Arch Linux

owl

Member

Registered: 2012-02-11

Posts: 3

Error when attempting to boot from USB - Unknown Keyword/Kernal Image

Hello,

I'm new to Arch/the forum, figured it would be best to post this in Newbie Corner :p. I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this, I can't figure out what the problem is...

I've trying to install the latest Arch Linux on a Dell Latitude 13 currently only got Windows 7 installed. I burnt the Arch Linux image to USB using Universal USB Installer, when attempting to boot from the USB I get presented with the following:

SYSLINUX 3.86 2010-04-01 EBIOS Copyright (C) 1994 - 1010 H. Peter Anvin et al
Unknown keyword in configuration file: IPAPPEND
Could not find kernal image: vesamenu.c32
boot:

I've tried both the i686-core and netinstall images (from various mirrors, also used multiple pen drives etc) and get the same result. I then tried burning the images with Win32 Disk Imager/Image Writer which corrupts my pen drive every time, meaning I have to fully format it (which is a PITA).

I've thought about burning the image using another distro but as my laptop doesn't have a CD drive and the USB ports are stupidly close together, it means I'll have to install another distro just to burn the image then to overwrite it with Arch.

Any help would be appreciated!

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Re: Error when attempting to boot from USB - Unknown Keyword/Kernal Image

SYSLINUX 3.86 2010-04-01 EBIOS Copyright (C) 1994 - 1010 H. Peter Anvin et al
Unknown keyw...

According to this, "make sure you have syslinux 4.04 installed (older or newer syslinux 4 versions may work, syslinux 3.XX will not work)."

Now, you could maybe try a newer version of this "Universal USB Installer" (this?), or you could try this method:

SYSLINUX: Boot the entire ISO from RAM using MEMDISK

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"How to Succeed with Linux"

I have made a personal commitment not to reply in topics that start with a lowercase letter. Proper grammar and punctuation is a sign of respect, and if you do not show any, you will NOT receive any help (at least not from me).

cfr

Member

From: Cymru

Registered: 2011-11-27

Posts: 7,168

Re: Error when attempting to boot from USB - Unknown Keyword/Kernal Image

You might try unetbootin. I had problems with a key I created with it but I think that's because I didn't know Ubuntu needs a 2G key and it didn't tell me. I t still booted OK, mind. I haven't run it in Windows 7 because I've never used that but it didn't work too badly in XP. You need to make sure the USB stick is formatted before you try to use it, though. It won't tell you what's wrong but will just not see it otherwise. The parted magic one I made seemed to work fine.

Last edited by cfr (2012-02-12 23:17:18)

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owl

Member

Registered: 2012-02-11

Posts: 3

Re: Error when attempting to boot from USB - Unknown Keyword/Kernal Image

I managed to get this working in the end by upgrading syslinux on the pendrive to 4.0.8 and making some changes in the syslinux.cnf. I've since been in touch with the developer of Universal USB Installer and he has released a new version which now uses syslinux 4.x and supports the latest release of Arch. It's probably worth noting (maybe on the wiki too?) that this tool only supports the core-dual image and you may receive errors if using i686 or x86_64.