>You need to solve the BIOS issue before anything more can be done.
Exactly, but options are not available.

>What boot device or options are actually available, if any?
Since I can't see what the boot sequence is, I have to assume it goes from DVD to HDD to USB, no help whatsoever because the DVD drive was the problem in the first place.

I'm sure the tech dude is reading from a cheat sheet and working on the assumption that the DVD drive once worked and replacing corrupt files would restore it but he should have asked about the Restore options before he got me into this mess.

>so it thinks that you don't need a choice.
Yeah, but since when did we not need a choice? You only need the DVD drive to break. I've never known a computer to not give you the choice, in fact, in all my years of computing, changing the boot options is by far the most frequent reason for editing the BIOS.

>someone who knows what they are doing.
Therein lies the rub.