Cannot boot from external USB device

Question

Hi,
I have an iMac with a superdrive that is not working. This gives me a lot of trouble, because I want to install windows.
Some month ago, I bought an external USB DVD drive, and hoped that it would help. But I quickly experienced that it did not, since I could not get boot camp to use it.
Today, I was sure that I found a good solution. I ran into a site that explains how to use en external DVD to install windows on macbook air which have no internal DVD.
http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/9136/macbook-air-install-windows-7-with-boot-camp -without-an-external-dvd-drive/
Unfortunately this do not work - for me and my iMac.
First I installed the rEFIt tool and this works fine. The external DVD shows up as a bootable device.
But when I try to start the windows installer from the external DVD, the system just hangs and shows a windows logo with no color. This operation I carry out by selecting the external DVD in the eEFIt menu.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Answer 1

I don't know about the link you gave, I can only pass on my experience.
I made my bootable Windows7 X64 install disk by this method:-
"This method is used to create a new install disk if you have your authentic Windows 7 disk. Don't sweat it; it's much easier than it looks.
Note: you will need to do this on a PC
In your C drive, create these two folders: c:\windows7exe c:\windows7dvd
Go to this link http://rapidshare.com/files/297067205/oscdimg.exe and download Oscdimg.exe. Place it into c:\window7exe folder
Insert your Windows 7 disk into your DVD drive For this example, we will refer to it as the D drive.
You need to open a DOS prompt window. Do this by going to start/programs/accessories/command prompt
Your default command prompt will look something like C:\Users>.
At the prompt type cd c:\windows7exe
Your command prompt should now look like c:\window7exe>
At the command prompt, type in exactly (or copy and paste):
oscdimg.exe -n -m -bd:\boot\etfsboot.com d:\ c:\windows7x64.iso
Note: the letter d in the above command refers to your DVD drive, change it if your DVD drive is labled with a different letter.
Press Enter. This will begin creating a new disk image. You should see a response in the DOS window that displays its progress.
When the process is complete, you will find a new disk image of your Windows 7 disk in the folder labeled c:\windows7X64
Now that you have a new disk image, you need to burn it onto a disk using ImgBurn. This is a free utility which you can download from here: http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
Place a blank DVD into your DVD RW drive.
Launch ImgBurn and select "Write image file to disc". In the Source window, find your newly burned image in the c:\windows7X64 folder. Click on the disc icon at the bottom of the window to begin the burning process.
Voila! You have a new Windows 7 installation disk which will install with no problems. "
.....which is on this thread
May not be any use to you without an internal DVD RW which works.
In your shoes I would really want to get my internal superdrive working.
A quick look at iFixit suggests the iMac uses a standard laptop DVD RW which are readily available, but perhaps I am missing something.