USB booting :: Jumpdrive wont boot



here's so more info

Lexar Elite 256MB USB stick

8 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1021 cylinders.

install-mbr -l /dev/sda:  Failed to find MBR signature
install-mbr -l /dev/sda1:  Failed to find MBR signature

I tried making the USB stick from WIndows as explained in the howto, and also tried from DSL  Install to USB pen.

I also tried writing the image of a win98SE boot disk on the usb stick, then the Winxp Procedure.

Also tried writing the image of a win98SE boot disk on the usb sitck, then the Install to USB pendrive from DSL linux.

any ideas?

thanks
Ok I figured it out.

The problem was that I had erased the original partition tables, cause I wanted to have more than one partition.
It's almost as if /dev/sda1 is written on /dev/sda
*  shurgs *

Even the howtos tell you to make /dev/sda1,  the best you can do is not to mess up with the partitions and just install DSL with the partition scheme you got when you purchased your Stick.
Another thing you could do is to back up the original stick from Linux using dd if=/dev/sda of=$HOME/usboriginal.iso

So what I did is, I erased the partitions and MBR with

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda1 bs=512 count=1
I even did a if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda till it was all zeroed out.

Then from Windows, I tried to open the F: drive (which corresponds to the stick).
Windows said, hey this device is weird lets format it, so I let windows do it, although I chose fat16.

Then followed the DSL to USB using Windows XP and winimage and stuff, and it works great.

This is what the partition table looks like: Now
Code Sample

fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 259 MB, 259522560 bytes
8 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1021 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 496 * 512 = 253952 bytes

  Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   ?     8563200     8326647  2088818490    1  FAT12
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
    phys=(124, 38, 11) logical=(8563199, 1, 16)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
    phys=(344, 195, 26) logical=(8326646, 0, 49)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2   ?     2165258     1663408  2023024920+  42  SFS
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
    phys=(453, 241, 50) logical=(2165257, 4, 21)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
    phys=(26, 59, 22) logical=(1663407, 6, 41)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3   ?     3430653     3431981      329394   6f  Unknown
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
    phys=(367, 183, 2) logical=(3430652, 4, 42)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
    phys=(102, 116, 32) logical=(3431980, 6, 17)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda4         2819281     4945998   527425919+  49  Unknown
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
    phys=(332, 76, 4) logical=(2819280, 0, 33)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
    phys=(344, 78, 21) logical=(4945997, 3, 53)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order


--------

Moral of the story:
Don't mess up the original partitions unless you have to, and if you have to, make backups.  I learned that the hard way.
update!

Don't listen to me.

This fix only works for motherboards that allow you to force the USB mass storage device as FDD, from the BIOS setup.

grrr...
I know it's complicated, but don't be hesitant to start all over again with what you have determined, and see if you can get the procedure refined. We'd like to see a post of that.
I see that your partition table is strange, perhaps Windows does not start the partitions at the same point as linux, or something like that.
I'll bet ext2 partitions won't work, even though they would be clean and neat. Also, you might try another brand of usb stick, I have had good success with Dell's, but Lexar's are very good and reliable.

original here.