[Solved] Another "can't boot by USB"

[Hesedyahu]

Hi there,

Hope you can help.

I've got a Packard Bell PAV80 Dot S laptop. Windows 7 runs horrendously on it (slow). Distros like Porteus and Puppy looked promising as it doesn't have a CD or DVD drive. It has 1gb ram and 160gb hard drive capacity. I've changed the BIOS so that the boot order priority prefers the USB. The issue is odd after that.

I've installed porteus onto the USB using the Linux and windows method. But when I start the laptop, for a split moment, I'll see some white text flash across the top of the screen, like the intro to Linux, but then after that the screen will flash, one flash in an instant, and I just get a blank screen with the flashing text cursor at the top left. It does nothing after this.

I'm using an 8gb USB stick.

This is odd because I also tried with Puppy and found that if i used win32 disk imager to burn the ISO to the USB, and thus make it unusable for anything else, Puppy would load from the USB. But when I try installing Puppy onto that same USB stick rather than using the disk imager software, the exact same thing happens that happens with Porteus. It ends up at that blank black screen with the flashing text cursor. I see no loading text, nothing, just that flash of Linux intro, a one- or two-liner of text that is at the top of the screen for an instant.

Can anyone give any advice or help? I think the laptop has potential for meaningful use thru Linux but something is preventing it from booting up via USB.

Thanks in advance.


I formatted the USB between each attempt.

[Bogomips]

Welcome to Porteus.

I've installed porteus onto the USB using the Linux and windows method.

Could you be more precise here?

[Hesedyahu]

In windows, I followed the instructions to put Porteus on the USB, copying the folders from within the ISO file across to the USB, running the installer file as administrator.

In Linux, running a live CD on another computer, I copied the folders in sr0 onto the USB in sdb, and then, in terminal, I ran the sh command as root on the installer file suitable for Linux.

Does that clarify anything?

[Ed_P]

Can anyone give any advice or help?

This method creates a USB drive that boots on any 64-bit machine.

viewtopic.php?f=81&t=4632&p=33638#p33604

[Hesedyahu]

I will try out your suggestion. I'm not a techie so I'll have to find out how to partition the USB. The laptop is supposed to be a 32 bit machine. But I'm still happy to try out your suggestion. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm not in the place to do it now, so if in the meantime you're willing or kind enough to give instructions on how to partition or even a link to save your time in typing, it would be appreciated. But there is no obligation. Just by offering suggestions, I'm thankful for that.

[tome]

you could try install lilo bootloader on usb-drive

[Bogomips]

If you were running Porteus from a live CD, you could use neko's tool, which will do everything for you, partitioning and all.

4. Tools for a new ISO test
4.1. "ISO to USB" conversion tool module
live-usb-3.1-noarch-7.xzm (352 K)
http://www.mediafire.com/download/jq6o4 ... arch-7.xzm
md5sum: 1b968454f535df3545db3e9b94ec8c21 live-usb-3.1-noarch-7.xzm

Once module downloaded, click on it with filemanager to activate it. Should then find the entry in the menu,

[Ed_P]

so if in the meantime you're willing or kind enough to give instructions on how to partition or even a link to save your time in typing, it would be appreciated.

There is no need to partition the USB drive. Format the USB drive as FAT32, or exFAT if it's large, extract the files from the Porteus ISO to the formatted USB drive, if on Windows go to the /boot folder on the USB drive and run the Porteus-installer-for-Windows.exe app. If your on a Linux system, go to the /boot folder on the USB drive and run the Porteus-installer-for-Linux.com app.

After you boot Porteus you need to create a savedat file to save changes you make to it's setup.

[Hesedyahu]

Hi Ed P,

I followed your advice about using the 64-bit version of the ISO. The exact same thing happened as before. I plug the USB into the laptop. I turn on the computer. it tries to load the USB first. Then a line of text flashes on the screen that seems to start with "syslinux" or something like that. Then the screen flashes once and goes to a blank black screen with only a flashing text cursor to the top left of the screen. It doesn't do anything after that. I checked that I had followed your instructions word for word. But the issue persists.

[Hesedyahu]

Hi tome,

I don't know how to install lilo bootloader onto the USB.

[Hesedyahu]

Hi Bogomips.

I can't get to that file that you linked to.

[bour59]

try to boot in text mode
then startx

[Hesedyahu]

Hi there.

Remember, it doesn't get that far. I don't get to see any options. The screen is first blank as the computer decides what it is going to boot from and it chooses USB. Then the line of text that starts with "syslinux" or something like that flashes on the screen. Then the screen flashes and then goes blank and black with a text cursor flashing in the top left corner. So I don't get to see any option. It doesn't load that far.

[tome]

See: http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=3156

[Bogomips]

Hi Bogomips.
I can't get to that file that you linked to.

Sorry about that, The quote truncated the link: http://www.mediafire.com/download/jq6o4 ... arch-7.xzm

neko's USB Installer

4.1. "ISO to USB" conversion tool module
live-usb-3.1-noarch-7.xzm (352 K)
http://www.mediafire.com/download/jq6o4 ... arch-7.xzm
md5sum: 1b968454f535df3545db3e9b94ec8c21 live-usb-3.1-noarch-7.xzm

If the 1st partition size is selected MAX(USB size),
one partition will be created in USB.
Otherwise, 2 partitions will be created in USB.
The 2nd partition is used by only linux users.

The 1st partition file system is FAT/ext4.
The contents of ISO will be set in the 1st partition.

The 2nd partition file system is one of FAT, ext3, ext4.
The 2nd partition may be used for general purpose.
If the 2nd partition file system is a linux file system (ext4 ,ext3) ,
it can be used for a persistence directory.
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