I have an Inspiron E1405. I want to do a clean install of XP, including reformatting the drive to wipe out all existing data, programs etc.

I have the original Dell Windows re-installation disks. However, my internal CD/DVD drive is not working and I do not have a floppy drive, so I want to install from an external USB DVD drive. The DVD drive is able to read and write, however, I am unable to boot from it.

I have gone into the BIOS and enabled USB as a boot device, and have also set it as the first device in the boot sequence, followed by the internal hard drive. However, despite that when I boot up it goes to the HDD to boot. If I disable the HDD as a boot device and leave only the USB then it says there is no boot device available.

Also, in the 1-time boot menu the USB is not showing as an available choice, even though it is enabled in the boot sequence menu.

I am able to access the external USB DVD drive if I am booted up from the HDD and can even install Windows off the external DVD, however it does not allow me to reformat the drive or to do a clean install -- it is keeping all the old files and programs.

Are there any other steps I need to take to be able to boot from USB? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.