Dell Inspiron 8200 Issues

[VoloxitySF]

Working on a Dell Inspiron 8200 for a friend and I've come across this error right before the bios loads. I cannot get in to bios setup to change boot devices, because of this error..

The device in the system modular bay cannot be identified

Upon my research of this error I'm finding a lot about improperly seated optical drives, and optical drive replacement required to fix the problem. I've tried re-seating the optical drive a couple times, but it was a no go.

Anybody with any info/experience? The optical drive in this machine SEEMS to be working properly. Activity light and read sounds seem normal.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Edit/Delete Message

 

[Mechawyvern]

Stupid question: Have you tried booting the system without the optical drive present?

 

[Alien432]

even before bios it must pass memory, cpu, video & keyboard check.