How to make the M11x boot from the DVD?

WHen I insert the WIndows 7 DVD in my external CD/DVD drive and reboot the notebook it doesn't give me the option to hit enter to boot from the DVD. I have been inside the Boot Options menu by pushing the F12 key at the Alienware logo but I don't know how to proceed from that point. I'm going to do a clean install of Windows 7 by the way...

Thanks in advance.

Please give me a quick answer, I need this thing done quick

 

I have been looking around on google and they say that the M11xR2 doesn't support USB boot (External CD/DVD Drive), is this true? If it's, why did they send you a installation DVD of Windows 7?

 

I am not in front of my machine ATM but;

Press f2 as soon as you turn the machine on to enter the BIOS.
Go right to 'Boot'
Change the order so that your usb device is at the top of the list.

 

The funny thing is, there is nothing called USB in the Boot list, only CD/ROM, Hard Drive and Network. And I have tried to put CD/ROM at the top but it still don't boot from the DVD.

 

the m11xr2 does support cd/dvd USB booting, CD/ROM is the correct option to choose, make sure your USB drive actually works. If not is probably your disk is fubard

 

Make sure your DVD drive is plugged directly into the machine and not into a hub.

 

Well put. Yeah sorry said I wasn't at my machine. It was a use your noggin' to fill in the vague parts sorta answer.

 

The drive is plugged straight into the left USB plug and when I select to boot from the CD/ROM it starts spinning in there but it still doesn't get to the setup screen or the boot from CD message, it just starts normal windows. And it's working like it should, it can read games and movies.

 

Sorry for bumping so early but Iäm going nuts with this soon. I took a pricture of my BIOS boot setup and this is how it looks like. It's still not reading the DVD, it only starts reading it when I'm back on the desktop.

 

I had some issues with my Dell USB optical drive. It took multiple tries before it finally worked. I'm wondering if the drive wasn't getting enough power from a single USB port. Or it could just be the Dell drive I have has issues.

 

I tried just to make sure with the power expander or what it's called with two usb cables leading from the drive into the notebook but it didn't fix it. THis is getting frusterating...

 

Do you have another computer that you can test the drive for booting capabilities?

There was also another thread related to power and the USB ports on boot.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/560919-usb-power-problem.html

Not sure if there was a solution but this might also be the same problem you are having. If your USB ports are not powering that could be a very viable explanation as to why the drive doesn't do anything until you get to the desktop. If that is the case then you would need to get your USB card replaced(fact check, I believe that was mentioned in the post I linked.) Best of luck! Keep us updated!!!

 

What is your current status?

 

Well, I got an answer on another thread regarding this on another forum and a guy told me to: power up my laptop, enter my BIOS and go to boot device, enable boot other devicem change the order of my DVD, save, restart and enter the BIOS again to see if it recognize my DVD.

I odn't really understand some of this...

 

If it's not working with both USB connectors plugged in, then you probably have a bad drive. I have an Asus external drive, and it works fine on the M11x with both connectors plugged directly into the notebook. It doesn't work with it connected to a USB hub.

 

You can make an .iso from the disk in Windows, make a bootable usb drive with the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (download here), and then install using the usb drive instead.