USB Puppy boot problem: 'cannot find Puppy on usbflash'

[Shagbag]

I have Puppy 2.13 'Star' working from CD-R and have got it set up nicely. The pup_save.2fs file is on my hardrive.

I have now tried to install Puppy 2.13 'Star' to my Kingston Data Traveler 2.0 USB Flash Drive/USB stick. My BIOS allows USB-ZIP to boot and I have 6 USB ports. I tried umpteen million combinations before I discovered that I must not leave the USB stick in a port at reboot. Instead, I must physically insert the USB stick during the BIOS's POST. This way I can boot from the USB stick. So that part is now solved.

However, when Puppy boots from USB I get the same error:

Code: Select all

Loading kernel modules               done
Looking for Puppy in sda1            done
Loading swap partition /dev/hdb5     done

ERROR, cannot find Puppy on 'usbflash' boot media.
PUPMODE=1   PDEV1=
Exited to initial-ramdisk (/dev/ram0) commandline...

I don't understand this. My USB stick (sda1) has a FAT32 filesystem and containes only the following files:

vmlinuz
initrd.gz
pup_213.sfs
zdrv_213.sfs
syslinux.cfg
ldlinux.sys
usbflash

My syslinux.cfg file consists of one line:

Code: Select all

default vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 initrd=initrd.gz PMEDIA=usbflash

Can someone please tell me why my Puppy doesn't want to play with me?

[Shagbag]

I did some reading up and managed to alter my syslinux.cfg file and passed the 'debug' parameter to the kernel. After I rebooted, the problem mentioned in the above post (ERROR, cannot find Puppy on 'usbflash' boot media) appears to stem from not being able to find an ext2 filesystem.

So I repartitioned my USB stick into two partitions:

sda1 = 512MB FAT32
sda2 = 512MB ext3

and went through the Puppy Universal Installer process twice: first for sda2 and then for sda1 (as my BIOS appears to only boot USB devices with FAT filesystems).

It worked. I can now boot from USB!

However, this still puzzles me: why does Puppy need to be on an ext2 filesystem for it to be loaded?

[kayjay]

installed latest puppy using the universal installer to my 4gb usbstick.
when i but my pc using the usbstick, syslinux pops up and tells me that it could not find linux image or something.

my drive is formated using vFat (fat32) - using universal installer...

how do i fix this? do i REALLY have to redo everything using universal installer? my syslinux.cfg looks like this:

default vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 initrd=initrd.gz PMEDIA=usbflash


initrd.gz is there (size: 1.2mb)

[Shagbag]

Is the kernel image (vmlinuz) there as well?
What boot option are you using in your BIOS: USB-HDD or USB-ZIP?
Have you tried passing the 'debug' parameter to your syslinux.cfg file to see if you get any more clues as to the cause of your error(s)?

Your syslinux.cfg file should look like this:

Code: Select all

default vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 debug
Initrd=initrd.gz PMEDIA=usbflash

[J_Rey]

The error message that Shagbag was having was simply resulting from pup_213.sfs not being found (pup_213.sfs is a filesystem within a file). There was a recent bug discovered which could easily be related. The workaround would be to rename pup_213.sfs & zdrv_213.sfs to make sure the filenames are all lowercase.

But the problem that kayjay has is different because syslinux can't find the kernel image which is in the vmlinuz file. Now you only listed initrd.gz (initial ramdisk) so what are all the files on your USB flash drive?

[craftybytes]

An interesting point - I run Puppy from a 'generic' 1GB USB pendrive AND it boots and works great ..

The files that were loaded via Puppy's 'universal installer' onto the pendrive are :
extlinux.conf
extlinux.sys
vmlinuz
initrd.gz
pup_213.sfs
zdrv_213.sfs

I use a 2nd separate 'generic' 1GB USB pendrive to store the 'pup_save.2fs' and the 'devx_213.sfs' files on - both work fine ..

I notice in your particular listing of files on your flash drive :

syslinux.conf
ldlinux.sys
usbflash

QUES: for the guru's in the Puppy fold - why is there a difference in loaded 'system' files for booting from USB flash drives ..?

MINE: extlinux.conf & extlinux.sys

shagbag's: syslinux.conf & ldlinux.sys

What is the difference..?
AND if shagbag was to change to use 'extlinux' files instead would this solve his problems with booting..?

Just my 2 c's worth..

[silvervarg]

I had exactly the same problem, and was going nowhere.
I was quite sure there was something wrong with the 2.13 version of the universal installer when installing to USB-flash stick.

My problem was in this thread.

By chance a general advice from Tony was:

Another avenue is the google-puppy search engine:-

http://wellminded.com/puppy/pupsearch.html

and what I found was

Silvervarg:
Well, by searching through the google search I found this thread:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=7963

Strange that I missed it through the normal forum search.

It is be no means clear, but at least one more user having exactly the same problem.
That thread is 6 months old (so they where , and it does not seem like that user managed to solve the problem. However it seems likely that the cause is that Puppy2 has problems to recognize some USB controllers properly.

In hopes to get some additiona help before I had time to try anything more I put the output asked for in that thread:

Anyway, here is the output I get from:
lspci -i /usr/share/pci-usb-pcmcia.lds

00:00.0 Class 0600: 8086:3340 (rev 03)
00:01.0 Class 0604: 8086:3341 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 Class 0c03: 8086:24c2 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 Class 0c03: 8086:24c4 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 Class 0c03: 8086:24c7 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 Class 0c03: 8086:24cd (rev 01)
00:1e.0 Class 0604: 8086:2448 (rev 81)
00:1f.0 Class 0601: 8086:24cc (rev 01)
00:1f.1 Class 0101: 8086:24ca (rev 01)
00:1f.3 Class 0c05: 8086:24c3 (rev 01)
00:1f.5 Class 0401: 8086:24c5 (rev 01)
00:1f.6 Class 0703: 8086:24c6 (rev 01)
01:00.0 Class 0300: 1002:4c57
02:00.0 Class 0607: 104c:ac46 (rev 01)
02:00.1 Class 0607: 104c:ac46 (rev 01)
02:01.0 Class 0607: 8086:101e (rev 03)

I have no idea what to make from this data.
However since I got a hint that it might have to do with the USB-controller chip I will try the stick on another computer this weekend to see if I get the same results.

And ofourse I did tri it out on another computer, actually on two others.
One of them is the one I am writing on now, booted from the same USB-flash stick running Puppy just fine.

So, the end of story is that Puppy seems to have some problems with certain USB-controllers. Perhaps this is something that can be improved later on.
The first computer I tried it on a lot without success was an IBM T41 Laptop.
The second computer I tried it on was a VIA mini-ITX 1GHz. I actually booted once, but had problem with the graphics. Cursing myself why I choosed 1600x1200x24 resolution on the first attempt. For some reason after that I could not get it to boot. BIOS saying "DISK BOOT FAILIURE". Strange since it did boot and even start X once during the Xorg test. I even had an image in some strange resolution. I think it was 1400xsomething.
The third computer is an ordinary stationary box with an Epox 8RDA3+ motherboard. I put boot order in BIOS to USB-ZIP, USB-HDD and allow boot from other devices. First attempt booted nicely into Puppy with Xorg at 1280x1024x24 resolution. USB-mouse was autodetected as well.

After boot I ran the network connection wizard (connect icon at desktop) and could get an IP through DHCP in seconds. All works nicely.
I also ran the ALSA sound wizard to get sound working.

So, in short the message you get does not have to do with an error in how you setup the USB-flash or anything similar. It has to do with what hardware USB-controller chips are recognized.

[pakt]

However it seems likely that the cause is that Puppy2 has problems to recognize some USB controllers properly.

Anyway, here is the output I get from:
lspci -i /usr/share/pci-usb-pcmcia.lds

00:00.0 Class 0600: 8086:3340 (rev 03)
00:01.0 Class 0604: 8086:3341 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 Class 0c03: 8086:24c2 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 Class 0c03: 8086:24c4 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 Class 0c03: 8086:24c7 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 Class 0c03: 8086:24cd (rev 01)
00:1e.0 Class 0604: 8086:2448 (rev 81)
00:1f.0 Class 0601: 8086:24cc (rev 01)
00:1f.1 Class 0101: 8086:24ca (rev 01)
00:1f.3 Class 0c05: 8086:24c3 (rev 01)
00:1f.5 Class 0401: 8086:24c5 (rev 01)
00:1f.6 Class 0703: 8086:24c6 (rev 01)
01:00.0 Class 0300: 1002:4c57
02:00.0 Class 0607: 104c:ac46 (rev 01)
02:00.1 Class 0607: 104c:ac46 (rev 01)
02:01.0 Class 0607: 8086:101e (rev 03)

I have no idea what to make from this data.

You can get more details with this command:
# cat /proc/pci

Another way to get clues on these devices is to google for e.g. 8086:24c2 and you'll see that it is a USB UHCI Controller from Intel.

It is unlikely that Puppy is not recognizing the Intel USB chip. I've got the same chip (8086:24c2) in my PC and USB works fine.

Have you checked that USB support is enabled in the BIOS (usally something about 'enable USB legacy support')? If it is already enabled, try disabling it and see if booting from USB works.

Paul

[Shagbag]

So, in short the message you get does not have to do with an error in how you setup the USB-flash or anything similar. It has to do with what hardware USB-controller chips are recognized.

That may be the case, but H. Peter Anvin (who wrote syslinux, isolinux, extlinux, etc.) has stated that it's often the BIOS that is the cause of problems with USB booting, in particular, the lack of any USB boot standard and some BIOSes failing to recognise different drive geometries. It's on my list of things to check for myself but I've had problems booting on my VIA box but no problems booting the same USB stick on my Alienware laptop. When I get some time (whenever that may be) I'm going to see if this is the case

[silvervarg]

It is unlikely that Puppy is not recognizing the Intel USB chip. I've got the same chip (8086:24c2) in my PC and USB works fine.

Have you checked that USB support is enabled in the BIOS (usally something about 'enable USB legacy support')? If it is already enabled, try disabling it and see if booting from USB works.

stated that it's often the BIOS that is the cause of problems with USB booting, in particular, the lack of any USB boot standard and some BIOSes failing to recognise different drive geometries.

The machine I have problems booting from USB is an IBM T41 laptop. That model was released October 2003, so it is not that old, and not too new to have unsupported hardware. Also it does find the device and starts to boot fine. It does load the kernel.
Could it be shortly after loading the kernel that control is transfered from BIOS to Linux?
Next time I fiddle around at that box I will have a look in BIOS about setting that could affect things.
It is not critical for me to be able to run Puppy from USB on that box, but it would be really nice to have Puppy on an USB-stick and know that it will be able to boot on almost any computer.

[Shagbag]

Also it does find the device and starts to boot fine. It does load the kernel.
Could it be shortly after loading the kernel that control is transfered from BIOS to Linux?

The BIOS stops once the kernel has loaded, ie. the kernel is in control from that point forward. If the kernel is being loaded then it's not a BIOS problem.

Next time, try passing the 'debug' parameter to the kernel. It should give you more verbose screen output and allow you to narrow down the cause of the problem on the Thinkpad. See my previous post if you are unsure how to modify your extlinux.cfg (ext2) or syslinux.cfg (FAT) file for the debug parameter (it's very easy).

[greg davidson]

mind if I join the conversation? I appear to have this same problem booting from USB CD

Here is what I have found so far,

Puppy image on CD appears to be good – boots OK from internal CD drive on 2 machines (Pentium 4 laptop and Pentium 2 desktop).

Fails to boot on 2 machines when booting from the external USB CD drive (with the boot override “puppy PMEDIA=usbcd

[Dougal]

[quote="greg davidson"]
Fails with “cannot find Puppy on ‘usbcd’ boot media

[greg davidson]

Are you sure the message said "usbcd" and not "idecd"?

Yes - I double checked, The PMEDIA command line parameter is definitely overriding the 'idecd' in the configuration file.

The debug option provides plenty of feedback, but I could see no clues as to what is failing.

I am going to search the forum for how install and boot from the internal hard disk.

Thanks for your feedback.

[greg davidson]

I have managed to get Puppy up and running on the eBox 3800SL despite the USB CD boot failures. The command prompt linux version left running after the "cannot find Puppy" error was enough to mount a flash drive with all the require system files, and copy them to internal IDE hard drive. I can now booted using the boot CD on the USB drive if I overide the kernel boot with "puppy PMEDIA=idehd".

With both DOS and Linux available on the machine, I am looking for a boot loader to make it bootable without the CD.

'syslinux' (at least the version I have) won't run in DOS (needs Windows). I am checking out 'grub'. Is there a simple way to do this , gub looks daunting , I cannot even tell which is the executable file in the mass that comes in the download.

[muggins]

i'm not sure of using grub with usb cdrom, but to play with grub, & avoid messing anything up with hdisk until you're familiar with it's use, the simplest thing is to make a grub floppy. (just google "grub floppy").

there's also grub4dos available here:

http://grub4dos.sourceforge.net/main.html

when i first used puppy, i had it on one partition, and win95 on another, and booted puppy from win95's autoexec.bat using gujin's tiny.exe. and other's on the forum are doing similar using linld.com.

so either of these should be able to boot puppy, with the provisos that you might need dos to load a suitable driver to see your usb cdrom, and you usually need to incorporate a delay before booting.

[Sit Heel Speak]

I just want to reiterate what J_Rey says above: filename case sometimes matters. Oddly, some computers mind it, some don't. On my newer Intel D865GSA P4 (D805) I can boot off a USB flash key in a USB 2 port using pakt's Wakepup2 boot floppy no matter whether it's VMLINUZ or vmlinuz. On my Thinkpad T21 through a USB 2 PCMCIA adapter, it must be vmlinuz.