Cant boot from cdrom

[clancy393]

I have a dell dimension 8100 using xp home. I want to format drive and reload os. I have bios set to boot from cdrom first. After putting xp home in cdrom drive, message comes up " hit any key to boot from cd". I hit a key but computer goes right to hard drive. Tried a spare drive and cdrom same thing happens. What can I do next?

 

[Tmagic650]

Is the CD r/w seen in the bios?

 

[clancy393]

Yes, cdrom is seen in bios.

 

[clancy393]

I juat recently flashed the bios with version A09 and everything went well. I want to format drive but machine still returns to hard drive instead of going into setup.

 

[thehobbitech]

Just a questoin, it might sound ridiculous, but are you sure that your keyboard is working on start up? Our usb keyboard won't work on start up, when we want to go to the BIOS or boot from a CD, we have to use a PS2 keyboard, if not, it does exactly what you described. I just thought it might help.

 

[clancy393]

Thanks. You're right ! I was using a wireless keyboard instead of a ps2.