no boot from usb key installing slack 14 on HP mini
 

Hi everybody,
I'd like to install Slackware 14 on my netbook (HP mini 210 series with Atom N450).
I've prepared my 2 usb stick - one with the package to be installed and the second where I've put the usbboot.img using dd command.
When I turn on the netbook with the 2 key inserted the boot is made from the usb key and I can see the first welcome screen but at this stage the system hang and does not accept any further command - the prompt stay blinking.:mad:
I do hope to have expalined properly the issue.
Any suggestion?
Thank you in advance for your support.
Piero

I installed Slackware on one of these a while back, but I had to use a USB DVD Drive as the USB Drive wouldn't work for me. Wish I could help more.

I would try booting with only the USB key including usbboot.img inserted.

If that works, you will be able to insert the other one afterwards, and mount it yourself if need be.

If that doesn't work, use the dd command again to write the usbboot.img on the USB key and/or use another USB key.

I also could not install Slackware 14 from a USB pen.
I already tried with to different USB pens.

The bootable pen as created using the script that is inside the DVD.

I had success using Unetbootin from here -->http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/. I installed 13.37 this way. I had to enter the BIOS to get the system to look at the USB ports first. My system is a HP mini 210-1000, it has a N450 as well.

I'm about to upgrade it to 14.

If you use Unetbootin, I'd like to suggest to ignore the "Distribution" drop-down list and just select the /path/to/file.iso and burn.

That is how I did.

I was just thinking to this workaround using unebootin to put the complete disto on the stick and go installing from there.
I hope I'll give it a try tonite and I'll keep you updated about the outcome.
Thanks by now.
Piero

That is exactly what you do. Download the .iso file to the system you are going to use to setup the USB stick. You install UNetBootin on the stick, and load the .iso image on the stick. Put the stick in the USB port on the target system, and boot it. You have to set the USB as the first point to boot from in the BIOS. There is a HowTo set of instructions on the link I posted above.

I have an HP mini 1000. It refused to boot just by dd if=img.iso of=/dev/sdc. But it work after when using the usbimg2disk.sh. Is usbimg2disk.sh the script you are refering to?http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...0/#post4786222

This is my favorite method for installing Slackware via usb. I have done it several times on netbooks and it is very easy.


http://slackwiki.com/Install_Slackware_Using_A_USB_Flash_Drive

I have tried unetbootin (which is my standard method for other distros), and could not get it to work for Slackware. The resulting usb stick was not bootable. I also tried the method on Alien's wiki, but at the time I did not understand enough to follow it. But the above worked like a charm.

Edit: you're welcome to try Camorri's method (he knows a lot more about this than I do), but I found something I came across a while back when I was trying to figure out why my unetbootin install wouldn't work. It seems this guy with the blog from 2010 (who of course must be an expert, since he has a webpage ;)) says you have to choose "custom" from the unetbootin menu and specify a location for both the kernel and the initrd.

However, in my version of unetbootin, I did not even have this option. I had the one to manually load the iso file (which is what I had already tried) as opposed to using the drop-down list of distros that Habitual mentioned, but that's it.


http://quantcareer.blogspot.com/2010/03/install-slackware-13-using-unetbootin.html

Anyway, if others have gotten it to work without doing this then you may be fine. This may just refer to an old version of unetbootin. I just thought I'd throw it out there.

Unfortunately I ahd no luck at all yesterday.
Here the list of my try and relevan failure:
1- reinstall usbboot.img on a different usb stick => no boot
2- using unebotin on a laptop with ubuntu => the usb stick was not identified
3- using unebotin on a imac => pcocess completed but booting the netbook I got the message "kernel corrupted"
I'm really frustrated as you can imagine :cry::cry:
Now I'm downloading a new iso and I'll start again
I'll keep you posted
bye
Piero

Make sure to check the md5 sum on the iso you download. I assume you deleted the old one and that is why you have to download again?

It sounds like the OP is having the exact same problem I had while trying to install 14.0 from usb last night. Using dd to put the usbimg works fine, but when you boot, the keyboard does not work. I tried the keyboard on the laptop, and a usb one. Neither worked.

The method I referenced in post number 11 works. I suggest you give it a try.

Guys, I looked at the link I gave you, and unfortunately it looks like someone has modified the instructions so that now they don't work. So I just did a full usb install on my laptop to check the steps, and I can give you the correct details. This was something I was going to do anyway, because I thought the instructions were a bit incomplete for beginners as it was (not referring to anyone here--just people who read the wiki), and I thought I could improve them.

Anyway, the first part of the document is correct. After downloading the .iso file, cd to the directory it is in and enter

Then, use

and make a note of what the system is calling your usb device. This will be listed under the phrase "Device Boot" in the section that corresponds to the usb drive. Mine says /dev/sdb1. Here, "sdb" is the device name, and "1" is referring to the first (in this case the only) partition on the drive.

When you know the name of the drive, unmount it with

Where "X" is the letter for the drive.

Then, put the iso on your usb with

where again, "X" is the letter of your usb device name. Do not enter the partition number after "X" here--just the device name. For my system, I would enter

When finished, the drive can be used to boot your machine. Obviously you will have to tell your BIOS to boot from usb.

After it boots, go through the first part of the process where you choose your kernel, keymap, and log in as root. Then, before you run setup, you again need to find out what the system is calling your usb drive (I'm assuming you may be using a different machine now). Once again, enter

and see what is written.

Now that you know what the usb drive is called on this system, you need to mount it so it can be read. Enter

replacing the "X" with whatever fdisk told you it is called. Here I would enter

Note that you can actually name your mount directory anything you want; there is no specific reason to call it "flash." But that is what I am using for this example.

Now run setup (enter "setup"). Proceed with the installation. When you get to the "Source Media Selection" window, choose "Install Slackware from a hard drive partition." At the next window, where it asks for the partition where Slackware can be found, enter

or whatever you called it if you named it something else.

In the next window, which asks what directory the Slackware sources are in, enter

And that's it! You can now select your packages and finish the installation.

**Note: All this was done as root. If you are on Ubuntu and do not have a root account, you will have to enter "sudo" before pretty much every command.

Holy crap! I had no idea about isohybrid. Worked great for putting .iso on usb.

Yeah, it's pretty awesome. Glad to help!

Hi guys, at last I did it :D
Yesterday night I've downloaded a new ISO image of Slack 14 and succeeded in installing it onto the usb stick via unetbootin.
This way I managed to boot the netbook and I was finally welcomed by slack installer.
Thaks everybody for the support.
Now I'm sure a huge amount of new issues will arise, so see you around.
Ciao
Piero

Good to know. Glad you got it sorted out.

P.S. If someone helped you, do not forget to click the "I found this post helpful" button within the relevant post.