Had to choose between booting from a USB stick or a burned CD for a 2007 Compaq yesterday

I picked the USB because I figured it'd be faster, but the BIOS didn't recognize it at all. Ended up burning three CDs before one actually worked - has anyone else dealt with those old board quirks?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_william6d ago

Honestly that reminds me of my old Dell from around the same era. I had three different USB sticks and only one would pop up in the boot menu, the others just sat there like they weren't plugged in. My theory is those boards were just picky about stuff like a lot of tech from that decade. Kind of like how some old DVD players won't read burned discs at all but new ones handle everything fine. It's funny how a simple thing like picking a USB stick can turn into a whole afternoon of burning coasters.

grant.felix6d ago

Oh come on, is it REALLY that big of a deal? You burned three CDs and had to try a few USB sticks, that's like a 20 minute test at most. People act like they spent all day fighting the thing when really it was just a minor hassle.

adamk956d ago

Man, I feel your pain on this one. @the_william nailed it with those old boards being super picky, I've been there way too many times. That 2007 Compaq must have been a nightmare, I remember having a similar struggle with a Gateway from that year where it would only boot from a specific brand of CD-R, not even the rewritable ones. Sticking with USB was the right call in theory, but when the BIOS plays hide and seek like that it makes you want to throw the whole machine out the window. Three CDs sounds about right for the amount of trial and error those older systems needed, especially with shoddy USB support baked into the firmware. Did you ever get the USB working after trying a different port or format?