unable to boot from bootable Linux flash drive on eeepc 1008HA
 

I have USB Drive with Kubuntu 9.04 on it - I am made this drive with the help from instructions on pendrivelinux.com. I use it with my other Dell Laptop and it works very fine - laptop boots from flash drive and boots in Linux.

I used the same drive to my new 1008HA ... it did not work! it always boots in XP. Windows XP does recognize the drive though. hence the drive it good and it works with other dell laptops.

I also checked the BIOS and boot priority is Removable media, HDD and CDROM. Hence that thing is good too.

While booting I hit F2 and Tab that allows me to see the BIOS messages on screen - one of the messages there is "starting USB controller" - i believe eeepc is not recognizing th linux bootable drive!! :(

has anyone else tried booting 1008ha from flash drive to linux?

Are you sure you installed GRUB on the usb drive? You may have installed it on the Dell laptop so that's why you can only boot there. Do this test: boot the Dell laptop without the usb drive in it - do you see the same boot menu when the the usb drive is connected and not connected? If the answer is yes, then GRUB was installed on the internal hard disk of the Dell, and you need to re-install it on the usb drive.

Rohit:

It can be inferred from what you say above that Grub is already installed in your usb pendrive and you wanted to boot linux in /by it. [If not yet you must install now.]

Also, I can understand from your english that this same usb drive worked well and booted already on your Dell laptop.

Now it doesn't work 1008HA. Something is wrong in the new bios environment. Maybe 1008HA doesn't allow booting from usb? until you set your pendrive into "active". So this time try check your /grub/menu.lst and put additional grub command after the kernel line:

rootnoverify
makeactive

Note: this is only a trick, so just try it. But my suspicion is high against the bios of your 1008HA.

If your new 1008HA cannot recognize booting directly from usbpendrive you can still boot from it under 1008HA by installing grub into the 1008Ha then modify the menu.lst provide an entry (on the grub on hard drive) to point to the usb drive in this manner you can still boot either from usb or hard drive of your 1008Ha. To be clear, this remedy has the following procedure:

1. Install Grub into the 1008HA hard drive.
2. Modify grub/menu.lst on the hard drive to have an entry for booting to usb. Modify device.map
3. Bios settings may always boot to the hard drive but an option is given to for the usb.

You must have sufficient working knowledge about grub. Reading this tutorial in few minutes will give you enough to do the job: http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/grub.html

Hope this helps.

more information
 

Thanks for the replies folks ...

@Udi - I have used that USB drive randomly with any laptop (so far tried with 3) - it has always worked well. Just that it happens that all the laptops were Dell laptops. Nothing else was similar. With this logic, I think my USB itself is bootable. There was nothing special on dell laptops

@malekmustaq - Thanks a ton for the detailed reply. being a newbie, a lot of things were new to me. As mentioned earlier, I think, my USB itself is bootable but I do not find any /grub/ on it (at least from windows explorer, i do not find it). I do get choice menu at Linu startup when I use it with any other laptop - I think, it is Kubuntu Menu (not sure if that's what you are refering to to as GRUB menu). It has following options,
Run Kubuntu Persistently
Install Kubuntu
Check CD for defects
Test Memory
Boot from first Hard Disk
Advanced Options
Help

Is this grub? I typically select first option and it loads Linux.

Also ... If I tap F2 and/or Esc on boot - I can see the messages on screen that were otherwise invisible - one of them says, detected 1 USB Mass Storage Device - I think, it does detect the device too ...! just not uses it for booting! [:(]

resolved
 

Finally managed to get rid of this problem - I had to go to BIOS and disable Boot Booster! Then tapping Esc on boot gave me options listing my USB as one of the boot options!

I am still not sure if I had GRUB or not ... but somehow this thingi worked.

entering BIOS
 

Hi Rohit,

How did you manag to enter BIOS? I am facing the same problem, and with Boot Booster enabled, I am unable to enter BIOS setup. The process is so quick that I do not get a chance to press F2.

How was it in your case?