PC will not boot

[camioneur]

Pc won't boot if memory stick plugged in or external hard drive switched on. Been in boot menu but don't know which option to go for, USB not mentioned in boot menu at all. I have no floppy drive so first boot is set to CD/RW and works fine if no storage devices plugged in or switched on. Any ideas anyone please?

[dannywells]

i think u will find it will boot, but will take longer while the bios searches the usb device for a boot section

[fo3nix]

1st boot option should be CD. 2nd should read 'IDE0' or similar -- that's your internal hard drive.

[rojash]

Some older BIOSs just can't cope with USB storage devices connected at boot time. I had a machine that refused to boot if an all-in-one printer with memory card reader was connected. Worked fine if you connected after boot.

You may be able to get an update for your BIOS that will fix the problem, or you could just live with it 'til you get a new machine (that's what I did).

[rojash]

Having said that, if your BIOS has an option "Boot other devices" you could try turning it off (though you will need to re-enable it if you wish to boot from CD)

[camioneur]

thanks all, PC is less than 1 year old, XP SP2 Media centre edition