dell dimensions 5000 desktop

[chapm]

i am trying to load windows xp when i put disc in drive it does not read press f12
boot device menu
on board satahard drive
onboard or usb cd-rom drive

system setup
hard drive diagnostics
boot to utility partitions
f2
boot sequence
1) outboard or usb floppydrive ( not present)
2) outboard sata hard drive
3) outboard ide hard drive ( not present )
outboard or usb cd-rom drive
4 usb device
now i dont understand this but i think this is where my problem lies when i load xp disc in anyother machine is boots from disc straight away can anybody help our am i barking up wrong tree would be appreciated

 

[Igorian]

It's a little difficult understanding what you are saying but you need to set the CD/DVD drive as being the first boot device.

 

[clampchamp]

After you press F12, set it so that the CD-ROM device is first in the list. You'll also need to save that to the BIOS, F10 should do that for you. As soon as you've altered your settings, but before you save it, slot the disk that you want to boot from into the drive.
As far as I am aware, most machines are set by default with the CD-ROM drive as the first boot device.............