[Solved] USB live and DVD - Not loading

[djemos]

How i do it and works in salix-mate, salix-kde etc

download live dvd iso
mkdir /tmp/iso
su
mount -o loop salix-mate-or-kde-live-iso /tmp/iso
put usb-stick in pc
cp -R /tmp/iso/* /media/usb-mounted (change usb mounted with yours mount point)
cd /media/usb-mounted/boot
sh install-on-USB.sh
and say yes to all prompts

cd /home/user
umount /tmp/iso

Be sure to umount /media/usb-mounted
umount /media/usb-mounted

reboot
Works always.

[Adys]

Have you confirmed that the MD5 checksums of the downloaded ISOs are correct?

About unetbootin, have you used the latest version? Older versions of unetbootin won't support all Salix ISOs. Download unetbootin again and try anew. You shouldn't need to re-download the ISOs again (if the MD5 codes are correct). If the ISOs are correct, then in unetbootin you should be able to use the "ISO image" option (instead of the "download distro" option).

[Adys]

Several comments.

It seems (to me) a little bit strange that the wiki pages, unetbootin, burning on optical media... all usual methods fail.

First, the version of unetbootin you mentioned, v.568, does not support each and every Salix ISOs. Moreover, you should use the ISO image option in unetbootin, not the download option (which doesn't even include the Salix MATE ISOs, even in the current unetbootin).

I thought you said you used the Windows version of unetbootin. So, try downloading the latest stable version of unetbootin for Windows and report what happens then.

Since you also tried burning CDs, I previously skipped mentioning other frequent factors. For burning on optical media, the x4 or x8 speeds (no less, no more) are usually recommended. For UFD, have you formatted it with FAT32? (Beware: formatting will delete the current data in your USB drive).

Finally, have you tried (at least for a test) using the x32 ISOs, instead of the x64 you now mentioned?

[Shador]

Try this (WARNING! This permenently erases all your data on all partitions of the stick with /dev/sdX being your stick e.g. /dev/sdb and not /dev/sdb1):

Code: Select all

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=512 count=4096

Then create a msdos parition table e.g. using gparted with one fat32 partition. Finally remove the stick and plug it in again and install as by the instructions in the wiki.

In any case I would be interested in the results.txt of bootinfoscript with such a broken installation BEFORE you follow my previous instructions. Any other information you got could be useful too.
If it still fails after following those insctructions run bootinfoscript again and post the result too. Probably it's a hardware issue then though.

[Shador]

Didn't I say if those instructions of mine don't work it's probably a hardware issue. If you didn't try it at all. I made no assumptions.

[djemos]

Have you ever needed to create a /run folder?

Never.

Just go to a shop. Take a usbstick.
Do what i said. I did not even format my usb's.
Salix-live boots fine from usb.

[JRD]

I have used the latest unetbootin on Windows

No you didn't. The last windows version of unetbootin is the version 575.

If you want to use Unetbootin, only a version greater or equal to 575 will work. Any version prior to this version will not work.
And if you follow Shador instructions, it will work 100% for sure.

[Adys]

@flebber,

I may be wrong in this assumption, but I'm guessing you think you are doing all that needs to be done, but it seems you are not. I'm not trying to blame you, and maybe some instructions in the wiki or in the script need to be improved. In any case, my intention is to help you solve the problem.

From your own posts and from the BIS result.txt, it seems your UFD (and also your main HDD, but that's another story) doesn't contain any bootloader in the MBR.

If you cleared the UFD using the dd command (applying it to the UFD) that Shador posted, then you don't have a bootloader in your UFD. Then, using Gparted on your UFD (beware not to confuse the drive where you apply the actions!!! ) as suggested, you would need to:
1_ Create a default (msdos) partition table.
2_ Create a partition; apply.
3_ Right click on the partition and Format as FAT32; apply.
4_ Right click on the partition -> flags -> mark as boot(able); apply.

Then exit Gparted. Just to reduce the chances of some infrequent problem, unmount the UFD if necessary, wait a minute or even two, disconnect it, wait a minute or even two, connect it again and then follow the instruction of the Salix wiki about the UFD.

In the wiki there are 2 different instructions, according to the type of ISO you downloaded. Be careful to follow the adequate instructions, depending on the type of ISO: the standard installation ISO, or the LIVE system ISO.

Please report back.

[EDIT]
Sorry, when I said to follow the respective wiki instructions, I meant for the installation of Salix to the main HDD from the UFD. So after Gparted, follow the instructions that Shador mentioned, and only then follow the wiki for installing Salix on HDD according to the respective ISO (standard or LIVE).

And, BTW, as already commented, I also suspect you haven't really used the latest unetbootin for Windows when you started all these procedures. Using the latest unetbootin for Windows with the KDE ISO should work correctly, but if not, then Salix Team would really like to know about it.
[/EDIT]

[Adys]

The only thing to note during install-on-USB.sh is that it complained I didn't have lilo and asked if I was happy to proceed without it to which I said Yes.

In addition that installing LILO is recommended in the wiki, I am wondering... Have you executed the script as root?

[Shador]

When I get to the boot loader step on install-on-USB what should answer for LILO ?

You should say yes to everything including lilo. Obviously you need to install lilo. parted, which is in any case used to mark the partition as active, usually should write a loader which loads the active partition to the MBR too. But the one which can be written by lilo has proven to be more reliable and I know about no other more common tool that could do this job.
I'm not sure whether the bootinfoscript is just not detecting that something is in the MBR or whether there really are just zeros. Apart from that you have a more recent version of syslinux 4.05 opposed to 3.84 shipped with Salix. Not sure whether that's causing troubles. But without information how it's failing, I don't know where it's failing and as there are so many components involved in booting it's hard to tell where the problem is.

What's happening when you're booting from the stick? What's the output of install-on-USB.sh?

sdb1 starts at sector
0. But according to the info from fdisk, sdb1 starts
at sector 2048.

Are you sure you zeroed out like I posted? Maybe you mistyped something or similar?