Be Excellent To Each Other

I've got a linux on my netbook (meego) and as per usual it's a nightmare trying to get it to install the software I need so I've got an XP licence from an old pc and a bootable EeePC-tuned XP usb drive ready to go. Problem is, I put the usb drive in, boot and get "Remove disks or other media" then am invited to press any key. In so doing it just boots to Meego again, but this is a perfectly bootable disk - what's going on?

Are you sure it is bootable? Hve you checked in another PC?

Have you tried flashing the bios?

Or alternatively, I'm guessing you've checked the usb has a higher boot priority.
And that the drive is actually bootable.
And that when it says to remove other devices, you're not removing the usb stick.
And that the keyboard input doesn't choose the device to boot from or something similar (an old laptop ihad did something similar)

Yes to all those.

You've tried it in another PC and it worked as expected, you say?
Hmm. Have you tried it in a different USB port?