Trying to boot from USB Drive

[mattig89ch]

Hm....I choose Ebuntu (says on the web site that it supports hard ware by default).

Now I can't quite get my computer to boot from the USB drive.

Here's what I get when I get into the boot options:

1st Boot Device [ Removable Dev.]
2nd Boot Device [ATA CD-ROM]
3rd Boot Device [HDD: PM-(numbers and letters)]

But it just boots to windows.....oh, and i'm using UNetbootin on the flash drive.

[rokytnji]

When I press Esc on my EEEPC 900 with a Kingston or Sandisk USB drive made with Unetbootin. My Menu shows Kingston or Sandisk Cruzer in the boot Menu.

Is this a SSD drive Asus EEEPC 900 or a Sata platter 120gig EEEPC?
(ATA CD-ROM) won't even show on my boot menu unless I hook up a external DVDRW drive I have. If not connected to the USB port. It will not list it.

Do you have a internal CD drive on your ASUS? If not maybe your bios identifies the USB stick as a cdrom drive maybe.

[mattig89ch]

nope this is a EEEPC 900HD.

No CD Roms detected.

[rokytnji]

No CD Roms detected.

Here's what I get when I get into the boot options:

1st Boot Device [ Removable Dev.]
2nd Boot Device [ATA CD-ROM]
3rd Boot Device [HDD: PM-(numbers and letters)]

You can see why I am a bit confused. Though my 900 is not a HD model which comes with the 120gig Sata Platter drive. Mine is all Solid State drives. What happens when you select 1st Boot device (Removable Drive). If the pendrive does not boot, It makes me wonder if you made the pendrive correctly with Uetbootin or if the pendrive is any good.

[mattig89ch]

not sure why I said detected....meant to say no cd rom's.

Flash drive is good, recognized by 3 different operating systems on 5 different machines.

Not sure how I could have messed it up, started unetbootin selected the ISO for eeebuntu live disk then clicked ok. Its Idiot proof.

edit: I am creating the flash drive on a different machine, could that be the problem?

2nd edit: is it just my machine, or do all EEEPC's display the gray screen (where you get to see the keys to get you into the bios) about 10% of the time? I just booted it 15 times trying to get to either the boot menu, or the bios, and only saw it once.

[rokytnji]

Not sure.

Is it just my machine, or do all EEEPC's display the gray screen (where you get to see the keys to get you into the bios) about 10% of the time?

Sometimes you gotta keep tappinng the Esc key quickly . It doesn't last long on post screen (quick)

Have you tried booting the stick in other USB slots on your EEEPC. I know with mine sometimes the Live USB will freeze when it gets to Desktop on Live Session because my EEEPC does not like the USB port I have the drive plugged into. Also, Does your other computer have the caability of booting up USB to test the pendrive maye?

[mattig89ch]

ha! finally!

30 reboots later I got to the desktop of the live disk. well...now that I know this distro is not for me its on to another...

xbuntu didn't find the wireless card by default....nuts.

[rokytnji]

Well then. Maybe try Leenux since you want a Ubuntu based distro for EEEPC. I have read good things on EEEPC forums about it so far.

EeeUser Forum / Leeenux Linux

Anothewr may be Easy Peasy also.

What I run is This on mine.

But it might not be for you. I am a bit more of a advanced Linux user is why I recommend the others first. Since you don't have 2 different hardrives in yours. You won't need to move /home like I did on the install. Just give Linux about 15 gigs of a partition space if you decide to install.

Edit: I see you already posted a thread at EEEPC forums. Good Luck with it.
EeeUser Forum / Wireless Drivers for Linux

[alf55]

Hm....I choose Ebuntu (says on the web site that it supports hard ware by default).

Now I can't quite get my computer to boot from the USB drive.

Here's what I get when I get into the boot options:

1st Boot Device [ Removable Dev.]
2nd Boot Device [ATA CD-ROM]
3rd Boot Device [HDD: PM-(numbers and letters)]

But it just boots to windows.....oh, and i'm using UNetbootin on the flash drive.

Use the program, unetbootin, which can be downloaded from UNetbootin - Homepage and Downloads for both Windows and Linux which will put a liveCD onto a flashdrive that is bootable (assuming that the hardware can boot from the USB devices.)

This program can use an iso image already downloaded or will download one from its menu and is really easy to use.

[walter90]

This may be a stupid question...but was the USB set with a boot flag?