Damn Small Linux - Not!
The forum for DSL-N
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister   ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

USB boot failed -- OK with CD boot

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Damn Small Linux - Not! Forum Index -> USB booting
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
dougz



Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 29

PostPosted: Thu May 18, 2006 1:36 pm    Post subject: USB boot failed -- OK with CD boot Reply with quote

USB boot message "SYSLINUX 2.04 (Debian 2003-06-06) Boot failed"

No problems running CD version. Booting from USB port that successfully boots DSL, using pendrive that boots DSL. Mobo is ASROCK K7VM2 with KM266/VT8235 nb/sb.

Any workarounds?

[dougz@fedora ~]$ ls -l /media/usbdisk
total 2464
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dougz dougz 2048 May 18 2006 boot.cat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dougz dougz 141 May 18 2006 boot.msg
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dougz dougz 1592 May 18 2006 f2
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dougz dougz 1595 May 18 2006 f3
drwxr-xr-x 2 dougz dougz 8192 May 18 2006 knoppix
-r-xr-xr-x 1 dougz dougz 7836 May 18 08:55 ldlinux.sys
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dougz dougz 1531698 May 18 2006 linux
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dougz dougz 26700 May 18 2006 logo.16
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dougz dougz 900385 May 18 2006 minirt.gz
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dougz dougz 2200 May 18 2006 syslinux.cfg
[dougz@fedora ~]$ ls -l /media/usbdisk/knoppix
total 82672
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dougz dougz 84655945 May 18 2006 knoppix
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
roberts



Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Posts: 320
Location: OC CA USA

PostPosted: Fri May 19, 2006 12:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Let me guess, a USB-ZIP type install? And on what size pendrive?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
dougz



Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 29

PostPosted: Fri May 19, 2006 11:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote]Let me guess, a USB-ZIP type install? And on what size pendrive?[/quote]
Not USB-ZIP. I repeated the install process just to verify that it wasn't a user error. Did another USB-HDD install. Verified USB-[b]HDD[/b] messages; all messages were success. Read drive in Fedora just to verify that fresh install was done -- fine.

Pendrive is a PNY Attache 512 MB. I use it for learning DSL & DSL-N on same machine & USB port. No problems noted in DSL. Boots & reads fine.

One other anomaly in DSL-N. Booted via CD & inserted pendrive after DSL-N was stable. The mount tool (slit?) area was totally white. I invoked another mount tool, but it did not offer me the option to mount or unmount the pendrive. All other drives were there. The mount tool, mounts & unmounts work fine with that pendrive on DSL.

Both times I did the USB-HDD installs, the "Display your USB storage device information" step did not result in any output. That step results in "/dev/sda" on DSL, as I recall.

Since I didn't get the device output, I used "uba" when doing the DSL-N USB-HDD installs. I read the pendrive on Fedora to ensure that the writes had been done successfully.

Any other tests I an do to help narrow this down?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
roberts



Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Posts: 320
Location: OC CA USA

PostPosted: Fri May 19, 2006 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The pendrive device is uba in 2.6 kernel not sda.
Also check your partition table.
fdisk -l /dev/uba
If you see Unknown or it is not aligned that you should fix it.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
dougz



Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 29

PostPosted: Fri May 19, 2006 7:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote]The pendrive device is uba in 2.6 kernel not sda.[/quote]
As I said[quote]I used "uba" when doing the DSL-N USB-HDD[/quote]
[quote]Also check your partition table.
fdisk -l /dev/uba [/quote]
I get a normal fdisk result of a single FAT16 partition, flagged bootable. If I manually mount it, I get the expected files & the knoppix directory. This time, the mount tool in the slit sees it.

If I then umount it and reboot, BIOS [b]doesn't see the drive as bootable[/b]. No SYSLINUX error, can't boot. OK, booted DSL (not-N) to see how it saw the pendrive. DSL fdisk complained about boundary alignment issues. Couldn't mount. Fedora could mount, didn't fdisk.

More testing shows that the only consistent thing is inconsistency. I have trouble getting repeatable results with DSL-N, while DSL is consistent.

One thing that I have noticed is artifacts in the /mnt directory, apparently from the install script. If I had more time, I would use Fedora's fdisk to delete the partiton (don't see how to do in DSL-N), reboot into DSL-N, ensure that there are no directories like staging or pendrive under /mnt & try again. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to quit now due to lack of time.

I really think you have winner with DSL-N. Modern kernel, modern device support, simple & clear menus, applications that are easier & more accessible than DSL while lighter than Knoppix. Amazingly stable for an Alpha. Keep up the good work.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
dougz



Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 29

PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 3:50 pm    Post subject: Tested, flashed BIOS, still getting error Reply with quote

Ran the [b]usbtree[/b] perl script under Fedora to map out my usb hardware. The output:
[quote][dougz@fedora USB Stuff]$ perl usbtree.pl
/: Bus 04.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M
/: Bus 03.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M
/: Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M
/: Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci_hcd/6p, 480M

Second invocation with pendrive in USB23 (recommended port for boot)

[dougz@fedora USB Stuff]$ perl usbtree.pl
/: Bus 04.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M
/: Bus 03.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M
/: Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M
/: Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci_hcd/6p, 480M
|__ Port 4: Dev 2, If 0, Class=stor., Driver=usb-storage, 480M
[/quote]
The raw data from [b]cat /proc/bus/usb/devices[/b] under fedora
[quote]
T: Bus=04 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=12 MxCh= 2
B: Alloc= 0/900 us ( 0%), #Int= 0, #Iso= 0
D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
S: Manufacturer=Linux 2.6.12-1.1381_FC3 uhci_hcd
S: Product=UHCI Host Controller
S: SerialNumber=0000:00:10.2
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=c0 MxPwr= 0mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub
E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 2 Ivl=255ms

T: Bus=03 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=12 MxCh= 2
B: Alloc= 0/900 us ( 0%), #Int= 0, #Iso= 0
D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
S: Manufacturer=Linux 2.6.12-1.1381_FC3 uhci_hcd
S: Product=UHCI Host Controller
S: SerialNumber=0000:00:10.1
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=c0 MxPwr= 0mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub
E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 2 Ivl=255ms

T: Bus=02 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=12 MxCh= 2
B: Alloc= 0/900 us ( 0%), #Int= 0, #Iso= 0
D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
S: Manufacturer=Linux 2.6.12-1.1381_FC3 uhci_hcd
S: Product=UHCI Host Controller
S: SerialNumber=0000:00:10.0
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=c0 MxPwr= 0mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub
E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 2 Ivl=255ms

T: Bus=01 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=480 MxCh= 6
B: Alloc= 0/800 us ( 0%), #Int= 0, #Iso= 0
D: Ver= 2.00 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=01 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
S: Manufacturer=Linux 2.6.12-1.1381_FC3 ehci_hcd
S: Product=EHCI Host Controller
S: SerialNumber=0000:00:10.3
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr= 0mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub
E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 2 Ivl=256ms

T: Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=01 Cnt=01 Dev#= 2 Spd=480 MxCh= 0
D: Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=0930 ProdID=6533 Rev= 1.00
S: Product=USB Flash Memory
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=100mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 3 Cls=08(stor.) Sub=06 Prot=50 Driver=usb-storage
E: Ad=81(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms
E: Ad=02(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=31875us
E: Ad=83(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 8 Ivl=64ms
[/quote]
I'm not seeing anything wrong, but I'm new to USB stuff.

Noted that there is a BIOS update [quote]Bootable USB device can be detected after hardware reset from OS.
[url]http://www.asrock.com/support/download.asp?Model=K7VM2[/url][/quote]
OK, I did have problems with BIOS reliably detecting the USB device. I did the flash update to version 1.90.

USB detection did improve, but the DSL-N boot problem remains:
-- DSL 2.4 reliably boots from pen drive
-- DSL-N reliably boots from CD
-- DSL-N USB-HDD pendrive looks fine with "fdisk -l" and when mounted as /dev/uda1
-- DSL-N never boots from pen drive. Always gives message[quote]USB boot message "SYSLINUX 2.04 (Debian 2003-06-06) Boot failed" [/quote]
I'm out of ideas. Any suggestions as to how I can troubleshoot?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
dougz



Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 29

PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 6:25 pm    Post subject: Changing geometry did not help Reply with quote

Booted DSL-N and tried changing the pendrive geometry to have 32 sectors/track.

I used /sbin/sfdisk, wrote the changes, reboooted DSL-N, and checked the geometry with fdisk -l. OK, the geometry change worked.

Ran the USB-HDD install. Install script reported success. Before rebooting, I decided to recheck the geometry. Surprise, I was back to 63 sectors/track.

It would appear that this geometry must be OK...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
dougz



Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 29

PostPosted: Sun May 28, 2006 10:46 pm    Post subject: Solved -- boots fine as USB-ZIP, fails as USB-HDD Reply with quote

Discussed in post "Sun May 28, 2006 10:38 pm Post subject:
and some that can't boot USB-HDD can boot USB-ZIP..."
on thread [url]http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/dsl-n/f/viewtopic.php?t=146[/url]
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Damn Small Linux - Not! Forum Index -> USB booting All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group