[syslinux] USB boot problems on Gigabyte GA-M55Plus-S3G

Thomas Schmitt
Mon, 20 Jan 2014 09:39:58 -0000

Hi,

Ronald F. Guilmette:
> > Doesn't the Syslinux project provide (hopefully strong) specific
> > reccomendations, [...]

hpa:
> We try (see our wiki),

The general wiki
  http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/SYSLINUX#Creating_a_Bootable_Disk
says
 "In order to create a bootable disk using SYSLINUX, prepare a normal
  MS-DOS formatted disk."
which would not have helped me to avoid Ronald's problem.
I would have considered any existing FAT as "normal".

Maybe one should add a link to a new section
  "Possible pitfalls of MS-DOS disk partitioning and formatting"
in
  http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Common_Problems

It would give an overview or links about "partitioning",
"filesystem",
"FAT", "LBA", and "Cylinder/Head/Sector".
Then it would advise Ady's layout of LBA driven FAT32 with
conservative partitioning.


I would volunteer as half-educated author of such a section,
but possibly i am already too much spoiled by detail knowledge.
Does anybody know comprehensive existing user documentation about
the topic, to which the wiki could link ?
(Wikipedia is too detailed and scattered to be of help during a
 computer crisis. See
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table
)


Maybe one should also swap the positions of the links on the
left edge of the general wiki:
  "Help"
  http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Help:Contents
and
  "Common Problems"
  http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Common_Problems
because most users would seek help with boot problems, rather
than help with editing the wiki.


Have a nice day :)

Thomas