Reinstalling Vista - BIOS settings

I've been trying to do a clean reinstall of Vista based on a link I got from an earlier thread I posted here, but I cannot get my PC to boot up from the Vista DVD. I understand that I may need to adjust the BIOS settings to make it boot from the DVD, but I have no idea how to do this. Can someone please tell me what I need to do to change the BIOS settings so that I can do my clean reinstall? Thank you.

 

There's a couple of ways to do this.... many PCs have a 'one time' boot options menu that can be accessed by pressing a key (usually F8 or F10 or F12 but it could be Esc or just about anything else). This would bring up a menu with the CD/DVD drive, the hard drive, the network, and maybe a USB device and/or a floppy drive. You'd use the arrow keys to navigate to the CD/DVD drive (with the Vista disc in it) and press Enter. You should then see "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD....". The other way is to enter the BIOS. Many PCs use Del or F2 or F1, but (again) it could be just about anything. Once in the BIOS (also called 'Setup' on some PCs) you go to the Boot Device Priority settings (it may be called Boot Order) and set it so the CD/DVD drive is first (as long as it is ahead of the hard drive it should be OK). Then be sure to save the changes you've made and exit the BIOS. The PC will restart automatically and as long as the Vista disc is in the drive, it should boot....

(NOTE: you may have to do some looking thru the BIOS for the boot order/boot device priority settings; since BIOSes are all different, the boot order can be in many different places in the BIOS; one place to look is in the 'Advanced System Settings' menu(s) if that's an option)

 

dlb,

Thank you for your advice. Since your first suggestion is not available for me, I have to go with the BIOS option. So, I just wanted to confirm:

1. Do I push F1, F2, or whatever as the PC boots up (again, just confirming)?
2. Do I keep the Vista DVD in the drive prior to booting or do I put it in after I get into
the BIOS settings?
3. Do I set the BIOS back to where it was after I reinstall Vista?

I apologize for the newbie questions. Thanks again for your help.