looks like you have the process to boot to the USB key down.  You might want to make sure the key is bootable with a different system.  Some USB keys do not create the boot sector correctly with just the format /s command. 

Dell has a utility to make their keys bootable.  R69131.EXE  ftp://ftp.dell.com/rmsd/R69131.exe

if the drive is bootable on a different system, then try their utility or one from the manufacturer of your key.

You must remove any hard drives and then Boot from floppy With the Memory Key Active in bios.

Then Fdisk /MBR the usb memory key.

Then Run Fdisk again and make sure the partition is active.

If you use the memory key utility all you need to do is reformat /s after FDISK /MBR

Your kidding?  Take the computer apart and remove the hard drive so it will boot from the memory key!  Thanks for the info, but I'll just order some CD roms or Floppies thats rediculous.  I hope Dell does a bios fix.  Maybe Toshiba is better?

Dave Kone - Dell shop for now.

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@DaveKone wrote:

Your kidding?  Take the computer apart and remove the hard drive so it will boot from the memory key!  Thanks for the info, but I'll just order some CD roms or Floppies thats rediculous.  I hope Dell does a bios fix.  Maybe Toshiba is better?

Dave Kone - Dell shop for now.

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Taking it apart is not necessary. Just disable in bios and then re-enable after you are done.

The IDE drive will be seen as the C: drive and the USB as D:

You will be unable to make D: Active if it "Sees" the C: internally.

Ahhh, so if I disable the hard drive in the bios and boot from the USB key as if it were the A: drive how can I copy an image down to the hard drive.  My entire purpose for doing this is to be able to re-image a computer should the OS or programs get messed up.

 

thanks

David

once the drive has an ACTIVE partition and is "bootable" you can reboot and get to the drive.

However 2 gig or 4 gig usb memory keys are quite expensive.

Its cheaper to get usb hardware drive enclosures.

Understood on the expense.  I really wanted the USB key to boot the computer up so it could see a network share where the image is sitting.  So I don't need a big key.

 

David

Ok I got my 170l to boot form a USB key and login to my Windows 2000 network, map drives etc.  We are botted in Windows 98 DOS.

But my USB key becomes the C: drive and I can not see the internal IDE hard drive?  I want to be able to get this far and dump an image to the internal hard drive.

thanks!

David

First of all... ALWAYS START WITH A KNOWN GOOD when troubleshooting and work from there!. I CAN'T EMPHASIZE THAT ENOUGH!

What this means is make sure your USB device is bootable on another machine. Typically I have found anomalies in system bios (personalities) configs that prevent USB booting from a KNOWN GOOD USB BOOTABLE device i.e. USB memstick / thumbdrive or External USB CDROM drive.

Now regarding the DELL OPTIPLEX 170L BIOS Ver. A07 I've had to fiddle a bit.

Current installed hardware:

No FLOPPY drive installed

QTY. 1 - 320 GB SATA on the "SATA Primary" channel (there's only 1 channel)

QTY. 1- 40 GB IDE as Master on the Primary IDE channel

QTY. 1 - IDE CDROM as Master on the Secondary IDE channel

Note: These channels I'm referencing are actual hardware interfaces on the MB and they're labeled. Might need glasses & good flash light ;-)

SO, 2 hard drives (1 SATA, 1 IDE) and a CDROM installed. And no Floppy.

Here are the settings in my A07 bios that worked under "Drive Configuration"

Diskette Drive A: "NOT INSTALLED"

SATA PRIMARY: "HARDDRIVE" (the bios sees the SATA drive under it's "auto" config)

PRIMARY MASTER DRIVE: "HARDDRIVE" (again, the bios sees the Primary IDE under "auto" config)

PRIMARY SLAVE DRIVE: "OFF"

SECONDARY MASTER DRIVE: "CDROM Device"

SECONDARY SLAVE: "OFF"

IDE UDMA DRIVE: "ON"

Under "HARD DRIVE SEQUENCE"

1= "USB DEVICE"

2= "SYSTEM BIOS BOOT DEVICES"

Under "BOOT SEQUENCE"

1= IDE-CDROM DEVICE (HAS CHECK MARK FOR ENABLED)

2= HARD-DISK DRIVE C: (HAS CHECK MARK FOR ENABLED)

USE THE SPACE BAR TO ENABLE/DISABLE TOGGLE.

THE REST OF THE CONFIG IS DEFAULT

I am able to boot & see both hard drives (on 2 different interfaces SATA & IDE) and the CDROM drive.

Hope this helps.