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Thread: Got Knoppix 5.0.1 successfully booting from USB key

  1. #21

    USB booting

    Krellan2,
    Thank you so much for the great posts and the wiki page. Finally some one who's talking English!

    I followed the instructions given on the Wiki page and have the Knoppix image on a Fat 16 Flashdrive (I think). However the BIOS seems to simply be glazing over it and I'm not seeing any indication that the BIOS even knows its there. The 1GB Flashdrive is plugged in to built-in USB ports. My BIOS allows me to put "Removable devices" in the boot order, which I have done. I have put "Removable Devices" before the Harddrive with XP on it.

    I'm confused.

    I have tried it on a few computers, with similar results. I have been working on this a few times, and in previous attempts used tohd=/dev/sda1 in the boot command. I was able to use boot from the Flashdrive using fromhd=/dev/sda1
    IF
    I had the Knoppix cd in the CD drive. In this scenario the BIOS boots from the CD perfectly. It is also able to use the Knoppix image on the Flashdrive created by the tohd=/dev/sda1 command by Fromhd=/dev/sda1.

    HOWEVER
    The BIOS would treat the Flashdrive exactly as it does now, as if it didn't see it.

    Initially I thought I would need to install GRUB or LILO onto the Flashdrive. But didn't know how to use these, and couldn't find understandable instructions. (I guess that's the catch with Linux right?)

    My goal is to create a perfectly portable OS that boots and has a PH on the Flashdrive. (Thus, I would be able to walk up to any BIOS supporting computer and boot into my desktop!)

    Is this possible? I think your thread says it is...I just can't figure it out.

    Have I done something wrong? Does the BIOS settings for Legacy support affect the matter? Do I need to use Fat32 instead of Fat16? ANY help in this matter would be helpful!

    Thanks again

    Godfearer22004

  2. #22
    Member registered user
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    Mar 2006
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    50

    Re: USB booting

    Quote Originally Posted by Godfearer22004
    Krellan2,
    Thank you so much for the great posts and the wiki page. Finally some one who's talking English!

    I followed the instructions given on the Wiki page and have the Knoppix image on a Fat 16 Flashdrive (I think). However the BIOS seems to simply be glazing over it and I'm not seeing any indication that the BIOS even knows its there. The 1GB Flashdrive is plugged in to built-in USB ports. My BIOS allows me to put "Removable devices" in the boot order, which I have done. I have put "Removable Devices" before the Harddrive with XP on it.
    I don't think "Removable devices"is it. The USB drive, if detected, would probably present itself as a "hard disk", and show up under there, depending on the BIOS. Mine does. Under the menu of "hard disks", you see your USB drive's name. It is strange, but that's how it is.

    I have tried it on a few computers, with similar results. I have been working on this a few times, and in previous attempts used tohd=/dev/sda1 in the boot command. I was able to use boot from the Flashdrive using fromhd=/dev/sda1
    IF
    I had the Knoppix cd in the CD drive. In this scenario the BIOS boots from the CD perfectly. It is also able to use the Knoppix image on the Flashdrive created by the tohd=/dev/sda1 command by Fromhd=/dev/sda1.
    That's good, it means Linux is seeing your USB drive just fine. Knoppix has already booted from the CD, at that point. But, that still doesn't help us with the BIOS.

    I'm guessing your BIOS didn't detect the USB drive, unfortunately. Maybe try again, trying some suggestions I put on the wiki page.

    It's a real shame that BIOS manufacturers are so sloppy in their handling of USB drives. Until it really gets fixed, USB booting will remain somewhat of a novelty -- just like CDROM booting did, in the early 1990's, before everybody got their act together.

  3. #23

    Re: Got Knoppix 5.0.1 successfully booting from USB key

    Quote Originally Posted by Krellan2

    There, I did!

    http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Bootable_USB_Key

    Not sure how to push this page into the overall index so that people will find it, though....
    Great work on the Wiki. However, I've got a couple of questions:

    - How would one alter the instructions to achieve the same end but as USB-HDD rather than USB-ZIP. Is it as simple as just using Partition 1 rather than Partition 4 and how would one do this?

    - I can't get my USB Key to boot correctly / at all - it is simply ignored at boot up. Is there a way of checking that I've done the partitioning, formatting, loading process correctly. At the moment, I don't know if it's a BIOS problem or a user problem in using your Wiki?

    Many thanks, if you can help.

    Martin

  4. #24

    Ditto

    I also am interested in martinveasey's questions. After my attempts at Bootable USB, I had moved on to trying to use Partition 1 instead of 4, but with similar results as before. I eventually settled on a Persistent Home and a freed-up CD.

    "
    - I can't get my USB Key to boot correctly / at all - it is simply ignored at boot up. Is there a way of checking that I've done the partitioning, formatting, loading process correctly. At the moment, I don't know if it's a BIOS problem or a user problem in using your Wiki? " -martinveasey

    Yes, is there any way to check this? This would really help!

    Thanks again.

    Godfearer22004

  5. #25
    Member registered user
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    Re: Got Knoppix 5.0.1 successfully booting from USB key

    Quote Originally Posted by martinveasey
    - How would one alter the instructions to achieve the same end but as USB-HDD rather than USB-ZIP. Is it as simple as just using Partition 1 rather than Partition 4 and how would one do this?
    To my knowledge, USB-HDD is simply a relaxation of the USB-ZIP "standard".

    Here's what makes USB-ZIP special:

    It uses partition 4, not any other partitions
    It uses CHS (cylinder head sector), not LBA, when booting the disk
    It uses a variable number of cylinders, but it must use a constant 64 heads and 32 sectors
    It has a maximum of 1GB in size, due to CHS's limit of 1024 cylinders

    USB-HDD is simply a relaxation of these requirements, I think.

    You can use whatever partition you want
    You can use LBA, and in fact, it is highly recommended to do so
    You can use 255 heads 63 sectors (the maximum allowed)
    You can use a disk of whatever size you want

    If this is wrong, please correct me.

    - I can't get my USB Key to boot correctly / at all - it is simply ignored at boot up. Is there a way of checking that I've done the partitioning, formatting, loading process correctly. At the moment, I don't know if it's a BIOS problem or a user problem in using your Wiki?
    In my Wiki page, I have a little checklist of 5 things you can try. It's about halfway down the page. I had to do each of those steps at various times, trying to get the BIOS on several different computers to correctly see the USB key.

    I'm not sure how you would go about verifying that you got it set up correctly to boot. If you have an old small hard drive, around 1GB in size, that you know for sure that your BIOS will always recognize, you can try reformatting that old hard drive in exactly the same way you would the USB key. Then, try booting from the hard drive.

    Linux is good about treating block devices all the same: the steps you use for the hard drive will work identically to the USB key. You can then use that hard drive for Knoppix

  6. #26

    Re: Got Knoppix 5.0.1 successfully booting from USB key

    Quote Originally Posted by Krellan2

    In my Wiki page, I have a little checklist of 5 things you can try. It's about halfway down the page. I had to do each of those steps at various times, trying to get the BIOS on several different computers to correctly see the USB key.

    I'm not sure how you would go about verifying that you got it set up correctly to boot. If you have an old small hard drive, around 1GB in size, that you know for sure that your BIOS will always recognize, you can try reformatting that old hard drive in exactly the same way you would the USB key. Then, try booting from the hard drive.

    Linux is good about treating block devices all the same: the steps you use for the hard drive will work identically to the USB key. You can then use that hard drive for Knoppix
    Many thanks for that. Interestingly, after prodding and poking around a bit, the boot is now working.

    It won't help anyone else, but I think I'm sorted out.

    Martin

  7. #27

    BIOS

    What did your BIOS see it as? Was it a "Removable Device" Or USB-HDD or Just HDD or what?

    Godfearer22004

  8. #28

    Re: BIOS

    Quote Originally Posted by Godfearer22004
    What did your BIOS see it as? Was it a "Removable Device" Or USB-HDD or Just HDD or what?

    Godfearer22004
    It showed as USB-HDD

  9. #29
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    5
    I tried folllowing the procedure to create bootable USB key but get the following message "syslinux: this doesn't look like a valid FAT filesystem". The message appears when I run the "syslinux -s /dev/sda4" command. I used the following mkdiskimage command to partition and format the key: "mkdiskimage -4 /dev/sda 0 255 63" I have also tried using the -F parameter. I should mention that it is a 2GB memory key.

  10. #30
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    1

    Stange Problem...

    Hi, I'm pretty new to Linux, but I think it’s quite cool so I tried out Knoppix from USB.

    My problem is, that I can boot it alright, but after the screen where you can enter the cheat codes, i press enter, it goes to the other screen, starts to boot.... and then it searches for USB devises.

    When it does this, my USB Key seems to disconnect, and it stops loading.
    Any ideas what I can do?

    Thanks for your help


    EDIT: Not to worry, i managed to get it working

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