USB Flash Booting Issue....Help!

Forum: USB booting
Topic: USB Flash Booting Issue....Help!
started by: bbgunner

Posted by bbgunner on July 28 2005,21:08

I have been trying to get DSL to boot from my 1GB Sony Microvault Flash stick for 40 hours straight...to no avail.

I read on another thread that the Microvault worked. My Asus board supports it. I have tried many different combinations of BIOS settings and none of them will work.

Actually, I get this message when I set the 1st boot device as USB-HDD: "Cannot boot from device. Restart your computer."
Makes me think there aren't any boot files on it.

I installed it from the DSL Live CD. I know it loaded all the right files, but why do I get that damn error message?

Please tell me if there is something I am not doing. On "paper", I think I have what I need, but then if I really knew, I wouldn't be typing.

Thank you in advance for any help and suggestions.

~bbgunner

Posted by bbgunner on July 29 2005,22:30

I'm thinking that there might not be a solution to this USB booting madness. No replies and no suggestions.

Hmm. Can anyone help my problem-plagued mind?

I might lose the battle, but in the end, I will have won the War!

Posted by cbagger01 on July 30 2005,04:19

It should "just work", assuming that your USB drive is a standard mass storage device and your BIOS supports USB booting.

Try both USBHDD and also USBZIP to see if either works.

As for BIOS, it has been noticed that some settings can help with the USB boot process:

1) Disable "Quick Bootup" if such a feature exists.
2) Enable "USB Keyboard emulation" if such a feature exists.
3) Only use the USB ports that are located on the back of your computer. Sometimes the front ports are not used for USB booting purposes.
4) Google for your motherboard and USB booting and also google for ASUS motherboards in general and USB booting.

Good Luck.

Posted by bbgunner on July 31 2005,15:50

Thanks for the reply, cbagger. As mentioned in my 1st post, I have tried everything. In theory, all of my hardware and settings are right on, but none will work. I've tried front and rear ports, USB keyboard enabled, boot from USB-HDD and -ZIP.

I have put Win98 boot on my drive and it works fine.

BTW: Which files in the LSD root are the boot files?

Thanks.

bbgunner