Here's an interesting problem I ran into trying to upgrade our Visix (Digital Signage) player to windows 7. With the XP EoL coming up, they're pushing for us to get everything upgraded off XP. Problem is the Visix players stayed on XP way longer than they should have, so even relatively new devices are running XP.
Most of the upgrades have been pretty seamless, but hit a snag with a small form-factor device. Its model number is DE45-HG, from what I can tell it's made by AOpen, but with some customization from Visix. Problem is that it doesn't have a DVD drive and won't boot from USB.
First issue is that the POST is hidden behind a "Digital Engine" logo so you can't see what keystrokes get you into the BIOS. Through a little trial and error I found it was "delete" to get into the BIOS. Unfortunately under the boot options only the main SATA drive and the network are listed as boot devices.
The workaround is something like this. With the usb plugged in, get into the BIOS and go to boot > boot device priority; here you will only see the SATA drive (and network, if that's enabled) listed. Go back and select boot > Drive configuration. Here you should see the SATA drive and the USB drive listed. Change the USB drive to "drive 1" (Sata will be reassigned drive 2). Go back to boot priority and now you should see only the USB drive listed as a boot device.
Save changes and exit and the machine should boot to the USB to do the install. Proceed with the install as normal. The first time the machine reboots to continue install, you will need to switch the boot devices back. Get into BIOS, got to boot > drive configuration, and change the SATA drive back to drive 1. Verify it now shows up as the only boot device. Save changes and exit. The setup should now continue like a normal win 7 install.
Update: Also found that when updating the display drivers the screen would go black until the computer was rebooted. Recommend installing display driver separately (without other updates) then hold down power button to reboot after HDD activity light stops.
