Acer hangs in its Acer startup window

[Bokey1]

My Acer E380 system had a problem digesting a filemate 1G USB flashdrive. 1st time was OK, but after that it seems to load wrong driver and won't operate it, sometimes hanging system. Flash drive works fine on my laptop. Around this time my bootup changed so that I always get an Acer window with only Delete = BIOS menu and f12 = boot option menu options. The f12 gives external drive default, and I have to select HDD despite the BIOS being set for HDD default. I then get a green Acer screen and then normal XP bootup. This happens even with no cards or USB drive attached. I am thinking of waiting until I get my Vista OS (free upgrade to my XP Pro Media Edition) and doing a clean install, assuming that I don't get an upgrade rather than a full Vista disk.
Any suggestions how I can intercept this Acer pre-boot screen?

[hopperdave2000]

Go to the Acer web site and see if there is a model specific BIOS update for your PC. Be sure that it's for the EXACT model or motherboard you have or you'll have serious problems. Alot of times, little glitches arise that are fixed in newer BIOS updates. Read the info about which issues the new BIOS update addresses to see if your problem is mentioned. Maybe there's an Acer user forum where you can ask your question, post your problem and get help from other Acer users that may have had your same problem.... good luck and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

hopperdave2000