[ltp] T41 usb key boot directions/problems

[Nate]

Hello group,
	I've been trying for a while now to boot off a sony 128 meg usb stick. 
I've downloaded various images, including one from fedora and several other 
places. To make sure I know the process correctly let me describe it how I 
understand the requirements for usb booting.

The usb stick should have one partition that is flagged as bootable and 
probably be formatted vfat by mkdosfs -S 512. You should run "syslinux 
/dev/sda", where /dev/sda is the usb key. Next, you must copy the system 
files over. I assume there is some standard that syslinux follows for 
naming conventions of the system files that it loads, but I don't know 
them, and assume that when I put a usbboot.img file onto the key by doing 
"dd if=usbboot.img of=/dev/sda1" that the proper files are placed there.

This basic process has not worked. The furthest I've gotten is a blank 
screen with 3 square weird dos color mouse-sized spots after post screen. 
Otherwise I've gotten "boot failed". I have several ideas, but no concrete 
directions to go. First, a sony usb stick is not compatible for booting. 
Sony has a good name, so I thought they would follow specifications. 
Second, I'm not formatting the key correctly. Maybe I need 2 partitions 
where I run syslinux on the first and put the system files on the second. 
Or, do you run syslinux on the main partition (sda1 instead of sda), either 
before or after the system files have been placed on the key?

Basically I'm asking you guys for help because I've done significant 
googling and tried many combinations of order of the above process. I also 
thought that if you dd a boot image that running syslinux would not be 
required. I checked the archives of this list for the past 5-6 months. One 
thing that I did take note of was to update my bios. The new bios's options 
are much clearer and expanded.

If anyone can point me to where I'm correct and wrong, or just provide a 
summary of the steps and requirements (with ways to check requirements) I'd 
be very appreciative.

Thanks,
Nathan