USB Bootable? [SOLVED]

Booting, installing, newbie
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ghughes20
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Joined: Sun 02 Jan 2011, 01:10

USB Bootable? [SOLVED]

#1 Post by ghughes20 »

Hi. Newbie here.

I've recently became interested in Puppy due to it's size and ability to store on thumb drive. I was able to burn the image onto a disc and install on my laptop, which is about a year old. I also was able to install the O/S on a thumb drive and am able to boot from that for both my laptop and my desktop. (I'm very happy that the O/S works with my wireless NIC in both computers. I've struggled in the past with this when I've played around with Debian and Ubuntu). I'm currently typing this while running Puppy on my laptop. So, the reason for the post is that I've got an older laptop, 2001 Toshiba, that I would like to run Puppy on. Basically, I would like to set this us for my kids to surf the net and help with their homework. The CD/DVD drive on this lap top died years ago. It runs XP but has become very slow and I'm unable to reinstall XP as the CD/DVD drive doesn't work. As such, I'd like to boot puppy from my thumb drive and let my kids us this PC.

As noted before, I was able to save Puppy on a thumb drive. I followed the directions from this excellent guide.. http://puppylinux.org/main/Puppy430-tut ... nglish.pdf. Accordingly, I set up the USB install as a "ComboFormatt". This was supposed to work with most PCs that allow a boot from USB. So, now I'm not sure if my Toshiba will boot from the USB. In the boot options, it lists Removable Devices - Legacy Floppy Drives, Hard Drive, Network Boot, CD-ROM/DVD Drive. I changed the order so Removable Devices is listed first, but no luck - it won't boot from the thumb drive. (The USB drive does blink during boot up, but it still boots with XP.). Although the boot options includes Removable Devices, this lap top has no floppy drives, so I assume this means USB or SD card. (I have a built in SD card reader). How do I know for certain if this PC will boot from USB?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

ghughes20
Last edited by ghughes20 on Tue 04 Jan 2011, 12:45, edited 1 time in total.

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Béèm
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Location: Brussels IBM Thinkpad R40, 256MB, 20GB, WiFi ipw2100. Frugal Lin'N'Win

#2 Post by Béèm »

I use the Lin'N'Win method and have no need to boot from USB on this XP PC.
Time savers:
Find packages in a snap and install using Puppy Package Manager (Menu).
[url=http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HomePage]Consult Wikka[/url]
Use peppyy's [url=http://wellminded.com/puppy/pupsearch.html]puppysearch[/url]

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GustavoYz
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Re: USB Bootable?

#3 Post by GustavoYz »

Hi...
ghughes20 wrote:...How do I know for certain if this PC will boot from USB?
You have to check out your pc's Bios, usually by pressing some key before the main system boots up -like 'Del' or F8 on my case-.
You have to change some boot up information, putting the USB (if its available as an option) before the hard drive on the boot up order.
I also read the Grant Wilson book and if you search it, you'll see this information explained (with pics of his Pc's BIOS and the order mentioned before).
Good Luck!

ghughes20
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun 02 Jan 2011, 01:10

#4 Post by ghughes20 »

I am able to get into the bios, but the problem is I don't see boot "from USB". I do see an option called boot "from Removeable Devices - Legacy Floppy Drive", which is currently listed first, but this doesn't boot from USB when the USB is plugged in.

I downloaded the book by Grant Wilson and will go thru that for additional insights.

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rcrsn51
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Location: Stratford, Ontario

#5 Post by rcrsn51 »

Since you haven't got it working already, I doubt that your 2001 laptop will boot from USB. Look in the BIOS under hard drives to see if the USB device is being detected as a secondary drive.

Your alternative is to remove the hard drive, connect it to another Puppy machine using a USB adapter cable and do the install through it.

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rjbrewer
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#6 Post by rjbrewer »

ghughes20 wrote:I am able to get into the bios, but the problem is I don't see boot "from USB". I do see an option called boot "from Removeable Devices - Legacy Floppy Drive", which is currently listed first, but this doesn't boot from USB when the USB is plugged in.

I downloaded the book by Grant Wilson and will go thru that for additional insights.
It's too old to have usb boot.
It would be possible if you had a cd or floppy drive.
Installing the hard drive in another laptop or using a 2.5 to 3.5 pc
ide adapter would work.
Toshiba probably has 1.8 drive and would need 1.8 to 3.5.

Inspiron 700m, Pent.M 1.6Ghz, 1Gb ram.
Msi Wind U100, N270 1.6>2.0Ghz, 1.5Gb ram.
Eeepc 8g 701, 900Mhz, 1Gb ram.
Full installs

ghughes20
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun 02 Jan 2011, 01:10

Got It To Work!!!

#7 Post by ghughes20 »

First, thank you all for your suggestions. The solution was simple. I upgraded my BIOS on my laptop from the Toshiba website and was finally able to boot from the USB that I had created from my other (newer) laptop.

I'm typing this from my old laptop using Puppy V 5.1.1.

Success!!!

ghughes20

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Béèm
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Location: Brussels IBM Thinkpad R40, 256MB, 20GB, WiFi ipw2100. Frugal Lin'N'Win

#8 Post by Béèm »

Good.
For the sake of fellow posters could you edit the subject of your initial post and add [SOLVED] at the end.
Last edited by Béèm on Tue 04 Jan 2011, 12:11, edited 1 time in total.
Time savers:
Find packages in a snap and install using Puppy Package Manager (Menu).
[url=http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HomePage]Consult Wikka[/url]
Use peppyy's [url=http://wellminded.com/puppy/pupsearch.html]puppysearch[/url]

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rjbrewer
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Location: merriam, kansas

#9 Post by rjbrewer »

Very interesting.

What are the specs and model number of that Toshiba?

Inspiron 700m, Pent.M 1.6Ghz, 1Gb ram.
Msi Wind U100, N270 1.6>2.0Ghz, 1.5Gb ram.
Eeepc 8g 701, 900Mhz, 1Gb ram.
Full installs

ghughes20
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun 02 Jan 2011, 01:10

Toshiba Model Number & Specs

#10 Post by ghughes20 »

My Toshiba is model P15-S409.

Pent 4 @ 2.8 GHz
512MB RAM
60GB HD
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN
Integrated 802.11g Wireless LAN – (Atheros)
Realtek ALC202 Codec Chip, Software Sound
DVD Multi Drive - ATAPI Interface (broken).

(I upgraded to BIOS v 2.0).

When I upgraded to the new BIOS, I noticed that my USB drive appeared under the Hard Drive, basically, it listed two items under Hard Drive - the HD and the UBS. I disabled the HD and it finally booted to Puppy from the USB.

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rjbrewer
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Location: merriam, kansas

#11 Post by rjbrewer »

Thank you;

If it were made in 2001 it would not have that function.
That Tosh. came out in 2004.
A very good Puppy machine.

Inspiron 700m, Pent.M 1.6Ghz, 1Gb ram.
Msi Wind U100, N270 1.6>2.0Ghz, 1.5Gb ram.
Eeepc 8g 701, 900Mhz, 1Gb ram.
Full installs

ghughes20
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun 02 Jan 2011, 01:10

#12 Post by ghughes20 »

rjbrewer wrote:Thank you;

If it were made in 2001 it would not have that function.
That Tosh. came out in 2004.
A very good Puppy machine.
Yea, not sure why I think I purchased it in 2001, but glad it works now. And agreed, it does seem like a good Puppy machine. Puppy has extended its useful life.

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