Can I test the system without a optical drive?

[bendy86]

Hi there people. I'm currently waiting for the delivery man to bring my DVD RW drive but I have everything else installed and ready to go (I think).
I was wondering if I would be able to power up the pc for the 1st time to see if everything is installed properly without having the optical drive installed?

The only issue I have is that the HDD I'm using is from a old computer that is still full of data and has a windows vista 64 bit installed. I don't want any of the data on the HDD and was going to format the drive during installation of windows 7 oem disc that I have. I've been told that the of will try to load up the vista install and will crash the computer. What damage could this cause and what should I do to get into bios to choose to load from optical drive before it attempts to load vista?

Can I just reset the computer after it does it's first checks?

Also, should I clear the CMOS before I power up for the 1st time?

Hope someone can help.

 

[redeity]

If you want to install Windows 7, you have to boot it with the DVD drive and from there you can choose to keep the files and just upgrade Windows or do a custom one where it deleted everything on your hard disk and install Windows on it. If you go with the latter, I suggest you back up your files though.

 

[bendy86]

If you want to install Windows 7, you have to boot it with the DVD drive and from there you can choose to keep the files and just upgrade Windows or do a custom one where it deleted everything on your hard disk and install Windows on it. If you go with the latter, I suggest you back up your files though.

I know what to do for the install of windows 7, I just wanna know what will happen if I turn it on now, as it is, without the optical drive just to see if everything else is installed properly?
Also whether I should clear CMOS before I turn on for the 1st time?

 

[redeity]

If you turn it now, it will go to your BIOS menu where you can change boot priority and overclock settings. If the BIOS menu opens up then your system should be working fine, and only needs the DVD drive to install Windows to have your system fully working.

 

[bendy86]

If you turn it now, it will go to your BIOS menu where you can change boot priority and overclock settings. If the BIOS menu opens up then your system should be working fine, and only needs the DVD drive to install Windows to have your system fully working.

So I will be able to turn it on and get to the bios before it try's to load vista that is currently installed on the HDD that I'm using? I know this will crash if it try's to load vista, I'm just worried about it doing that and causing damage to something.

 

[redeity]

I think it would only damage the HDD if it does crash, there's no reason for the other components to be damaged by it

 

[bendy86]

I think it would only damage the HDD if it does crash, there's no reason for the other components to be damaged by it

What are the chances of that happening. Obviously I won't be able to choose to boot from cd rom until the optical drive is installed.
Is there any way I can enter the bios before it try's to load vista, remembering that this will be the 1st time the system has been powered on so it will do the 1st power on checks, then what?

 

[redeity]

If you want to just load the BIOS settings, I suggest you take out the HDD to ensure that it doesn't try to load up what's on the HDD