New USB Sticks won't boot **SOLVED**

What works, and doesn't, for you. Be specific, and please include Puppy version.
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DuMar
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Joined: Thu 28 Jan 2016, 15:18
Location: Apeldoorn, Netherlands

New USB Sticks won't boot **SOLVED**

#1 Post by DuMar »

I use puppy tahr now for more then a year and it's fantastic. It works just the way I like it and I got everything working, my printer/scanner, LibreOffice and so on. I already made a few copies on other USB sticks, I have now 4 working USB sticks, no problems so far. We use Puppy thar now on 2 laptops.

But now I wanted to use 2 mini USB Sticks from the brand Platinum because you don't have to remove them from the laptop. I bought an 8 and a 16 Gig.

I did what I always did, format with Gparted to EXT3, put bootflag on and install with the universal installer.

Both laptops won't boot, so I still use the old bigger USB Sticks. When I try to boot I only see a blinking cursor. When I mount the USB Stick I see all the normal files like there are on the current sticks.

What is the problem here? I would be very pleased to use these small USB sticks.

Kind regards, Marc
Last edited by DuMar on Fri 29 Jan 2016, 22:19, edited 1 time in total.

cthisbear
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Location: Sydney Australia

#2 Post by cthisbear »

I use the Falcon boot cd.

A heavily modified Hiren's with ERD.

I bought some cheapie 8 gig Cruzer Facet usbs.

Now I have never managed to get Falcon 4.6 to boot properly.
Other versions yes.

So I tried again and it works from the rear and front ports of my pc.

I also extracted LXPup64...it works as well.

BUT!!! >> It did part boot.

So I booted Puppy Precise...
then used GParted..
But LBA not ticked...so I enabled that >>> ticked it
and no more problems.

So maybe check that.
Or download Falcon and use his instructions.
Or use my Bootice link.

In either event....get back to us.

""""

Falcon How to.

The process for making this into a bootable USB stick is much easier
than in v4.5.

Here's the premise: there are two types of boot sectors that make something bootable:

- An MBR (master boot record) is in the very first sector of the drive. Usually it just says "Boot the active partition's PBR".
It contains a list of partitions, and points to the correct PBR to boot.

- A PBR (partition boot record) is at the very start of the *partition* (not the disk) and contains the code that boots the system from that partition.

A Flash drive (or other removable drive, e.g. an SD card) only has a
PBR since it only contains one partition.

To create an MBR (unnecessary), you would need to reformat the drive. You can get away with only using a PBR.
Some Flash drives may be using an MBR as well -
so we just need to check that.

Here's how you do it:
---------------------

(1) Use any flash drive. --
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO REFORMAT IT. -- NTFS or FAT32 will both work. FAT32 formatted with 16kb sectors is best for most Flash drives.

(2) Extract the files from the ISO (do NOT copy the ISO itself) to
your USB drive.
(You should have F4UBCD, HBCD, BOOT, etc. folders in the
USB drive root.

(3) On the USB drive, browse to HBCD\WinTools and run BootICE.cmd.

(4) In BootICE, SELECT YOUR FLASH DRIVE
(important!) and do the following:
Click "Process MBR".
If it indicates "Unknown", skip this part.
Otherwise, verify that it's set to "Windows NT 5.x/6.x MBR".
Install it if needed. You can't really mess this up.

Click "Process PBR".
It will usually say "Unknown" here, but if it says NTLDR or BOOTMGR,
it's been formatted by Windows to run the Windows boot loader.
We need to change this to GRUB4DOS.
Select GRUB4DOS and click "Install/Config".
Use the default options.

b]Click "Parts Manager[/b]".
If any partitions are shown here, you've got an MBR (that's OK).
Select the partition and make sure it's Active -
if it is, "Activate" will be greyed out.
Click it if needed, and hit Close.

You're done!
You've now got a bootable F4UBCD Flash drive.
No external tools needed! :)

BUT!!!

It did part boot.

""""""""

Now I have found a version of Bootice on Softpedia.
A pretty safe site.
They host many Puppies.

The Softpedia site has 7 screenshots of Bootice process.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Boo ... tice.shtml

"""""

http://falconfour.com/falconfours-ultim ... -6-f4ubcd/

ISO: Version 4.61 from his Wordpress site.

http://falcon4.pccloud9.me/FalconFour%2 ... 20v4.61.7z

Chris.
Last edited by cthisbear on Wed 03 Feb 2016, 00:52, edited 1 time in total.

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8Geee
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#3 Post by 8Geee »

This is a new problem found in several brands, it seems that these new sticks can be very small in physical size. SanDisk Cruzer Fit (USB2.0 only) is known to be a bootable USB stick.
Linux user #498913 "Some people need to reimagine their thinking."
"Zuckerberg: a large city inhabited by mentally challenged people."

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Moat
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#4 Post by Moat »

In the past, when I've had problems getting Puppy to boot successfully from a new USB stick, I would run Puppy's BootFlash utility first, and then re-format and install using Puppy's Universal Installer.

Always worked, always fixed whatever the issue was.

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/BootFlash

Bob

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Moat
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#5 Post by Moat »

8Geee wrote: SanDisk Cruzer Fit (USB2.0 only) is known to be a bootable USB stick.
Best little stick, ever! Tiny, fast, reliable. I can't seem to find them anymore, though - may be out of production?

Bob

slavvo67
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#6 Post by slavvo67 »

Are you sure it's not a 2.0 vs a 3.0? 2.0 is painfully slow once you get used to the 3.0 sticks.

DuMar
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Joined: Thu 28 Jan 2016, 15:18
Location: Apeldoorn, Netherlands

#7 Post by DuMar »

Moat wrote:In the past, when I've had problems getting Puppy to boot successfully from a new USB stick, I would run Puppy's BootFlash utility first, and then re-format and install using Puppy's Universal Installer.

Always worked, always fixed whatever the issue was.

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/BootFlash

Bob
Thank you Bob, your suggestion did the trick!! First Bootflash and then Universal installer with format to EXT3.

I got both USB sticks to work. Nice!!

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Moat
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#8 Post by Moat »

Great! :) I'm not sure just what BootFlash does, but believe it has something to do with writing a required (FAT32?) boot sector to a drive that doesn't include one out of the box, or had been erased. A handy utility nonetheless... right alongside many other Puppy utility gems. Cool beans!

Bob

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Burn_IT
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#9 Post by Burn_IT »

Deleted by me
"Just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush" - T Pratchett

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rcrsn51
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#10 Post by rcrsn51 »

Burn_IT wrote:Deleted by me
I was just going to contradict you! :wink:

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8Geee
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#11 Post by 8Geee »

moat:
eBay is your friend 10 for $35 (8Gb stubs).
Linux user #498913 "Some people need to reimagine their thinking."
"Zuckerberg: a large city inhabited by mentally challenged people."

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Moat
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#12 Post by Moat »

Sure enough... even a 64 gb for less than $20. I just might have to snag one or two... http://www.ebay.com/itm/SanDisk-64GB-Cr ... 1219891059

Thanks :)

Bob

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rcrsn51
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#13 Post by rcrsn51 »


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8Geee
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#14 Post by 8Geee »

Indeed, worth a read. Those "64Gb USB2.0 drives" are ExFat, and may not be bootable. And they might not like a reformat. Formatting extX is ok on 8 or 16Gb , questionable on 32Gb and as above uncertain at best on 64Gb due to Fat-style initial fomatting
Linux user #498913 "Some people need to reimagine their thinking."
"Zuckerberg: a large city inhabited by mentally challenged people."

wboz
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#15 Post by wboz »

I avoid SanDisk. In my experience has troubles which cannot be fixed through simple reformatting - something about the firmware. but check to make sure the boot flag is on (gparted can do that) as a simple thing I do not think ppl mentioned yet.

cthisbear
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#16 Post by cthisbear »

wboz:

" but check to make sure the boot flag is on (gparted can do that) as a simple thing I do "

""""

Yes! I posted that above.
No biggie though.
Sometimes it is the simple things that get past you...
speaking to myself there...wboz.

I have tried my Falcon boot cd process a few times...
just would not work.
But the other day I must have taken the blinkers off...and success.
An end to my Dumb Day Afternoon saga I guess.

And some usbs....grrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

"""

" BUT!!! >> It did part boot.

So I booted Puppy Precise...
then used GParted..
But LBA not ticked...so I enabled that >>> ticked it
and no more problems."

Chris.

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Moat
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#17 Post by Moat »

Hi 8Geee -
8Geee wrote: Those "64Gb USB2.0 drives" are ExFat, and may not be bootable.
With that ^^, I searched around SanDisk's site and about all I could find re; as-shipped file formats was this...

http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detai ... ting+flash

... which points to at least their SD card line as exFAT, when 64Gb or higher. So I shot support the question regarding the Cruzer Fit USB flash line in particular, and here's the pertinent portion of their reply...

"... all of the SanDisk flash drives come preformatted in FAT32 file system as all of the operating systems and devices do not support the exFAT or NTFS file system natively."

... which would lead one to believe that they'd be safe for use with Linux/Puppy. BUT - in Googling around, I also ran across plenty of folks whom, in the last year or so, have had real difficulty getting Linux to boot from their full-sized Cruzer sticks (32 & 64Gb). Some sort of difficult-to-overwrite file/sector/?? that interrupts the boot process. In any case, that's enough to scare noob-ish me away from giving the 32 & 64Gb sizes a try - so I'll be sticking to the 8 & 16Gb sizes, TYVM.

Thanks for the heads-up!

Bob

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