Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

perchslayer · 2016-01-14 00:49:11

I have my boot order on my Dell XPSL502i to hit the USB drive first, the removable drive second, and then (and only then) the hard drive that has Xubuntu 14.04. But I get a message from GRUB 2.01 that says that it can't find my OS and to remove media an then press any key to continu

Any ideas out there? I want to move to Bunsen Labs, but it seems I am stuck at step 0.1.

Last edited by perchslayer (2016-01-14 15:03:28)

damo · 2016-01-14 01:01:44

Are you trying to install a BL iso from the usb? (You don't actually say) If so, how did you write the iso to the usb?

I have seen a similar message if you use a 64bit iso on a 32bit system btw.

perchslayer · 2016-01-14 02:25:06

I have a 64-bit machine, but I installed the 32-bit version of Xubuntu because of some advice that maybe I should not have taken?
And I did simply copied the iso from my work windows machine to a usb and brought it home.
That said, I tested to see if I could boot up into a TAILS version that I know works on another usb and it won't boot either.

perchslayer · 2016-01-14 02:27:30

I did later discover that my hash key was bad for BL (twice so far now) and so I am downloading it here at home a 3rd time (takes about 4 hours with my connection with a regular downlad--much faster with the torrent, but it has crapped out twice.

hhh · 2016-01-14 02:36:13

perchslayer wrote:

much faster with the torrent, but it has crapped out twice.

The torrent will start downloading again from where it left off when your internet comes back up, and will be guaranteed valid when it finishes downloading (bit-torrent has its own file validation protocol).

perchslayer · 2016-01-14 03:42:19

So which do you pick if you have an intel 64-bit machine? (i686)?

It is (obviously) neither 32-bit or AMD architecture.

Last edited by perchslayer (2016-01-14 03:43:05)

damo · 2016-01-14 04:22:55

perchslayer wrote:

And I did simply copied the iso from my work windows machine to a usb and brought it home.

That might explain it. Did you follow the advice on the BunsenLabs Installation page..."How to write an ISO image under Linux/Unix, Windows or Mac OS X"? ...and How do I write a CD/DVD/BD image to a USB flash drive? (uses` wim32diskimager` under windoze)

Last edited by damo (2016-01-14 05:02:00)

ohnonot · 2016-01-14 07:02:22

perchslayer wrote:

I have my boot order on my Dell XPSL502i to hit the USB drive first, the removable drive second

is this a usb removable drive?
my bioses do not distinguish between those and a usb stick.
so if i choose to boot automatically from usb, it would be unclear which one it chooses first.
however, all my bioses have a hotkey to get into a boot menu, and from there i can choose the proper usb.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-01-14 07:26:54

perchslayer wrote:

So which do you pick if you have an intel 64-bit machine? (i686)?
It is (obviously) neither 32-bit or AMD architecture.

All Intel 64-bit machines are "amd64"

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86-64

You can use a 32-bit image on that machine but it's best to use amd64 unless you have limited RAM

perchslayer · 2016-01-14 13:50:09

TO:
@Head_on_aStick
@ohnonot
@damo
@hhh

Thanks, y'all. Up and running.

And it seems that there was a convolution of bad ju-ju, mostly comprised of my ignorance that manifest this. The main things are:

1) I was using FAT32 on the drive. And this is because it was pitched somewhere as being "generic", in some context, as long as you attended to the 4m at a time limit...which I did. Still when I fired up my laptop I only got a continually blinking cursor....which, at least was prograss from the previous message. Once I formatted my usb to ext4 (using the 64-bit flavor), it all loaded without a hitch.

2) In my first forays into Linux many moons ago, I was told that some packages had been ported to 32-bit stuff, but not 64-bit...yet. This would have been about 5 or 6 years ago. Or so. By now, if anything, it seems things are going the other way; that is, people have stuff in 64-bit, but don't bother with 32-bit (Example: FME Desktop, by SafeSoftware-- a very, very cool tool). But alas, it does not support the i686 architecture. But I digress.

3) I tried downloading the 32-bit version of BL 3 times (once with .torrent) and could not get clean files on all tires. Oh well. I needed the 64-bit version anyway, it turns out. And I was too dumb to recognize it.

So I am off to the races. Thanks again, y'all.

damo · 2016-01-14 14:21:04

Glad you got it sorted

If you could edit the title of your first post and add [SOLVED], it might help others with a similar problem

perchslayer · 2016-01-14 14:58:55

Thank you very much. I will. :-)

pvsage · 2016-01-14 21:53:04

Glad you were able to get this sorted. However:

perchslayer wrote:

1) I was using FAT32 on the drive. And this is because it was pitched somewhere as being "generic", in some context, as long as you attended to the 4m at a time limit...which I did. Still when I fired up my laptop I only got a continually blinking cursor....which, at least was prograss from the previous message. Once I formatted my usb to ext4 (using the 64-bit flavor), it all loaded without a hitch.

The previous format of the USB drive should be irrelevant, since writing the ISO using either cp or dd overwrites any preexisting data from sector 0,0, including boot sector and partition table. I suppose it's possible that there was some garbage data just beyond the end of the ISO that was fixed when you reformatted, and this may have been what was causing the problem, but that's now irrelevant.

If I ever have trouble with a flash drive, I usually just use gparted to write a new partition table.

damo · 2016-01-14 22:02:59

The OP originally "simply copied" the iso to a usb with a windows machine. I guess that was the initial problem?

perchslayer · 2016-01-14 23:02:17

Yep. And it gets better yet. When I installed Xubuntu, it was an "adjustment" to an Ubuntu install, which was, in turn, a dual-boot legacy from UNIBOOTIN (I think?) sharing with a Windows 7 box that was, at the time, upgraded, in place, from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

And so there might also have been some GRUB vs. whatever was on before issues? Not just my stupidity?

Anyway, I am on board and cured of Windows. And forever, this time. On a side note, it seems that the new "Cloud Unity Dance" of Ubuntu is very similar to the new MS way of "forcing" you to work in the cloud, pushing folks into the SAAS model, yes?

pvsage · 2016-01-14 23:21:05

^ All sounds about right. The SAAS model, by the way, was actually the common practice in the days of mainframe-based operating systems like AT&T UNIX; everything old is new again.

#1 2016-01-14 00:49:11

Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#2 2016-01-14 01:01:44

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#3 2016-01-14 02:25:06

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#4 2016-01-14 02:27:30

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#5 2016-01-14 02:36:13

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#6 2016-01-14 03:42:19

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#7 2016-01-14 04:22:55

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#8 2016-01-14 07:02:22

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#9 2016-01-14 07:26:54

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#10 2016-01-14 13:50:09

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#11 2016-01-14 14:21:04

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#12 2016-01-14 14:58:55

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#13 2016-01-14 21:53:04

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#14 2016-01-14 22:02:59

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#15 2016-01-14 23:02:17

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

#16 2016-01-14 23:21:05

Re: Laptop won't read USB Stick to boot into Bunsen Labs [SOLVED]

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