[ltp] Re: Thinkpads can not boot from flash drive?

[Joel Ebel]

Check back to message I sent at 1:53 EST today.  It pretty much explains 
the booting process.  You just need a good MBR and syslinux installed.

Or just get a hold of one of the USB distros out there and let it do the 
work.  RUNT (mine) is the only distro designed around USB, but there are 
several CD based distros that can be installed on a Pen drive.  Damn 
Small Linux, Feather, Puppy, Slax, and Flonix(not free).  DSL, Puppy, 
and Slax require you to boot the CD and then install to USB from there. 
  Feather and RUNT has zip files that can be unzipped directly onto the 
pen drive.  Flonix can only be purchased on a pen drive.

Joel

Kelvin KAN wrote:
> So assuming we can boot from flash drive, any idea how/what to write the 
> Linux boot record into the flash drive, so we can start the Linux 
> installation from it (or even Windows installations)?  Yes, my primary 
> concern is only to use USB devices (memory or CD drive) to initiate the 
> installation process when upgrading OS (no matter Linux or Windows).
> 
> Thanks!
> -
> kelvin.
> 
> Alex Deucher wrote:
> 
>> On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 00:45:10 +0100, Martin Gramatke <xmit@gmx.de> wrote:
>>
>>> Joel Ebel wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> so make sure the drive
>>>> is set up properly.
>>>>
>>> My pen drive is a Data Traveler by Kingston. I used a tool from Dell to
>>> prepare/format the stick. Two different desktop computers can boot 
>>> from it
>>> but not the Thinkpad X24. Could it still be a pen drive setup problem? I
>>> thought it has to be a thinkpad problem then.
>>>
>>
>> I dunno.  I have a noname usb stick (16 MB jenco or some such, got it
>> free at a trade show).  It took me a while to get my x24 to boot off
>> of it.  as I recall the x24 would always reset the boot order when you
>> rebooted it so had to reset it to boot off usb in the bios before
>> trying it.  As I recall teh f12 menu was problematic.  try setting the
>> first boot device in the bios to usb. Also the bios refused to see the
>> stick at times depending on how I had written the image to it.  I wish
>> I could remember the the exact combo that I needed to get it to work.
>>
>> Alex
>>
>>
>>>> You need a goot master boot record at the beginning
>>>> of the drive. You can get one from the syslinux package.
>>>>
>>> I think DSL uses syslinux for installation.
>>>
>>>
>>>> With a 128 MB drive, you
>>>> most likely don't have any of these restrictions with the possible
>>>> exception of it being formatted FAT32, which is still unlikely.
>>>>
>>> Here is my geometry: 8 heads, 32 sectors/track, 982 cylinders. One 
>>> primary,
>>> bootable partition with FAT16. I think it is ok.
>>>
>>> The notebook boots from a USB floppy drive without problem.
>>>
>>>
>>>> Best of luck.  I have a lot of experience with this from desiging my 
>>>> own
>>>> distribution to do it, so if you have any questions, let me know.
>>>>
>>> Thank you Joel, I appreciate your help.
>>> The best test would be a Runt installation.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Martin
>>>
>>>
>