Use USB thumb drive to boot

[CyberHawk]

I just got done building a gaming computer specs are:

800W PSU
EVGA nForce 780i SLI mobo
2 DVD burners
1 250 GB harddrive SATA
4GB RAM
2 nVidia Geforce 9800 GT in SLI
it has a crappy Pentium D 820 that I plan to over clock (low on funds)

I did not install a floppy drive because I dont need one, however. I tried installing Windows XP professional but for some reason it does not boot off the CD. I have changed in the BIOS as primary boot device but nothing. In this mobo I can boot from an USB drive, but I dont know how to get it to boot that way.

I have the 6 floppies that would be used to boot windows to install... is there a way I could convert those or somehow put them in the USB drive? is there a special program that Will do this for me?  I have been searching but none of them explain what I need to know...

Any replies highly appreciated

[patio]

Sounds like an "ahem" version of XP as all the XP CD's are bootable...
Unless you didn't make the correct changes in the BIOS or forgot to press F10 afterwards to "save changes and exit" i think i'll stay away from this one...

[Dead_reckon]

I agree with Patio, the only versions of XP I've seen that don't boot are bootlegged versions. Is the windows XP CD you have 100% legitimate? If not, I too will stay away from this topic.

EDIT:

Nice setup though, but man, I highly doubt 800W is going to be enough to run two 9800's, I'll need 750 just to run my setup with one 8800GS 384MB GPU.

[CyberHawk]

Yes it is legitimate.  I bought it at Frys electronics. It was sealed.. I dont know if my dvd burners suck or im doing something wrong in the BIOS. I dont deal with "bootlegged" software. So what do I do? I cant return the dvd burners cause I dont have the receipts or boxes anymore, I doubt I can even return the windows cd. Im stuck

[patio]

In that case since we know you're legit ( although not really but i'll give you the benefit of the doubt here ) un hook one of the optical drives...you can just remove the IDE cable and/or the power cable whichever is easiest.
Next boot see which one lights up...that's the one you want the XP CD in.

Re-boot and you should be on your way...

[fgdn17]

I just got done building a gaming computer specs are:

800W PSU
EVGA nForce 780i SLI mobo
2 DVD burners
1 250 GB harddrive SATA
4GB RAM
2 nVidia Geforce 9800 GT in SLI
it has a crappy Pentium D 820 that I plan to over clock (low on funds)

I did not install a floppy drive because I dont need one, however. I tried installing Windows XP professional but for some reason it does not boot off the CD. I have changed in the BIOS as primary boot device but nothing. In this mobo I can boot from an USB drive, but I dont know how to get it to boot that way.

I have the 6 floppies that would be used to boot windows to install... is there a way I could convert those or somehow put them in the USB drive? is there a special program that Will do this for me?  I have been searching but none of them explain what I need to know...

Any replies highly appreciated

try copying the cd to your hard disk and then select setup from the folder on your hard disk...!!!

[patio]

fgdn17

I'm tempted to delete your advice above...and i've been tempted before as well.
What would that accomplish ? ?

[BC_Programmer]

absolutely nothing. especially since it's precluded by the non-existence of a working OS on the computer, I believe.

[Dead_reckon]

Agree'd BC, as for you Hawk, pull the drives, ensure there jumpers are set accordingly, IE, master to the one with the first IDE plug, slave to the one with teh second plug. Assuming there IDE, if there SATA, I dunno.

[killerb255]

Agree'd BC, as for you Hawk, pull the drives, ensure there jumpers are set accordingly, IE, master to the one with the first IDE plug, slave to the one with teh second plug. Assuming there IDE, if there SATA, I dunno.

That begs the question:

Hawk: Are your DVD drives IDE or SATA?  If they're SATA, then there is a possibility that your motherboard has two different SATA controllers: one native, and the other RAID.  Try plugging the DVD drives (if they're SATA) into ports 0 and 1 (or 1 and 2 if there is no port 0).  Go back into your BIOS and configure the boot order accordingly to start with the CD-ROM drive.  If there's a further option to select which CD-ROM drive to boot from, select the name of the DVD burner with the XP disc inside. 

Some BIOSes these days have a separate menu for the boot order with general options like:
Hard Drive
Optical Drive
Floppy Drive
USB
Network
Disabled

...with another menu to select WHICH Hard drive is first, WHICH optical drive is first, etc.

Keep that in mind.