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-   Linux - Newbie (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/)
-   -   BIOS will only boot FAT16 File System, but I want to use my 8GB flash drive to Multiboot (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/bios-will-only-boot-fat16-file-system-but-i-want-to-use-my-8gb-flash-drive-to-multiboot-4175585046/)

percy4209 07-19-2016 06:44 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpollard (Post 5578460)
Nope. YUMI is specifically for USB devices, and which one might be a bit limited in size.

Windows will not WRITE the MBR (well, I think it actually does, but it writes 0's) on a USB. It must still allocate the space.

It also looks like you BIOS doesn't support USB booting either. The only options I see are for various hard disks, CDROM and floppy.

Reference:
http://www.manualslib.com/manual/358...page=38#manual
My motherboard most definitely supports USB boot and I have been able to boot my 4GB drive made with YUMI just fine. I cannot get the 8gb to boot with YUMI, but it will boot a DD hybrid.

Emerson 07-19-2016 06:45 PM
Some braindead BIOS'es require boot flag to be set, if no partition is set bootable they wont boot the drive.

percy4209 07-19-2016 06:47 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by hydrurga (Post 5578465)
So what you're saying is that you were able to boot off your 8GB drive after having dd'd an ISO over to it, but you were unable to boot off the same drive using a YUMI- and multibootusb-generated setup?

That would lead to the conclusion that your drive is recognised fine by the BIOS, so you're not back to square 1, and the problem is in your use of both the multiboot packages.

Would that be correct?
Sort of. I have been able to boot my 4GB drive using YUMI without issue over the past few years. There is just something tricky with this 8gb and it will not boot with YUMI/syslinux. I'm stumped as of now which is why I am asking for help. Thank you (and everyone else) for your help!

jpollard 07-19-2016 06:49 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by percy4209 (Post 5578472)
My motherboard most definitely supports USB boot and I have been able to boot my 4GB drive made with YUMI just fine. I cannot get the 8gb to boot with YUMI, but it will boot a DD hybrid.
sorry - I just can't seem to read. It is even there on the reference I gave.

percy4209 07-19-2016 06:50 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by michaelk (Post 5578467)
Using dd with a hybrid ISO images basically overwrites the existing MBR and partitions so as long as it was built correctly does not care about what currently exists on the drive. In most cases the image size is less then the size of the flash drive and so you need to create a new MBR so the OS will see the entire disk again.

unetbootin does not format or overwrite existing data on the drive. It needs to be formatted as FAT32. The contents of the ISO are extracted and written to the flash drive and a bootloader (syslinux) is installed. Not all distributions work out of the box with unetbootin.

yumi can work with a FAT16/FAT32/NTFS partition but needs a specific volume label. The link below indicates that NTFS is buggy. In another thread the OP discovered their 8GB drive was formatted as NTFS by the manufacture. You might need to rebuild the MBR and boot loader.

http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Isohybrid
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-mu...t-usb-creator/
I have attempted to rebuild the MBR with DISK PART in Windows , but I am definitely open to suggestions of you ha e any. Also, if the hybrid boots after using DD wouldn't that have rebuilt the MBR as well since it uses an entirely different file system?

percy4209 07-19-2016 06:53 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Emerson (Post 5578474)
Some braindead BIOS'es require boot flag to be set, if no partition is set bootable they wont boot the drive.
This is what I was thinking, but it will boot when I make the hybrid. I also tried rebuilding the MBR with DISK PART in windows to no avail. How exactly to I make sure it is set to boot?

Emerson 07-19-2016 07:01 PM
See fdisk output below, in my case boot flag is not set, this box boots fine without it.
Code:
fdisk /dev/sda

Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.28).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.


Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 59.6 GiB, 64023257088 bytes, 125045424 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00020071

Device    Boot Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1        2048 125045423 125043376 59.6G 83 Linux

michaelk 07-19-2016 07:02 PM
Quote:
I have attempted to rebuild the MBR with DISK PART in Windows , but I am definitely open to suggestions of you ha e any. Also, if the hybrid boots after using DD wouldn't that have rebuilt the MBR as well since it uses an entirely different file system?
Yes, but it would not be compatible with yumi or unetbootin anymore. You would still need to erase/rebuild the MBR.

percy4209 07-22-2016 04:43 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by michaelk (Post 5578484)
Yes, but it would not be compatible with yumi or unetbootin anymore. You would still need to erase/rebuild the MBR.
Okay, so here is where I am at now. I have erased/rebuilt the MBR multiple times. Every time I rebuild the MBR, the disk becomes bootable (I check in BIOS after each rebuild to see if I can select the flash drive to boot). Once I use ANY software to load linux on the drive (Unetbootin, YUMI, MultidiskUSB, etc, etc...) the disk becomes unbootable again. I have used software to install an ISO to the flash drive and then flagged it as active/bootable manually to no avail. I am completely at a loss here. I have been working on this for a few days now and I just cannot figure it out. Any more suggestions?

michaelk 07-22-2016 05:02 PM
What ISO's are you trying to configure to multiboot?

percy4209 07-22-2016 05:26 PM
OH. MY. GOD! You guys won't believe this! After rebuilding my MBR most recently and formatting the drive to NTFS, I used YUMI to install PClinuxOS and it BOOTED FROM THE USB! No problem this time at all whatsoever! Now, can anyone explain why this worked? Is it the NTFS fine system? I never thought to format to NTFS as Linux does not use it. I'm absolutely baffled. Can anyone explain this? O rebuilt the MBR so many times, but always formatted to fat32. Every single time I used YUMI or some variation, it always went back to not being recognized, but the first time I formatted to NTFS it worked perfectly. It doesnt make sense to me. I am just happy it's working.

percy4209 07-22-2016 05:31 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by michaelk (Post 5580035)
What ISO's are you trying to configure to multiboot?
I have been using Sparky Linux (Game Over Edition), Manjaro (3 community variations), and PClinuxOS. Would it make any difference which ISO I used YUMI to install first? I have also used unetbootin and easy2boot after rebuilding the MBR and they did not work either. But now on the NTFS file system with YUMI it worked perfectly. I did only install PClinuxOS this time using YUMI (no other distros). I'm going to add more distros now and see if it still works! It shouldn't have any issues now since it booted, but I wouldn't count anything out with as crazy as this drive has been acting! Thanks for all the help, everyone!

yancek 07-22-2016 05:51 PM
I'm not sure what is going on with YUMI for you but, I used it about a month ago and had three partitions, FAT32, ntfs and ext3 with windows 10 installer and Linux and Android systems on them and they all booted. I think it is something other than the filesystem type, at least from my experience but I'm not familiar enough with YUMI to make any suggestions. I can't see that it would make any difference which distribution you installed first. Good luck with it.

percy4209 07-22-2016 06:06 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by yancek (Post 5580057)
I'm not sure what is going on with YUMI for you but, I used it about a month ago and had three partitions, FAT32, ntfs and ext3 with windows 10 installer and Linux and Android systems on them and they all booted. I think it is something other than the filesystem type, at least from my experience but I'm not familiar enough with YUMI to make any suggestions. I can't see that it would make any difference which distribution you installed first. Good luck with it.
Seriously. Me either. I have no clue why it decided to start working, but it did and I don't plan on messing with the MBR or file system any more.

Side note: I am planning on replacing my Slackware install with something a little more modern. I am playing with Manjaro with Pantheon and Budgie as well as PClinuxOS. Does anyone have any experience/opinions on these two? I really like both of them and am kinda up in the air on which I install.

Timothy Miller 07-22-2016 06:43 PM
Every time I've used Manjaro, within 6 months it has become unusable due to the unstable nature of the underlying OS (which obviously I'm a glutton since I have Antergos on one of my machines again).


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