How do I make a bootable USB "key" for a Gateway 700S

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

I have a Gateway 700S running Windows XP Professional.
My BIOS is MV85010A.15A.0075.P13

Haven't been able to make a FreeDOS or MS-DOS system
that the Gateway 700S can boot from. The boot procedure
seems to start working, but I get a message indicating
COMMAND.COM can't be found.

In addition, why can't a floppy that was formatted on
Windows XP, NT, etc., be used for the BIOS upgrade?
How can I be sure that the floppy disk that I made for
the upgrade of the BIOS to P15 was actually made
correctly? Do I get an error indicating that the
flash procedure wasn't or can't start, or does it
just die in the middle leaving me with an unusable
system?

Also, how can I save a copy of the old BIOS or
how can I get a copy of the version that my system
claims it has?