Having trouble trying to get Ubuntu to boot off of usb hard drive

[matukat]

Sorry for the last post "Grrrrrr.......Arrrgh". I am just very frustrated with the problem. Tried to get my laptop to run from a usb hard drive enclosure and still haven't got it sussed. Waited 2 1/2 weeks for the CD to come from the Isle of Man, installed, (which worked fine!!!!) but after install, it won't boot from the usb hard drive. It's got no hard drive and WILL boot off of Puppy linux on a thumb drive. (for more details, see "grrrr arrrgh" post...) I can boot puppy, then add the hard drive and it will mount the hard drive and show me files, but as I said before, I don't know where to go from there. I want it to boot Ubuntu from just the usb hard drive and just don't know enough.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Randy

Noobie, nooby, noob....noob, noobie, noobee................................

[Rubberman]

I answered in your previous posting. We can continue this here if you want, but read what I said first.

BTW, b2bwild disabused me of calling people noobs, unless they don't want to learn and don't care! I see that you do want to learn and get your system working, so you qualify as a newb or newbie or newbee if you want.

[Themer]

So, when you turn on your computer, you want it to just boot the USB hard drive right away, and it's not. Correct?
Have you tried using something like Super Grub Disk? You could tell it specifically which partition/device to boot, just to see if it will boot if configured correctly. But before you do that, have you tried changing your BIOS settings? If this is permanent, change them to boot the USB hard drive first by default. If this is temporary (or even if you just want to check if it boots), you should be able to hit some key (F12 for me) and then tell the machine exactly what "thing" to boot, rather than let it try to guess.

[Rubberman]

So, when you turn on your computer, you want it to just boot the USB hard drive right away, and it's not. Correct?
Have you tried using something like Super Grub Disk? You could tell it specifically which partition/device to boot, just to see if it will boot if configured correctly. But before you do that, have you tried changing your BIOS settings? If this is permanent, change them to boot the USB hard drive first by default. If this is temporary (or even if you just want to check if it boots), you should be able to hit some key (F12 for me) and then tell the machine exactly what "thing" to boot, rather than let it try to guess.

In his other posting he mentioned that the BIOS is locked. I suppose that means that it cannot be accessed without a password?

[matukat]

Thanks folks, yup, the bios is locked (password protected and the "backdoor" passwords I found on the web don't work... of course...) and the thing has a biometric fingerprint reader too..... I looked everywhere for a dip switch or battery to unplug to clear it, no joy. I don't know where to go to unplug the print reader, (it's not obvious anywhere, and I've had the keyboard off and the coverplates) I am guessing this stuff is why the guy sold it cheap..... duh......... (smack head with palm) It will run Puppy and let me put it on the thumb drive and it boots from puppy on the thumb drive, but WILL NOT "save a file" for the next session boot. So, it loads everything fresh and goes through the quiz everytime. I did try to get to my installation from Ubuntu running live, but didn't get it to happen. *sigh*
best,
Randy

[matukat]

Thank you! I will try to find and download Super grub disk and check it out. I have a lot to learn.

[Themer]

Thank you! I will try to find and download Super grub disk and check it out. I have a lot to learn.

Here is the link to the site - just download and burn the CD (I'm assuming that it will boot a CD before anything else)

...the bios is locked (password protected...

In my experience, there are 2 levels of locked - the most common is that changing the settings are locked, but the "boot menu", as I call it, isn't. The second level is where it too is locked. Now, let my explain what the "boot menu" is...

Usually, when you boot up, it will say something like "hit F2 (or del or whatever) to enter setup (which in your case is locked)" and it usually will also say something about another key, sometimes F12. If you hit it, it will, before booting anything, give you a list of deivces, like floppy, cd, hard drive, etc. You should then (if this is not locked) be able to just pick what you want to boot. This method bypasses the efault options in the BIOS for what the boot order should be. It's used usually for one-time occasions where you need to boot in an order different than the default.

[matukat]

Thanks Again! Yes, it boots from the cd with a "good" cd in the tray. ( I burned and verified several disks with Ubuntu, Freespire, even the text install version of Ubuntu and none of the burned ones would go through the whole install ) F12 says it should let you "boot from network", it gives an error when you push F12 saying something is missing. It's some intel or other windows sounding program. I'm guessing it's looking for something on the hard drive that isn't there.
Best,
Randy

[Themer]

...F12 says it should let you "boot from network", it gives an error when you push F12 saying something is missing. It's some intel or other windows sounding program. I'm guessing it's looking for something on the hard drive that isn't there....

Actually, this is a feature that comes with some BIOSs. It's to let you boot from the network or something like that - I've never had any experience with it, but it's useless unless you know specifically what it is and what you want to do with it. I would have just thought that all BIOSs would have an option to pick a device to boot from, but maybe it's a special thing... or maybe it's just a different key for you (everyone is different - make sure you know what all the options are)

At any rate, if you can boot the Super GRUB Disk, you can use it to install GRUB to somewhere, or (probably a better option for you) just pick what "thing" you want to boot (CD, HD, any USB device, etc.)

[matukat]

TY again, Every BIOS I have ever been in gave you boot order options, even old an old 486 I believe I was tinkering with once. ( I'm so old, I saw Windows 3. once.....LOL actually, I'm so old I saw the introduction of "Pong" and played it in bowling alleys.....) Trouble is, you can not get into this bios! So, changing the boot order isn't an option unless I can figure out the password or how to clear it.
The Super Grub may be the answer, I haven't gotten to it tonight, but probably will try tomorrow. Night all and thanks again for the friendly help!!
Best,
Randy