Reading Data CD's

Do you have a working drive?Are you able to read any information from any cd?Can you play a music cd?If the answer is No you will have to replace the drive.

hell can some one help me get dell latitude D600 laptop driver for free download? i just need the site for that ....

If the optical unit can read DVD, but not data CDs , or music CDs , then the lens is dirty or defective. In that case , try first using a cleaner disk. If that does not work, replace the drive unit.
If instead the problem is that computer can read data CD but does not play music, then reinstall Windows media player. See Windows Media Player 10

Yes data can be recovered with the platters but it gets pretty expensive. I would try and plug the hard drive up as a secondary drive using an adapter. or get a thumb drive and try and back up the files you need and then buy a new drive. This happens far too often. Definitely always be very careful. Treat hard drives like expensive china.
Thanks,
Lee

Back up your data.
First and foremost, it is absolutely necessary to backup any data you want to save. Usually, reformatting and recovering a Dell system will result in the complete loss of any data added to the hard drive after it shipped from the factory. The usual place for personal data to reside in the My Documents folder. You can burn this info to CD/RW, or if you're on a LAN network, you can transfer the data from the Dell PC to another computer nearby. Do not forget to backup your Favorites folder and your Outlook or Outlook Express files--otherwise your address book and contacts will be lost
Locate the Recovery Media
Most Dell computers will also have shipped with a software box that contains several types of media. This is the Windows CD and the various application CDs you will use to revert the system. If you cannot find these CDs, you'll need to visit the Dell website and navigate to the support section. Drivers are normally stored on their online database for quick recovery.
Installing XP on a Dell System
When you reboot with the Dell XP CD in the drive, you will come to this screen. It gives you the option to repair the installation or continue reinstalling a fresh copy of the Operating System. The repair will generally preserve your data and attempt to fix any corrupt or missing data. If you decide to proceed with reinstalling the Operating System, all data will be wiped from the drive.
To perform the repair, simply press R and the system will attempt to replace those corrupt files.
To install a fresh copy of Windows on your Dell computer, press the ESC key.
Once the install is complete, you will need to add the the driver disks one at a time until all hardware has been successfully installed.
You will then need to use the application CDs to recover any applications that came preinstalled on the system--such as MS Works, MM Office, Quicken, etc...

Try to reinstall XP again, when prompted to partiton, select to do so.
You will lose everything on the hard drive and will need to reinstall all of your programs.
Hope this helps.
Good Luck.

Ok, now we have some good discourse! While I'd always prefer to use a friend's laptop to test my fringe hypotheses, having your own is a fine option too. And it sounds like you have an enclosure too, so you are pretty much all set.

It's really sounding like the entire computer is having problems at boot. The drivers for the CD drive are built into the computer, so you don't have to worry about replacing them. That's how it can boot from a CD even before starting windows.

I think you are doing everything perfectly so far, so the question is how much more you want to do before selling it As-Is on Craigslist or claiming it lost in a terrorist attack to your home owners' insurance.

more choices though: if you want to keep fiddling with it, try these few suggestions.

If the green light goes on when you put the burned Windows CD into the drive there are a couple things that might be going on. If you can hear the drive start up and spin then stop then try again, then it sounds like either the CD is bad or the drive isn't working properly. Make sure the version of Windows you burned is a bootable version (full OEM or Restore CD and not an upgrade). Just a thought. Also, when you press F12 with the CD in the drive, does it show a boot from CD drive option? If so, I'm guessing that you try it, it spins the disk then nothing for a bit then the error message. If so, what's happening is that it's checking the CD for boot information, can't find it and then tries to boot "normally" which for it isn't.

If you ALWAYS see the 60GB Primary drive when you press F12, then the computer really believes that there is a drive there and maybe there are problems with the drive AND the CD rom.

The idea with the enclosure is that you can pull the hard drive from your D600 and put it in the enclosure to be read by your HP. This way, even if part of the drive isn't good - for instance it might be that the "boot sector" of the drive is corrupted - your HP should be able to read the rest and allow you to get back all your music and pictures.

Sheesh, don't be sorry about not understanding this all on the first pass. You're already doing a great job of diagnosing and repairing what you can. Get back to me after you've run yourself into another dead end. Good luck!!



Here are a few places to check out.

Dell's D600 Service Manual - to help you remove any tasty parts you need to (like the hard drive)

D600 Hard drive removal instructions - PDF format so get ready for download!

There's also a chance that you already have a Restore Partition on the existing hard drive. The problem being that your computer isn't reading the hard drive properly may make this a non-issue, but if you want, try this: BUT WARNING THIS WILL DESTROY ALL DATA ON THE HARD DRIVE so only do this AFTER you have removed all your important stuff from it by plugging it into your HP.


Taken from Dell's Technical Support page and should be followed from there:
1 Turn on the computer.
2 When the Dell splash screen appears during the computer startup process, press and hold <Ctrl> and then press <F11>. Then, release both keys at the same time.
3 In the Dell PC Restore by Symantec window, click Restore. Alternatively, press <Tab> to highlight Restore, and then press <Enter>.
4 When a warning message appears stating that all data will be lost, click Confirm, or press <Tab> to highlight Confirm and then press <Enter>.

The Progress window will appear. Once the restore process starts, Dell PC Restore by Symantec usually takes about 8 to 10 minutes to finish.

When the restore process is complete, the following message will appear:
The system recovery process was successful.
5 Click Finish or press <Tab> to highlight Finish and then press <Enter> to restart the computer.
The software is now installed as it was when the computer was first received.

have you installed any software for compiling the data and writing it on the disc....
try to use nero and tell if it shows any error

Hi, the "No Diagnostic Utility Partition Found" is returned because your laptop does not find the recovery partition on C drive.
Easiest way to create partition is with dell recovery cd. You can buy CDs from dell, buy finding contact on web site or buy from one of the following.
Dell Restore Disk: XP Pro SP2 for ... $35.00 - DIMOSOL - Digital ...
Dell Latitude D600 XP System Recovery CD ... $18.95 - recovery-cds.com ...
Dell Latitude D600 Vista System Recovery ... $18.95 - recovery-cds.com ...




Buy recovery cd according to windows version on sticker at the back of your laptop.
With recovery CD you wont need drivers.

Alternative solution is downloading drivers posted by Maanita after installing Windows from a generic Windows setup CD.

This drive is normally supplied with a couple of Dells.
(because of compatibility) Inspiron 700m,710m

If you have another machine for testing?
check the disk for contents to see if the data burn happened,
this will explain a few things in your processes.

Uninstall/Reinstall the drive and reboot then try again.

Have you tried a full system reinstall yet?
Did it fix your problem?Please let me know thanks