Unable to boot Ubantu 11.04 from USB

apharing · 07-13-2011, 03:20 PM

Hi guys, i'm new to this and i'm sure i've just gone and done something silly. I used pendrivelinux.com's live usb creator to install ubantu 11.04 on my USB. I tried booting my laptop with this, and i get an error message saying "unable to find a medium containing live file system" and I cant get any further than that. The laptop I am using is a Dell XPS with an i7 processor and 6 gigs of memory. I can try to provide any other information that would be helpful. Thanks

Simon Bridge · 07-13-2011, 04:26 PM

Welcome to LQ.
Presumably you mean Ubuntu?

(initramfs) Unable to find a medium containing a live file system

This error is commonly due to the controller not being supported in the initramfs on the drive. Try the drive with a different computer. Try booting a live CD.

I'd normally see this booting live CDs from optical drives plugged into high speed sata.

Larry Webb · 07-13-2011, 04:42 PM

Ubuntu from version 10.10 has a utility of its own and I have good luck using it. Below is from its documentation. It is Start up Disk Creator.

Quote:

From 10.10 there is no longer a usb-creator package. Choose either usb-creator-kde on Kubuntu, or usb-creator-gtk

You can find usb-creator-{gtk,kde} in System-->Administration-->Create a USB startup disk (Ubuntu Desktop) or K-Menu-->Applications-->System-->Startup Disk Creator (Kubuntu). If it is not there then you can install it using the Synaptic Package Manager, or by entering the following command in the Terminal :

sudo apt-get install usb-creator-gtk or usb-creator-kde

Make sure the software-sources are activated if you are on a LiveCD (software sources or sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list). You may need to install the python-gnome2 package as well.

In order to guarantee that usb-creator will function correctly, you should:

1. Mount the partition from which you would like to run liveCD
2.

Run usb-creator using the -i IMG or --iso=IMG option to point usb-creator at the ISO you would like to boot from (note this can be an ISO for any "liveCD" or other bootable OS image). For certain selected operating systems (e.g. Ubuntu since 9.10) usb-creator will allow you to automatically define a persistence file for your bootable install.

apharing · 07-13-2011, 04:48 PM

I needed to plug it into the eSATA port instead of the regular usb port. booted up fine once i did that

jefro · 07-13-2011, 05:28 PM

Wow, I would have never ever suggested that as a solution. Thanks for the reply on that.

Simon Bridge · 07-14-2011, 02:04 AM

Yep - you need a controller supported in the initramfs ... well done.

jefro · 07-14-2011, 04:25 PM

Seems odd that the combo esata/usb (unless you have an odd usb/esata flash) port would read the usb as as esata when it should have been working in usb mode.
That is why I would have never tried it. I have a HP laptop, I guess I should see what is going on.

Was it an esata/usb combo port or do you have a combo usb flash?