Not able to boot from USB

Forum: USB booting
Topic: Not able to boot from USB
started by: -=terry=-

Posted by -=terry=- on Mar. 24 2006,13:35

I just got the DSL pre-installed on a bootable 256MB USB 2.0 pen.
The initial screen comes with the choices of <please enter or F2>
I press enter:
scanning usb devices... done
Looking for DSL image /dev/scd1
Can't find knoppix file system sorry........
#knopixx#

Why point to the cd instead of to the usb? Where do I change the configuration and how do I save it so next time I do not have to repeat it.

BTW it load perfect from the CD.

TIA

-=terry=-

Posted by Onikage on Mar. 25 2006,19:35

It most likely is that the USB install is in error. Boot with your CD and reinstall to USB.

Also, check your system BIOS to see if it's set to boot from USB.

Posted by -=terry=- on Mar. 25 2006,19:49

Onikage, thxs for your reply. I found the cause and it was not obvious.

1. If F2 and then <expert> the IPL proceed ok without almost no intervention (?)

2. I look into the database and many other users have the same problem.

3. In my case was in the BIOS. My Bios has a boot order which I usually have it set up as: firstdevice: floppy secdevice: cdrom thirddevice: HD and fourthdevice:disable.
Becasue I was trying also the cdrom dsl what I did is to setup the firstdevice:cdrom and seconddevice: usbzip and thirddevice HD. So after I tested the cdrom I remove it and the boot order look at the cdrom which was empty and then went to the usbzip and load dsl and produce the error of the first message.
Now what I did is to have as a firstdevice: usbzip and everything went perfect.

In summary if you have a similar problem as mine be sure the usbzip is the first device to boot in the BIOS.

Regards,
-=terry=-

Posted by Onikage on Mar. 25 2006,19:52

Always glad to be of help.

Posted by -=terry=- on Mar. 25 2006,20:52

Onikage,

I was too fast to post. After two reboots then the old problem is back again and now even using the F2/expert does not work. The cd works ok. I will follow your advice and reinstall. I will have to read the whole process because 1. this is my first contact with dsl 2. I have never use usb storage devices.
Well now the weather is nice and I am going to take a brake :-)
Thxs again for your help
-=terry=-

Posted by cbagger01 on Mar. 26 2006,05:35

Try typing in:

dsl waitusb

at the prompt and see if it helps. Maybe your USB device needs more time to register with the USB driver.

Posted by -=terry=- on Mar. 26 2006,22:59

Thxs cbagger01. It did not work. Where did you find out about that parameter <waitusb>.
The only way that SOMETIMES loads is F2/expert/ then I press return (autoprobe) for scsi module, I say no to load modules form floppy and then says lloking for DSL image in /dev/sdc1 and after many seconds either work or produce the error that can not find the image. Before both using F2/expert and also just pressing return at the begining it scan usb and says it is done.

May be related to my hardware:
amd FX-55 2GB
4 sata drives.
I do not have ide HD
FIrst ide controller I have a cdrom writer and an AIT tape drive
The second one has only a cdrom player

The usb ports work well under SuSE 10. This usb pen drive is the one that came preload it with dls <Elephant USB 2.0 256MB>. It seems to work ok in the sense that I have been able to load dsl from it. The random factor concern me about hardware but again under SuSE it looks ok.

The other thing that does not look rigth is that when it works it says mount (irregular I believe) and I can not access it even when I load the dsl CD first and try to reinstall dsl. It can not open the device.

I wonder if this is a hardware problem. Well... it can be my luck of knowledge of dsl :-(

Thxs again for your help

-=terry=-

Posted by cbagger01 on Mar. 28 2006,17:43

If you have SATA hard drives, you should try DSL version 2.1b

This version has support for SATA devices. The latest version of DSL does not.

After burning the livecd, then boot with:

dsl sata

Posted by -=terry=- on April 01 2006,22:28

Thxs cbagger01, I've never thought to look for support of the new technology in the old versions.

1. The Live CD (2.1 is working well and I can see all my suse partitions and files. This is great. I will need to install my tape drive and will be an excellent troubleshoot option.

2. I tried to erase the zipp pen drive that came with the dsl 2.2b (the one I bougth from the dsl site) which is not working at least very reliable and also can not see the sata. For some reason I can not see it. The only devices I can see are sda sdb sdc sdd all 4 sata hard disks and cdrom and floppy. But not the pen drive. SuSE can see it. Well I have to work more here and getting my knowledge of dsl a touch :-) better.

Thxs again for your tip and any hints I will appreciate even the obvious ones.

HAND

-=terry(Denver)=-

Posted by cbagger01 on April 03 2006,16:44

Try booting without the "sata" boot option and see if your USB drive appears.

Posted by -=terry=- on April 04 2006,02:06

cbagger01 thxs.

1. yes booting without the sata loads the pend drive.

2. I update dsl to 2.1b from the live cd. It asked me for booting parameters and I add ->dsl sata<-

3. I tried to boot from the pen drive now with 2.1b (instead of the 2.2b that came with the pend drive). It loads sata, then scans usb, then look as scd1 and can not find the image and produce the errors as before.
If I choose f2 and type ->dsl sata expert<-. It loads sata and then after questions boots ok. In this session I can mount satas without problem. The pen drive is represented by sde1 (I have 4 sata drives sda, sdb, sdc, sdd). Using the mounting tool when i tried to mount sde1 (the pend drive) says ->irregular<- and then a sign shows ->This partition is already mounted at /cdrom/-<
Even though the system boots seems that there is a problem to initialized the pendrive when I boot from it.

Regards,

-=terry=-

Posted by cbagger01 on April 05 2006,03:44

I'm stumped about the "expert" option being required for you.

When I boot my DSL 2.1b USB drive and

dsl sata

it boots up just fine, with "sda" as my SATA drive devicename and "sdb" as my USB storage devicename

The biggest problem I had was when my Backup/Restore location was "sda1" for previous bootups, and then I booted USB + sata and the backup process tried to save the file to my SATA drive instead of the USB drive.

Maybe the 4 SATA devices has something to do with the "expert" requirement.

The irregular mounting /cdrom partition is normal behavior for a USB bootup.

Basically, the USB device is treated like a read/write livecd from the perspective of the DSL/KNOPPIX booting scripts, thus the name "/cdrom" for the mountpoint even though you are not booting from a real CD drive.

Posted by -=terry=- on April 06 2006,03:49

cbagger01, your replies are great thanks. It seems the only problem remaining the the booting from the USB pend drive. It is not a problem with hardware recognition because everything is ok with the live CD. It has to be a problem with the pen drive. What I do different with I use the expert option versus the default that explains this behaviour?
This weekend I will work a little more with it.

Again thanks for your great info.

-=terry=-

Posted by cbagger01 on April 06 2006,04:38

When you use the "expert" option, you load your driver modules in a slow, prompted way. Even if you answer the questions quickly, it is still much slower than when they are automatically loaded by the non-"expert" boot process.

This is the biggest difference that I can think of.

Posted by -=terry=- on April 06 2006,21:45

cbagger01 module loading speed may be the problem. For exampl now I am in dsl and it boot ok (in the none-expert mode) but that is not often. My system is very fast and I may see what other do not see in slower systems.

HAND

-=terry=-

Posted by -=terry=- on April 08 2006,16:38

First thxs all of your (cbagger01 and Onikage)for your great help to make the dsl pendrive to work. This is a little summary for somebody like me in need of help :-)

1. The pendrive I use is the 256 that I got from John with dsl 2.2b installed.

2. My system has SATA drives therefore this version of dsl does not work and you have to download 2.1b create a live cd and reinstall dsl to your pendrive.

3. When you boot the liveCD use no options. You will see the pen drive (and you will not see the sata drives) then Rmouse/Apps/Tools/Install to USB pen drive. At some time ask you for booting options I typed ->dsl sata<-.

4. No you can boot from the pendrive directly. In my case I had problems to boot. At the present I add to the boot options ->dsl waitusb<-. I do not know if this option is present in 2.1b but for some reason work most of the time. All the sata drives and partitions are mountable and working great.

Thank you again for your great help.

-=terry(Denver)=-

Posted by cbagger01 on April 09 2006,03:55

According to the DSL Notes page, "waitusb" option was added in version 2.2 so I did not expect it to work for version 2.1b

Posted by -=terry=- on April 09 2006,17:44

It is most likely due to random because it boot also without dsl waitusb. It just does not boot all the time but often enough to be functional. Now I have to do a little configuration and become more familiar with this enviroment.
Have a good weekend
-=terry(Denver)=-