How to have BIOS boot CD/DVD drive as default

Xeper8x8 · December 4, 2020

Before anything, here's my specs:

CPU: Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4ghz

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M

PSU: 240w

Battery: 6600mAh
BIOS: Alienware A14

Bit: 64bit

HDD: Kingston SSD 120GB (Connected via Optical Drive Caddy. ill explain why in a moment)

Ram: 24GB DDR3

OS: Windows 10 Enterprise

Hello all. So, my laptop had this issue where the clip/latch that connects the HDD cable to the motherboard had broke, so i had ordered a new latch/clip. When the part arrived, i put it on, put everything back together, and turned on my machine. When i got passed the Alienware booting screen, i got the infamous "your pc/device needs to be repaired 0xc000000e" blue screen! So, after taking it back apart i seen that the actual HDD port itself was messed up since the stupid cord that connects to the port has bent the port over time causing the cable to be loose no matter if the latch is new or not. Its by design believe it or not, so its not negligence lol. Worst hdd set up ive ever seen btw. So either its the port or the damned cord thats fucked...either way i outright refuse to buy another motherboard (400$ yeah no) and outright refuse to buy another cable (75$+ yeah even bigger no lol). So my brother suggests that i could use an optical drive caddy...So i ordered one and it came today, and after the torture of putting that in and putting that shit back together...Now the caddy works, dont get me wrong...it boots my OS...runs just as good as it was when it was in the HDD port...however...it wont boot my cd dvd drive automatically. So everytime i start my machine it goes to the alienware splash/booting screen and then the "your pc/device needs to be repaired 0xc000000e" screen. SO, i have to restart and go the F12 route and boot it from there. So i tried everything from going to the bios and setting the cd dvd drive as the first to boot on legacy option, but everytime i save and exit, it freezes in the bios and i have to press the power button and when i go back to the bios, it doesnt save. i have the latest bios and i seen somewhere that i could reset everything in the bios since getting a new bios sometimes you have to reset everything, but when i did reset, the cddvd drive option was removed from legacy. It just had "mSata" "Network" and "Network". So i did not save and exit since i wouldnt have a way to get to my OS. I have secure boot disabled (even though its greyed out). Anything else i can try to make this work? To have it boot up the CDDVD automatically without having to F12 it every time? Just for the record, i have NO WAY to boot from my actual HDD port since its broken (or the cord, either way idc never using it again lol) so thats not an option. I GUESS I will get used to pressing F12 everytime but its just annoying lol.

D_Lan · December 5, 2020

Does your laptop allow you to boot off a USB drive? If you don't mind always having a USB drive plugged in, you could install boot manager on it. The system would boot off of the USB drive and then the boot manager would automatically boot off the hard drive. You could remove the drive after it's booted, but you'd need to put it back in to skip the F12 option. Although it's a bit old, I've used Plop Boot Manager 5 before to get around goofy boot issues.

As usual, make sure you backup your important files or clone your drive before messing around with new software.

Link to Plop:

https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/index.html

Xeper8x8 · December 5, 2020

5 hours ago, D_Lan said:

Does your laptop allow you to boot off a USB drive?

Yes! That is how install windows when i have to.

5 hours ago, D_Lan said:

If you don't mind always having a USB drive plugged in, you could install boot manager on it. The system would boot off of the USB drive and then the boot manager would automatically boot off the hard drive. You could remove the drive after it's booted, but you'd need to put it back in to skip the F12 option. Although it's a bit old, I've used Plop Boot Manager 5 before to get around goofy boot issues.

I mean, if i REALLY have to, i will do that. I just want to see if anyone else has an idea that doesnt involve a flash drive. Like something i can change via Bios or command prompt, uk? But hey, luckily i got tons of flash drives! lol. Thank you for that idea.