NVIDIA Geforce FX5200 and USB flash drive with persistent image
 

I am having trouble with my Nvidia GeForce FX5200 (agp) conflicting with my USB Flash drive but only when it contains a persistent image.

I tried KNOPPIX 6 and it boots, but when I make a persistent image, I get errors and it doesn't boot (I don't remember the exact error).

When I tried Xubuntu it will boot if I remove the persistent option from the boot commands. If I leave it in, it doesn't boot.
The error is this:
/init: line 1: can't open /dev/sr0: No Medium found
/init: line 1: can't open /dev/sr0: No Medium found
/init: line 1: can't open /dev/sr0: No Medium found
/init: line 1: can't open /dev/fd0: No such device or address

Busybox v1.13.3

(initramf) mount: mounting /dev/loop1 on cow failed: Invalid Argument.
Can not mount /dev/loop1 on cow

I even tried Haiku, with similar problems.

Here's the kick. This only happens with my Nvidia card. If I use another older card, I can boot with persistence and everything.

Anyone got any ideas?

EDIT:
Here are some command outputs. Hopefully this will get me some responses:
lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8377 [KT400/KT600 AGP] Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 PCI Bridge
00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9/0/1 Ethernet Pro 100 (rev 08)
00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 82)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge
00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 74)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200] (rev a1)

uname -r
2.6.31-14-generic

lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 058f:6387 Alcor Micro Corp. Transcend JetFlash Flash Drive
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Very obscure bug I would guess. Maybe something with the way the nvidia card interacts with the VIA chipset you have and USB. You could check to see if they are using the same shared IRQ or something but its been a long long time since I have done that.

Well, I've been meaning to post an update on this. Turns out the issue is with the ehci_hcd module. I was using sidux which allows me to blacklist modules as a boot option, and if I blacklist this module, it defaults to usb 1.1 and the flash drive boots with persistence.