Dying Dell PowerEdge 1800 graphics card – any solution

The 65W version is actually called the 1214HE (high efficiency) and is quite a few months newer than the 103W version - if you want to buy a new processor you should go for the HE version as it'll run cooler, use less power and perhaps last longer if that's of concern.

What I would say though is that if you're prepared to pay $290 just for an old dual-core processor then you should consider spending and extra $80 more, as for that much you can buy a newer FOUR-core T105 (Clicky) that will be much quicker for Hyper-V and you're effectively getting a second PC for $80 - does that make sense?

EDIT Sorry, the dell.com site sent me to the dell.co.uk site so the prices and links I provided are invalid sorry. That said the idea still stands, you could consider a new machine for not much more than the price of that old processor, I'll come back with some US-specific pricing when dell let me :)

Edit 2 - this T110 machine is a little more than my earlier, wrong, example but is actually a better processor anyway.

Swap out a known working CD drive and test this CD drive in another machine.

Reseat all cables to the CD drive.

Test booting from the CD media in another machine, and/or burn another CD and see if that works.

Also, F12 on boot has an option to choose the boot method but won't help if the drive and/or CD media are faulty.