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#1 2015-12-21 21:50:36

TheChosenOne
Member
Registered: 2012-09-27
Posts: 130

Cannot boot USB

I've created a bootable usb drive with Arch on it. I've tried it in a lot of pcs, and it works.
But in my Medion S2217 netbook, it doesn't work. I disabled secure boot and EFI, but it still doesn't want to start my usb drive.
I've rewritten my usb drive with Rufus (to make it EFI compatible), but that doesn't work either. sad
I do have an EFI shell available, but I don't know what I can do with it.

Edit: Do I have to do something like this? https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/20303.html

Last edited by TheChosenOne (2015-12-21 22:08:51)

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#2 2015-12-21 21:55:40

tom.ty89
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Registered: 2012-11-15
Posts: 897

Re: Cannot boot USB

Black screen after bootloader menu? or the menu does not show up at all?

FWIW Arch ISO does not support booting from 32-bit UEFI directly, to use it you need to use grub i386-efi to loop boot it.

Last edited by tom.ty89 (2015-12-21 21:56:41)

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#3 2015-12-21 22:10:08

TheChosenOne
Member
Registered: 2012-09-27
Posts: 130

Re: Cannot boot USB

No. I cannot start it up at all. When I select USB, it immediately goes back to the current menu. It just checks the disk for ~10 ms.

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#4 2015-12-21 22:21:47

Head_on_a_Stick
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From: London
Registered: 2014-02-20
Posts: 7,680
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Re: Cannot boot USB

Which partition table type is the USB stick using?

How is the system booting?

GPT disks may not work with non-UEFI booting for some motherboards.

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GPT#BIOS_systems

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#5 2015-12-21 22:24:59

tom.ty89
Member
Registered: 2012-11-15
Posts: 897

Re: Cannot boot USB

I actually think that it's because your UEFI is 32-bit (and no CSM), since it's one of those Atom Z3735F. Can you give me some screenshot (photos) of what you can see in the UEFI settings?

EDID: Do you still have Windows on it? Can you attach screenshot(s) of msinfo32.exe (just the Summary page)?

Last edited by tom.ty89 (2015-12-21 22:26:38)

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#6 2015-12-21 22:25:19

TheChosenOne
Member
Registered: 2012-09-27
Posts: 130

Re: Cannot boot USB

FAT32
The system automatically boots Windows if that is what you mean.

So what do you suggest?

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#7 2015-12-21 22:27:37

tom.ty89
Member
Registered: 2012-11-15
Posts: 897

Re: Cannot boot USB

Is your Windows 32-bit or 64-bit?

Last edited by tom.ty89 (2015-12-21 22:29:45)

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#8 2015-12-21 22:28:05

Head_on_a_Stick
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From: London
Registered: 2014-02-20
Posts: 7,680
Website

Re: Cannot boot USB

TheChosenOne wrote:

FAT32
The system automatically boots Windows if that is what you mean.

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough -- how is the system on the USB stick booting?

For the partition table type, please post the output of:

# parted -l

(from any live environment, just the USB stick portion is required)

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#9 2015-12-21 22:37:01

TheChosenOne
Member
Registered: 2012-09-27
Posts: 130

Re: Cannot boot USB

Windows is 32 bit, but the processor is 64 bit.

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough -- how is the system on the USB stick booting?

The system isn't booting. That is the problem. I cannot get into a live environment.

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#10 2015-12-21 22:41:12

Head_on_a_Stick
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From: London
Registered: 2014-02-20
Posts: 7,680
Website

Re: Cannot boot USB

TheChosenOne wrote:

The system isn't booting. That is the problem. I cannot get into a live environment.

How are you *attempting* to boot the USB stick?

Is it set up to boot in UEFI mode or non-UEFI mode (or both)?

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#11 2015-12-21 22:42:04

tom.ty89
Member
Registered: 2012-11-15
Posts: 897

Re: Cannot boot USB

Well, then it's pretty sure you can't boot ArchISO directly. Windows is 32 bit means your UEFI is 32 bit. The only hope is CSM (legacy boot support), but I doubt that any of the 32-bit UEFI on Atom boxes will bother to have that.

If you are capable of preparing a grub i386-efi drive with virtualbox or so, then this can help (ISO in loopback mode/hooks/archiso_loop_mnt):
https://projects.archlinux.org/archiso. … ootmethods
https://projects.archlinux.org/archiso. … bootparams

Or:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … ting_Linux

Or, just use another distro sad

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#12 2015-12-21 22:42:35

Head_on_a_Stick
Member
From: London
Registered: 2014-02-20
Posts: 7,680
Website

Re: Cannot boot USB

TheChosenOne wrote:

I cannot get into a live environment.

I just want to know the partition table type -- you can boot the stick on another computer and get the output from that (or even plug the stick into any running GNU/Linux system and run `parted -l`)

EDIT: If @tom.ty89 is correct then try Debian, apparently their netinstall ISO images support UEFI implementations with mixed bitness.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2015-12-21 22:53:30)

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#13 2015-12-21 23:06:52

TheChosenOne
Member
Registered: 2012-09-27
Posts: 130

Re: Cannot boot USB

tom.ty89 wrote:

The only hope is CSM

I cannot select CSM.

Image of BIOS:
https://i.imgur.com/3Br7S9n.jpg
As you see, I can disable SecureBoot, but UEFI is grayed out (is disabled too).
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D3qwecyngE
My camera won't focus, but you can read it in the beginning.

Output of parted -l:

Model:   (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1048MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
1      1049kB  1048MB  1046MB  primary  fat32        boot, lba



--  read the Forum Etiquette and only post thumbnails http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/For … s_and_code [jwr] --

Last edited by TheChosenOne (2015-12-21 23:10:07)

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#14 2015-12-21 23:18:00

TheChosenOne
Member
Registered: 2012-09-27
Posts: 130

Re: Cannot boot USB

tom.ty89 wrote:

EDID: Do you still have Windows on it? Can you attach screenshot(s) of msinfo32.exe (just the Summary page)?

https://imgur.com/a/C1k94

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#15 2015-12-21 23:30:36

TheChosenOne
Member
Registered: 2012-09-27
Posts: 130

Re: Cannot boot USB

Tried Debian Netboot. Doesn't work either sad
Output of 'parted -l':

Model:  USB DISK 2.0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 64.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 2048B/512B
Partition Table: mac
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End     Size   File system  Name   Flags
1      2048B   6143B   4096B               Apple
2      2040kB  2466kB  426kB               EFI

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#16 2015-12-21 23:32:48

TheChosenOne
Member
Registered: 2012-09-27
Posts: 130

Re: Cannot boot USB

Any other suggestions before I throw it out my window?

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#17 2015-12-21 23:37:06

Head_on_a_Stick
Member
From: London
Registered: 2014-02-20
Posts: 7,680
Website

Re: Cannot boot USB

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

How are you *attempting* to boot the USB stick?

Is it set up to boot in UEFI mode or non-UEFI mode (or both)?

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#18 2015-12-21 23:39:30

TheChosenOne
Member
Registered: 2012-09-27
Posts: 130

Re: Cannot boot USB

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

How are you *attempting* to boot the USB stick?

Is it set up to boot in UEFI mode or non-UEFI mode (or both)?

I plug in the stick. Then I boot and press F10, so I get the boot menu (see video).
I tried both.

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#19 2015-12-21 23:41:14

ewaller
Administrator
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,740

Re: Cannot boot USB

TheChosenOne wrote:

Any other suggestions before I throw it out my window?

http://m.eet.com/media/1180456/world_of … e_fig7.jpg


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

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#20 2015-12-21 23:48:10

tom.ty89
Member
Registered: 2012-11-15
Posts: 897

Re: Cannot boot USB

Well I guess I am right about your UEFI, you can see "...IA32..." in "BIOS Version/Date", which probably means the UEFI is 32-bit.
I was wrong about one thing though, when OEM Windows is 32-bit it does NOT NECESSARILY means the UEFI is 32-bit, since there are some RARE "dual-arch" UEFI which is capable of running both 32-bit and 64-bit EFI binaries.

I have listed the things you can do to get Arch running on it on an above post. Not sure what you mean by Debian Netboot. If you want to test with an ISO of another distro, get one of 32-bit.

Actually if you want to prove my theory is correct, you can also do it with an Windows 10 install media (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/softwar … /windows10), you should be able to confirm that the 32-bit medium works, but the 64-bit does not.

FWIW, I actually doubt whether it's worth it to install Linux on any machine with the Atom Z3735F SoC, since it is currently poorly supported by the upstream kernel in my experience.

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#21 2015-12-22 15:26:44

TheChosenOne
Member
Registered: 2012-09-27
Posts: 130

Re: Cannot boot USB

tom.ty89 wrote:

Actually if you want to prove my theory is correct, you can also do it with an Windows 10 install media (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/softwar … /windows10), you should be able to confirm that the 32-bit medium works, but the 64-bit does not.

A 32 bit Windows 10 doesn't work either. Maybe there is something wrong with the bios. Or maybe they don't allow to install anything.
I'm gonna ship this netbook back and ask for a refund.

Are there similar netbooks that you can actually modify?

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#22 2015-12-22 16:30:23

tom.ty89
Member
Registered: 2012-11-15
Posts: 897

Re: Cannot boot USB

LOL maybe the UEFI simply have broken USB boot support? I don't know.

I have some Lenovo stick computer which has 32-bit UEFI with the same Atom ZoC, I can "loop boot" ArchISO with grub i386-efi and boot the 32-bit Windows ISOs, but not any 64-bit EFI binaries. My UEFI is from Insyde Instead of Phoenix though.

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