Why is the “USB Device” option “not present” in my Dell Optiplex BIOS?

Question

I want to install Fedora 15 from a USB drive, which I prepared with UNetbootin.

The official documentation says:

Insert the memory key into a USB port and restart the computer.
When F12 = Boot Menu appears in the upper-right corner of the screen, press <F12>.

I plug it into my Dell Optiplex 755, but from the Boot menu, there's no option to boot from the USB drive. So I go into BIOS, and find that in "Boot Sequence", the USB Device option is "not present".

Here's some additional info:

• BIOS version: A08 (02/19/08)
• Core 2 Duo E6550 CPU
• USB Drive formatted as FAT-32 using the Fedora 15 ISO file

Answer 1

Go to the BIOS and look for Onboard Devices » USB Controller. While the default setting here is On, in this case it could be No Boot.

Change it back to On, restart, and you should be able to boot from the USB device.