unconnected switch. We figured out that it was trying to boot from the network first but not timing out if it didn't see a network connection.

But @Altster's absolutely right - you really need the BIOS password to fix this properly, either to change the boot order or to re-flash the BIOS to something less insane.

Just tried to boot with network cable plugged in, but still nothing. Just sat there after network timed out.

 

[stevieb]

Finally got the unit to boot to a new DVD I just burned. Not sure why the other didn't work as it worked on another unit I had.