Syslinux - Jan 2014 - USB boot problems on Gigabyte GA-M55Plus-S3G

Hi,
> I have no reason whatsoecer to even vaguely
> suspect that any of the various USB stick I have here are in any way
> defective.
Yeah. But can that "8GB Patriot" show the failure
when you put one of originally failing systems onto it ?
You mentioned Clonezilla, UBCD, OpenELEC.

> Anyway, I did fetch the file [Ady's FAT32 image],
> unzipped it, and then dd'd "test.img" to
> _both_ my 4GB Transcend _and_ also to my 8GB Patriot.
> [...] _does_ appear to boot OK [...]
So my suspicion against FAT turns out to be as wayward
as it felt. Probably just some deceiving coincidence.

The only plausible theory in my mind would be that one
of your USB sticks does not work well with that single
mainboard.
But if the Patriot can fail or succeed at will, then
i am clueless. (One could mumble about old, meanwhile
fixed bugs in SYSLINUX.)


Have a nice day 

Thomas

Am 17.01.2014 11:03, schrieb Thomas Schmitt:
>  The only plausible theory in my mind would be that one of your USB 
> sticks does not work well with that single mainboard. But if the 
> Patriot can fail or succeed at will, then i am clueless.
Might have to do with drive geometries? Some boards might fail if the 
C/H/S entries do not indicate a LBA medium. This would explain why all 
externally created images are booting, but those that were locally 
prepared on existing partition tables are failing.

I would be personally interested in the following experiment:

 1. Download this LessLinux test build:
   
http://download.lesslinux.org/testing/lesslinux-search-and-rescue/lesslinux-search-and-rescue-uluru-20140107-193740.iso
 2. dd it to the 8GB thumb that formerly failed
 3. Boot it
 4. Shut down
 5. Boot again

The ISO is a isohybrid image. But LessLinux converts the drive to a 
partitioned layout with a FAT partition as first partition and two boot 
partitions upon first boot. The intention behind the FAT partition was 
not to block the whole thumb drive with the live system, the boot and 
system partitions make updates easier.

If the thumb drive boots the first time and fails the second time, there 
is probably a problem with the drive geometry - either during 
partitioning or during detection upon boot time. If it boots both times, 
I can at least be sure that parted creates a working (protective) MBR 
and GPT.

Regards,
Mattias

-- 
Mattias Schlenker - Redaktion + EDV-Beratung + Linux-CD/DVD-Konzepte
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In message <52D90648.4010900 at mattiasschlenker.de>, 
Mattias Schlenker <ms at mattiasschlenker.de> wrote:
>I would be personally interested in the following experiment:
>
> 1. Download this LessLinux test build:
>   
http://download.lesslinux.org/testing/lesslinux-search-and-rescue/lesslinux
>-search-and-rescue-uluru-20140107-193740.iso
> 2. dd it to the 8GB thumb that formerly failed
> 3. Boot it
> 4. Shut down
> 5. Boot again
I am downloading this file now, but it is rather large, and will take
awhile.  As soon as I have it I will perform the above procedure and
then report results.


Regards,
rfg