Transcend 256mb pendrive wont boot DSL

gnukish · 08-30-2005, 01:25 PM

I have installed DSL in the pendrive(256mb transcend) I used the correct geometry and downloaded usbboot.img from LQ forums.

I did this from knoppix . . . (hd install)
I formatted the drive with mkdosfs.
I logged in as root and created a directory dsl in /mnt
I mounted usbboot.img to /mnt/dsl copied /mnt/dsl/* to /mnt/sda1
Then I umounted the dsl folder and mounted dsl image(1.0.1) in /mnt/dsl and copied /mnt/dsl/knoppix to /mnt/sda1
I unmounted the dsl folder, deleted it.
Now I "cd" into /mnt/sda1 . Everything was fine.
I unmounted the pen-drive and restarted the pc. I set primary boot to usb-hdd once, usb-fdd once and usb-zip/mo once.
Nothing worked ... DSL did not boot off pendrive.
Legacy and other support for pendrive is enabled.
Iam using a VIA P4M266 board.(original board)

DSL

Regards and thanks in advance. . .

Matir · 08-30-2005, 02:08 PM

I'm fairly certain you'll need to set up some sort of bootloader in order to get it to boot.

gnukish · 08-30-2005, 02:14 PM

How to add a bootloader in usb? I have made the pen-drive bootable while formatting now with sfdisk. I formatted it again and still no use. Same result, not booting. I wud be grateful if u cud explain how to setup a bootloader in usbdrive ?
Is it this ?? Just a wild guess (install grub[or]lilo /dev/sda)

Matir · 08-30-2005, 02:17 PM

While not for DSL, check out this page for feather linux (which I've used on a UBS drive): http://featherlinux.berlios.de/usb-instructions.htm

gnukish · 08-30-2005, 02:20 PM

Thanks for the two quick replies. Can I instant message u on AIM because Iam not familiar with, syslinux. I haven't used it before. Help me.

gnukish · 08-30-2005, 04:11 PM

I tried this command but I get error,

Code:

syslinux -s -o /home/bootusb-0.8.img /dev/sda1

Error is
"Total number of sectors not a multiple of sectors per track!
Add mtools_skip_check=1 to your .mtoolsrc file to skip this test"

But, my pendrive geometry from sfdisk says

Code:

root@box:~# sfdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 257 cylinders, 62 heads, 32 sectors/track
Units = cylinders of 1015808 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0

   Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *      0+   1023    1024-   1015807+   e  W95 FAT16 (LBA)
/dev/sda2          0       -       0          0    0  Empty
/dev/sda3          0       -       0          0    0  Empty
/dev/sda4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty
root@box:~#

I also tried editing the /usr/bin/.mtoolsrc file and added an entry
# mtools_skip_check = 1

Please guide me...

hurric@ne · 09-14-2005, 02:08 PM

I got this bytestor 512mb slim usb flash drive and nothing works

ubuntucountry · 10-05-2005, 08:22 AM

To create a bootable pen drive version of DSL do the following...

1. insert your usb pen drive in the PC
2. boot the pc with DSL LiveCD.
3. At the boot menu screen Press F3
4. Type install - DSL will detect your devices then load a black screen that says DSL INSTALL OPTIONS
5. Choose #7 USB Pendrivev HDD boot install
6. Name the device sda (not sda1)
7. Wait while DSL loads the image to pen drive
8. Select 8 to reboot
9. Set your bios or boot menu to boot from USB devices.

If the format or load fails to install on the pen drive, format the pen drive with FAT (not FAT32) from a windows P.C. and start over.

The Pen Drive install is much faster than running DSL from cdrom.

One last note, if you want your settings to be saved back to the pen drive you will want to set mydsl=/dev/sda1

JesusFreak84 · 10-27-2005, 07:56 PM

I'm not asking to be nit-picky, just curious, but why wouldn't a FAT32 formatting work? I thought Linux could "understand" all FAT partition types.

teckk · 11-05-2005, 12:31 PM

As I recall anything under 2GB will be FAT. Over 2GB you may format FAT32

starquail · 11-16-2005, 11:30 PM

Perfect post ubuntucountry. Thank you.