Booting from a USB Drive

Wed Dec 1 19:48:03 MST 2010

It's the Zen of Troubleshooting!  The error is the answer.

Basically, this means that you might verify that the files exist in the
paths setup in Grub?

I would just redo it all myself.

On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 6:00 PM, Steve Holmes <steve at holmesgrown.com> wrote:

> Yeah, I'm not sure what to do next.  Next time I have someone around
> to look at my screen, I'll have to get into the grub shell at boot
> time and see if I can probe available devices and maybe manually force
> the boot/kernel line and see where it blows.  Originally the message
> was an error code 15 or 17 and further stated that it couldn't find
> any of the kernel files like vmlinuz and yet they are there where they
> should be expected.  So grub is failing before any other actions can
> be taken.
>
> On Wed, Dec 01, 2010 at 10:00:11AM -0700, Lisa Kachold wrote:
> > Hi Steve!
> >
> > On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 11:10 PM, Steve Holmes <steve at holmesgrown.com
> >wrote:
> >
> > > The drive boots after all but only as far as grub.  I found out
> > > earlier today that the grub menu comes up but it fails to find the
> > > file systems for booting the actual system.  It looks like I will have
> > > to rebuild the grub configuration or something.  So yes, you're right;
> > > the drive should boot and the MBR does work; it's just the rest of it
> > > that doesn't but that sounds more like a grub issue now rather than
> > > booting from the USB drive.  Somehow while preparing this disk with
> > > the Arch Linux installer, I think grub's identification of drives may
> > > have been off or something.  I almost wrecked my windows internal disk
> > > doing this some how but at least I salvaged that for now so I need to
> > > walk on some egg shells while doing this I guess.
> > >
> >
> > Yea!  I have had terrible luck with all but the MANUAL directions on
> > building systems:
> >
> > Steps:
> > fdisk - (partition/fstype/bootableflag)
> > mkfs
> > grub
> >
> > All available from any linux system.
> >
> > If you are building a Slax system, you want to google slax bootable USB
> > directions (which will be the same).
> >
> >
> > >
> > > On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 05:34:31PM -0700, Lisa Kachold wrote:
> > > > If the drive is bootable, it will boot.
> > > >
> > > > Check the bios to ensure you have allowed boot from bios, and use
> spare
> > > > systems before rebuilding your drive.
> > > >
> > > > You should be able to fdisk -l /dev/sdN  (or whatever it is) plugged
> in
> > > and
> > > > verify the boot.  You should be able to verify your MBR and GRUB
> settings
> > > > also.  You can always REPEAT setting up the MBR?
> > > >
> > > > If you can't boot it, it's not built.
> > > >
> > > > Rebuild with a better set of instructions!
> > > >
> > > > On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 9:57 AM, Stephen <cryptworks at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > newer machines should be able to boot directly to USB hdd just
> fine...
> > > > > just never have had a drive that really worked with that.
> > > > >
> > > > > On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 9:24 AM, Steve Holmes <
> steve at holmesgrown.com>
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > > > That's rather annoying when some drive manufacturer forces us to
> > > leave
> > > > > > their junk on the drive when we wish to do otherwise with it.
> > > > > > Actually, my drive came out of an old laptop and I stuck it
> inside a
> > > > > > portable drive enclosure so I would think we should be able to
> boot
> > > > > > with it.  I used grub to make this disk bootable or at least
> attempt
> > > > > > to do so.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I might have to do a grub-install to the /dev/sda MBR but I
> hesitate
> > > > > > to do so at the moment.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 07:25:08AM -0700, Stephen wrote:
> > > > > >> I have an external drive that has the same issue. in my case
> there
> > > is
> > > > > >> a small "firmware" that resides on the USB-PATA bridge that has
> > > about
> > > > > >> 3-400 MB of stuff on it and mounts as a CD. this definitely
> fouled
> > > all
> > > > > >> my attempts at booting to the device.
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >> On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 3:23 AM, Steve Holmes <
> > > steve at holmesgrown.com>
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > > >> > I got a new machine which (of course) has Windows
> pre-installed
> > > and
> > > > > >> > I'm not ready to dump it entirely just yet so in the meantime,
> I
> > > built
> > > > > >> > out a complete Arch Linux 64-bit system on a portable USB
> external
> > > > > >> > drive.  I also used or tried to use grub to set it up to boot.
> > >  During
> > > > > >> > the original settup session, it appeared to do all this OK but
> I
> > > can't
> > > > > >> > get the laptop to recognize or boot from this device.  I did
> not
> > > > > >> > modify the master boot record on my laptop; instead, I figured
> on
> > > > > >> > using the boot menu on the laptop to choose the USB drive;
> this
> > > method
> > > > > >> > works beautifully with an ISO image I burned to a small
> thumbdrive
> > > but
> > > > > >> > I cannot do the same with my larger USB portable drive on
> which I
> > > > > >> > installed Arch Linux.  Do I have to do anything else to make
> this
> > > > > >> > thing bootable?
> > > > > >> > ---------------------------------------------------
> > > > > >> > PLUG-discuss mailing list -
> PLUG-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > > > > >> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> > > > > >> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> > > > > >> >
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >> --
> > > > > >> A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent
> you
> > > from
> > > > > >> rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze
> > > button.
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >> Stephen
> > > > > >> ---------------------------------------------------
> > > > > >> PLUG-discuss mailing list -
> PLUG-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > > > > >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> > > > > >> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------
> > > > > > PLUG-discuss mailing list -
> PLUG-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > > > > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> > > > > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > > A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you
> from
> > > > > rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze
> button.
> > > > >
> > > > > Stephen
> > > > > ---------------------------------------------------
> > > > > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > > > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> > > > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Network Operations Center Engineer
> > > > Atjeu Hosting
> > > >
> > > > (503) 754-4452
> > > > (623) 688-3392
> > > >
> > > > http://www.it-clowns.com | http://www.obnosis.com
> > >
> > > > ---------------------------------------------------
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> > > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
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> > >
> > > ---------------------------------------------------
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> > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
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> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Network Operations Center Engineer
> > Atjeu Hosting
> >
> > (503) 754-4452
> > (623) 688-3392
> >
> > http://www.it-clowns.com | http://www.obnosis.com
>
> > ---------------------------------------------------
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>
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-- 
Network Operations Center Engineer
Atjeu Hosting

(503) 754-4452
(623) 688-3392

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