about debian-live usb
 

I've been looking at the Debian live usb. Basically you execute the following from a console:

dd if=the-image-file.img of=/dev/sdc

and you are supposed to have a bootable usb key.

However, this does not work on my machine.

There is a comment there about using grub rather than isolinux (or syslinux), and I'm wondering if anyone here has managed to do a live Debian with grub rather than either of the other bootstrappers.

How does it not work…
Does your BIOS support boot from USB? What happens when you set your BIOS to boot from USB and have the disk plugged in? I highly doubt that the bootloader is the culprit (though it could be).

P.S., are you sure /dev/sdc is the block device corresponding to your usb key?

what it doesn't do
 

Here's the symptoms:

I install grub on the usb stick (/dev/sdc) and I can get a grub prompt by selecting the device from a boot menu (BIOS). I install with

root# cat stage1 stage2 > /dev/sdc

When I follow the Deb instructions for the live-usb, I get nothing--in fact the BIOS doesn't recognize the device (it is not present in the boot menu and takes longer to boot). The only difference should be (since I'm using the same device) is the bootloader. Grub in the first case, and syslinux in the second.

Go into your bios
Look for all usb options
Make sure they are on
Go to boot options
Make sure there is an option to allow you to boot from usb.....**warning**NOT ALL PC's ALLOW THIS!**warning**
If it does,add it to first boot device.
If it doesnt support it,look for a bios upgrade,may want to write your config options down for the new bios,some boards allow for copying the config to new bios,some dont.Bios should be set to default options before upgradeing.
Look at the boards site or forums if any or look on hardware forums for bios support for your board.
Some good boards have great third party bios' and support for it.
Flash away as long as it adds usb boot support,otherwise dont bother.

if you read my post you'll see that the system is capable of booting the device