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Issues booting PK from USB

Posted: 25 Jan 2017, 00:20
by rans_au
Hi,

I've encountered a strange issue with Porteus Kiosk (PK) ISO.

Have burnt the v4.2.0 ISO to USB, and it boots fine. Using the wizard, I've created an ISO which points to a remote configuration file. PK then applies that ISO back to the USB - this is where I'm encountering issues, but only on select PCs.

On reboot, I get a flashing cursor top left of screen (the one you see briefly on a normal boot) however the boot does not progress past this.
Strange thing is, if I use that same USB to boot on a different PC, it boots fine. So the issue seems to be hardware related.

So the problem PCs are all hp dc7800s - super old hardware, but what's available to us. Now the really weird thing is that I have one dc7800 that boots the PK USB fine.
Have tried comparing and matching all BIOS settings on PC that works with settings on PC that doesn't, no cigar.

I feel like this has to be BIOS/hardware related, however any suggestions at this stage would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance (fingers crossed),
rans.

Re: Issues booting PK from USB

Posted: 25 Jan 2017, 10:13
by fanthom
Hello Rans,

I have these suggestions:
1) try disabling UEFI component in the wizard or your remote config (remove uefi.zip from 'additional_components=' parameter).
2) try different usb stick
3) add this parameter 'kernel_parameters=debug' and show me a photo where booting hangs. You should see a lot of text scrolling on the screen when kernel initializes. You may test on working PC first to see the difference.

Please let us know if anything helped.

Thank you.

Re: Issues booting PK from USB

Posted: 31 Jan 2017, 23:35
by rans_au
Thanks for your reply fanthom.

I have tried your suggestions, unfortunately they have not resolved the issue.
The kernel_parameters=debug setting did not show anything (just had a blinking cursor top left of screen as mentioned previously), which suggests to me the PC is not even attempting to boot. So I think we can fairly safely say this is not an issue with Porteus Kiosk, but a hardware issue.
I have used HDDs as a workaround, they're booting no problems, and changes made to the central config are being reflected in the kiosks.

Once again, thanks for your help, and thanks for putting together such an easy to use (and open source!) kiosk solution!

Regards,
rans_au