I have a problem with my dell inspiron 8100.. I have external phillips cd/dvd drive and internal floppy.. I changed my bios to boot from cd/dvd drive but I don't have the option of booting from usb...so I can't install xp. I was thinking to boot from floppy with boot disk and finish the rest with the xp disk, or upgrade my bios a15.. I'm thinking then I might get the option of booting from usb. Not sure if that would work though.. any suggestions..please.. I'm in a hole here.

Assuming that you have adequate HD space, the easiest solution would probably be to copy the XP CD onto the harddrive, boot with a bootdisk, then navigate to the I386 folder & run setup from the HD. Otherwise, you will probably have a problem accessing the USB CD drive after the first reboot. HTH Dave If Wile Coyote had enough money for all that Acme crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?

Of course, you'll need a bootdisk with USB CD support. Dave

Dave... how can I navigate to the I386 folder & run setup from the HD... all that there I have no idea how to do. and what about just changing the bios and getting the option of booting from usb? thanks.

Just use WINNT.exe in the i386 directory to install from the hard drive. That's the only directory you need. i_XpUser

http://www.djdenham.com/Install%20Procedures.htm This is a good start for Windows setup on a Dell Inspiron.Bios update is most probably out of question in this case.Dell won't help you here but you may try from a Bios manufacturer for a cost.It may not be an economical proposition for an older machine like the Dell Inspiron 8100.Is the internal cd drive broken down?It may be a better way to look at it,try fixing ,changing the internal cd drive. Good luck.

ah damnit.. the starup disks aren't even working now.. I give up.. I'm just gonna invest in a internal cd rom drive.. thanks for all the suggestions.