ferro10n wrote:When I remove my flash drive, the LupQ CD boots as a first-run session, losing all the data (installed applications, SFS files, customized setup, etc.) that I usually save to a save-file in my flash drive. Since it's just one computer for me and my brothers and sisters, I can't install Puppy, I rely on save-files so that I can use Puppy without having to install and setup everything again and again. I also increase RAM by storing 1GB save-file.
Still i suspect the BIOS.
In your case, LupQ can boot up without flash drive, but with flash drive, Windows starts up instead of LupQ, right?
In usual case, Puppy boots up without savefile if it could not recognize the drive. Or, in some case it cannot find its system files, the PC hungs up. Never starts Windows.
The behavior of your PC seams:
First try is the CD for boot, if it fails, next try the HDD.
But when the USB drive is found, it tries the USB drive instead of the CD, and the USB drive fails, then move to HDD, skipping CD...
Two proposal:
One is to install LupQ on the flash drive.
- Boot up LupQ without the flash drive.
- Plug in the flash drive and format it with vfat64, set the boot flag on the flash drive partition using GParted.
- Use the 'Frugal installer' on LupQ to install Lupq. I do not recommend the Universal Installer.
- Run Grub4Dos config and install the boot loader on the flash drive.
- Reboot PC
Second is to put the savefile(lupqsave) on the HDD.
You can restrict all the Puppy stuff only in one folder. You need not install the boot loader but you can boot up from the live CD. This way is harmless if the drive has enough space(1GB or more free).
Make a folder say 'puppy' on the top layer of any drive(partition) on the HDD.
Use the PupsaveConfig where to save the session and the main sfs.