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379840
Can't Boot my Inspiron from USB? Seriously??
I have installed the most current BIOS available from the Dell website for my Inspiron 7500, which upgraded it from A06 to A14. The only apparent effect was to spiff up the Dell graphic in silent boot mode... no new options/capability whatsoever in the BIOS itself.
The whole point of this endeavour was to get the capability to boot from a USB device, which does not even appear as an option in my previous or current BIOS. This seems pretty ridiculous, since the system clearly recognizes a bootable hard drive in an external USB enclosure, can read and write from/to it, and recognizes files on it as being system files, etc., as appropriate.
Is there a BIOS upgrade/replacement available for this system that will allow boot from USB? This would be a MAJOR breakthrough for me! Thanks for any/all advice.
WayOldDell
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March 10th, 2012 09:00
Thanks for the links MicroTest. I hadn't considered that the throughput in USB 1.1 might not be adequate to run an OS.
I'm so far along with setting up and installing apps on the new XP hard drive that I'm hesitant to start over and reformat/repartition. If this USB boot is really not possible I'll probably just manually swap out the hard drive when I need to run 98SE.
Thanks for your helpful input, it's been an education.
speed2010
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June 24th, 2012 12:00
I came across this posting using a google search for how to use the Sabrent drive enclosure as a bootable drive, and I think I may have some helpful input.
As far as I can guess, the Sabrent enclosure needs it's own special USB drivers to operate properly.... Remember, during the install, it had to be plugged into the controller board inside the enclosure itself.
As for a workaround, the only thing I can guess is maybe using a bootable CD to "point" your computer in the right direction during startup, basically telling it "Hey, all the data I want to work with is right here." Now, don't ask me how to do that, I haven't gotten that far yet....
Otherwise, I would suggest getting a different USB device to connect to your computer. Currently, I am using this: http://www.frys.com/product/5625211?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG , to run an old drive on boot up with a version of Ubuntu on my Windows 7 machine.