Okay...first things first. The IDS-4210 does have a power button. If the bezel is installed, there is a silver button on the front that controls power. If the bezel is removed, you will need to push on the plastic circuit cover where the power symbol is located. The symbol looks like a circle with a vertical line at the top. Press directly on that symbol. Typically the sensor will boot back up if you remove power the way you described if it was running at the time. This is because the power settings in CMOS are setup to return to the last state (running, off) after a power failure. It's possible that messing with the jumper on the board resets this setting causing it to lose state, and thereby requiring you to manually press the power button to get the system to come back up. This should get us back to the HDD issue....
When you had the cover off, did you happen to check the power and IDE cables to the HDD? If not, try removing and reseating the connectors as a first step. You may also try moving the drive to the other bay and connecting it there (to rule out cable issues). This config should work, but it hasn't been tested. If you are still having problems, it is probably a HDD failure, and I would recommend RMAing the system. If you really want to make sure this is the problem before going through the hassle of an RMA, you can test the drive in a separate system (or swap with your second 4210). Just don't install two drives in the same 4210 at the same time.
On the second system, you indicated that it was not booting to the CD, but would boot directly to the HDD. This may still be an issue with your CD copy, because not all IDS-4210s will behave the same way, even with the same CD. We have witnessed this in the lab ourselves. My only guess is that some of the CD-ROM drives are more sensitive than others. I would try to verify BIOS settings on this system before blaming the CD though, unless you have another CD to test with.
Regarding breaking into CMOS, can you describe what you are seeing when the system boots? Are you connected through the serial port or with a keyboard and monitor? If you are connected through the serial port, you may not see anything if console redirection is not enabled in the BIOS. You will have to connect a keyboard and monitor to fix this. If you are on a monitor, you should see one of two things...either a Cisco splash screen, or standard text POST messages with a prompt to hit to run SETUP. Hit while either of these is displayed, and it should enter CMOS setup once the initial cpu and memory tests are completed.
Let me know if you are still having problems after trying these suggestions. You can contact me directly if you want (rwassom@cisco.com).
-Rusty
