usb boot not working ! kernel panic

mandrakemikael · 01-08-2005, 02:11 PM

The usb boot seems not be working. There is no /knoppix/bin directory.

I unzipped the usb version on my usbdrive.
I ran syslinux /dev/sda1
I booted. I get to the screen where I press enter or type kernel options.
Kernel decompresses...searches for usb-devices...

no /knoppix/bin directory, no ls,cd,mkdir,chmod,chown,etc
kernel panic.

cliefan · 01-12-2005, 04:16 PM

same thing here

creeble · 01-14-2005, 12:38 PM

See my posts under the "Cruzer" topic.

This is what was happening to me when I booted the MP3 player/stick, I remember now. It couldn't find the directory; no explanation why. The two other sticks I had worked fine. Go figure.

All of them would boot DOS. One stick (the Cruzer) seems a lot slower than the Lexar (using USB1.1), but it might just be me.

Eric.

TyphoonMentat · 01-14-2005, 01:22 PM

Use:
ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/featherlinux/bootusb-1.1.img
as a boot floppy.

creeble · 01-14-2005, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TyphoonMentat
Use:
ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/featherlinux/bootusb-1.1.img
as a boot floppy.

Not quite totally sure how you mean that -- you mean:

dd if=..../bootusb-1.1.img of=/dev/sda1

to the usb stick? I vaguely remember trying something like that once, but my machine hung on boot (when configured for USB Hard Drive boot -- maybe the bios needed to be for USB Floppy boot?)

Eric.

TyphoonMentat · 01-14-2005, 02:14 PM

Nope, you need to put it on a floppy, use /dev/fd0 instead of /dev/sda1.

creeble · 01-14-2005, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TyphoonMentat
Nope, you need to put it on a floppy, use /dev/fd0 instead of /dev/sda1.

Sorry, still not quite getting it -- how does this get to the usb stick? We're trying to boot off the stick itself.

Eric.

TyphoonMentat · 01-15-2005, 05:34 AM

No, we're not.
We're trying to use a *boot floppy* which will then load the USB stick up.

creeble · 01-15-2005, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TyphoonMentat
No, we're not.
We're trying to use a *boot floppy* which will then load the USB stick up.

Sorry, I guess there's a different "we" here. I was responding to the first post, which was about booting directly off the stick.

Anybody have any success using Linux tools to make a stick bootable?

Eric.

TyphoonMentat · 01-15-2005, 02:23 PM

What you can do is do what I said with the floppy, then copy the floppy's minirt24.gz onto the USB stick, replacing the one currently there. That should work.

creeble · 01-29-2005, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TyphoonMentat
What you can do is do what I said with the floppy, then copy the floppy's minirt24.gz onto the USB stick, replacing the one currently there. That should work.

Hey, it worked! I was having trouble getting this cheapo MP3 player / USB stick to boot, and using the floppy's minirt24.gz on it worked.

The symptom (someone else here with this same problem) was that it would initially boot (syslinux worked), but as soon as init started, it couldn't find /KNOPPIX or load anything from it.

TyphoonMentat -- thanks, and I'm curious: What's the difference between the two minirt's? I've also put Feather on a couple of other sticks (working off a Cruzer micro right now!), and they were happy using the minirt24 that was in the feather-0.7.1-usb.zip; didn't need to copy the floppy one over. I don't quite get it...

Eric.

TyphoonMentat · 01-29-2005, 04:15 PM

It's basically that some sticks use USB 1.1 and others use USB 2 - two different methods of accessing the USB stick. The minirt24.gz in feather-0.7.1-usb.zip should work for both, but some crotchety USB sticks only work with a special USB 1.1 version.

creeble · 01-31-2005, 10:32 AM

Huh, cool, thanks. Glad there's a workaround for my el-cheapo MP3 player. So cool to have it boot Feather and launch XMMS and start playing right at boot.

I think it's time to mess around with the mbr tools to see if I can eliminate the Windows HP stick formatting tool. Will post back if I succeed.

Eric.