What key to press to get to the BIOS and change boot sequence on a Dell desktop?

Question

What do I press to boot to the USB I just made? Is it F12 or F2 ? Because I pressed F12 in beginning but it did not work and just normally started Windows again. I have XP by the way.

Solution

Check out the Dell™ OptiPlex™ GX150 System User's Guide at;

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/opgx150/en/ug/index.htm

and, in particular, the "System Settings" at:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/opgx150/en/ug/advfeat.htm#syssettings

It may be that this older Dell machine doesn't have the capability to boot from a USB drive. The "Option settings" under the section entitled "Changing the Boot Sequence" in the latter link makes no mention of a USB option.

Arhimed's suggestion to use F2 will display the available boot options. That should be definitive.

Comments

[Janus Troelsen]

What is the model number of your machine?

[ashutosh]

maybe pressing f2 might solve your problem.it will rather give persistant changes

[oscar cuevas]

ALl i know its a GX150 (im not really tech savy on hardware so tell me if im wrong) Im a designer haha. I pressed F2 and it does not say anything about a USB in the boot sequence so im lost here. Its kind of an old DELL I believe.

[Viktor K]

Pree F2 on Boot, go to System-> Boot Sequence(press Enter) -> select USB Storage Device and make it the first boot device(press U), press Esc and save changes.