[Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

[Jonas Smedegaard]

On Tue, Jun 02, 2009 at 09:26:41AM +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
>On Tue, Jun 02, 2009 at 02:40:38AM +0200, Bernie Innocenti wrote:
>>On 06/01/09 08:39, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
>>> I need much more details; *all* Award BIOSes make in the past 10-12 
>>> years have version number 6.00PG.
>>
>>Ouch, I no longer have access to it.  I asked the owner to let me 
>>know.
>>
>>
>>> Also look for how you have configured your BIOS... some Award BIOSes 
>>> have USB-ZIP, USB-HDD, USB-FDD configurations; you generally want 
>>> USB-HDD.
>
>In my (older non-Sugar) experience, USB-HDD is best, then USB-ZIP, and 
>if none of those options are available then pick USB-FDD (which is then 
>most likely names something else).
>
>Whatever you pick, make sure to mention the choice when reporting 
>trouble, to help recognize similarities in use cases.
>
>
>>I booted from the BBS menu (F8), the item was labelled something like 
>>"USB HDD 2.0".
>
>Another important thing (not sure if it has been mentioned before) is 
>to *cold* boot with stick already inserted.  That is, insert the USB 
>stick before turning on the machine - and after using BIOS or some 
>operating system then power down the machine completely, wait a few 
>seconds, and then boot it.
>
>The reason for this (as I understand it) is that the simple BIOS USB 
>drivers often do not reliably handle switching state.
>
>This also means that a last desperate test could be to 1) boot that 
>other operating system (Windows or Mac), 2) insert USB stick and 3) 
>reboot (*without* shutting down completely).  It might work, but you 
>then have the heavy and slow burden of your USB boot routine including 
>a full bootup and shutdown of another operating system. :-/

As a related note (I was sure it was mentioned already in another thread 
but can't find it now) the tool makebootfat includes a custom Master 
Boot Record (MBR) presenting itself as both USB-FDD and USB-ZIP, 
tricking more BIOSes into starting their boot routines using same setup 
on a USB stick: http://advancemame.sourceforge.net/boot-readme.html

Also, the bootloader Gujin contains a stripped-down driver for ext4 so 
might be interesting for a fast-booting USB setup: 
http://gujin.sourceforge.net/



BTW, are all these details about USB booting being collected somewhere 
on a wiki page?


  - Jonas

-- 
* Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
* Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

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