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#1 2008-12-31 03:19:49

JoeC
Member
From: Columbus, Ohio
Registered: 2005-12-10
Posts: 25

Installing from USB flash drive

I am trying to install arch on my Eee PC 900ha but am having some trouble.

I downloaded the 2008.06 usb .img install and copied it to my USB stick using dd command as shown in the wiki.  I cant get arch to load from it though.

I have two different usb sticks I have tried this from.  The first is a kingston 8GB drive.   When I try to boot from that, it flashes a quick message that I believe says something about no OS but it flashes to quick to read.  Then just boots to windows.

The second is actually an SD card in a USB reader.  When I try to boot from that, I am left with just a flashing cursor in the upper left and nothing else ever loads.

Is there something else I need to do?  Does anything need to be done to the drives  before I copy arch to it?

Thanks,
Joe

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#2 2008-12-31 04:16:10

Pudge
Arch Linux f@h Team Member
Registered: 2006-01-23
Posts: 300

Re: Installing from USB flash drive

Here is one possible cause for the BIOS not seeing the OS.

What are you using for the of?   something like /dev/sdb or /dev/sdb1

You need to use dd in the form

dd if=path_to_.iso of=/dev/sdb

sdb points to the device, and this will properly install the MBR

sdb1 points to a partition on the device and using it will not allow the USB stick to boot properly because the MBR will be in the wrong place.

Pudge

EDIT:  This is already stated in the Wiki so this probably isn't your error

Last edited by Pudge (2008-12-31 04:25:38)

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#3 2008-12-31 05:10:08

JoeC
Member
From: Columbus, Ohio
Registered: 2005-12-10
Posts: 25

Re: Installing from USB flash drive

Ahhhhh, that was the problem.  Apparently I only read the first sentence of that line.  I actually double checked the wiki b/c I was sure it didn't say that.  But you are absolutely right, it does say that and that was exactly my problem, I was using sdb1.

Thanks for the quick reply!  I appreciate the help.  It's loading fine now but I will attempt the install tomorrow.

Thanks again,
Joe

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#4 2009-01-04 17:38:41

Marcel-
Member
From: Utrecht, NL
Registered: 2006-12-03
Posts: 266

Re: Installing from USB flash drive

Hmm, that's strange. With the 2008.06 iso I couldn't boot from USB (Grub stage 1.5 read error), although I did use of=/dev/sdb. Luckily, with tpowa's 2008.12 iso (which is based on Syslinux) I am able to boot. Perhaps it has something to do with the BIOS of my very new EEE Box B202.

OT: hmmm, it seems I can better wait for kernel 2.6.28 being available in core (Ext4 support). wink

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