[gentoo-user] ASUS EeePC 1000HA : boot query

[gentoo-user] ASUS EeePC 1000HA : boot query

[Philip Webb]

I've got my new toy to boot from USB with SystemRescue 1.3.1 ,
which comes up beautifully with Gentoo using 'Altker32'
(the 'default' kernel boots into some kind of emergency mode);
despite what the intro help says, the desktop manager is Xfce,
which is started via 'wizard' & offers basic useful apps,
eg Terminal Emelfm Firefox Geany Gparted .

There's  1  problem : you hold F2 down to get BIOS,
then use Esc for a boot menu (you have to go in/out of BIOS first).
However, this doesn't work when I first switch the machine on :
M$ XP starts regardless & I have to reboot from there to get BIOS,
the boot menu & the USB (I've disabled 'quiet boot' in BIOS,
but POST msgs still don't appear).  Is this because it takes a few seconds
before the USB stick warms up & gets recognised (its light blinks) ?

This is important: if that's correct, I can wipe out XP
& the machine will still recognise the USB stick & boot,
but if the problem is something else (I don't know what it might be),
I fear risking an unbootable box without even the M$ option remaining.

Can anyone reassure me ?

-- 
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT     ___________//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT    `-O----------O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Re: [gentoo-user] ASUS EeePC 1000HA : boot query

[Stroller]

On 25 Oct 2009, at 00:30, Philip Webb wrote:
> ...
> There's  1  problem : you hold F2 down to get BIOS,
> then use Esc for a boot menu (you have to go in/out of BIOS first).
> However, this doesn't work when I first switch the machine on :
> M$ XP starts regardless & I have to reboot from there to get BIOS,
> the boot menu & the USB (I've disabled 'quiet boot' in BIOS,
> but POST msgs still don't appear).  Is this because it takes a few  
> seconds
> before the USB stick warms up & gets recognised (its light blinks) ?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but are you able to / tried changing  
the boot order? You should be able to put the USB memory card before  
the internal storage, and you might "give the USB bus more time to  
warm up" if you put other items (USB optical drive? network boot?) as  
the first items.

Stroller.

Re: [gentoo-user] ASUS EeePC 1000HA : boot query

[Peter Humphrey]

On Sunday 25 October 2009 00:30:48 Philip Webb wrote:
> I've got my new toy to boot from USB with SystemRescue 1.3.1 ,
> which comes up beautifully with Gentoo using 'Altker32'
> (the 'default' kernel boots into some kind of emergency mode);
> despite what the intro help says, the desktop manager is Xfce,
> which is started via 'wizard' & offers basic useful apps,
> eg Terminal Emelfm Firefox Geany Gparted .

I let it boot the default system, which seems fine to me as I don't need a GUI 
when I'm booting the rescue system.

> There's  1  problem : you hold F2 down to get BIOS,
> then use Esc for a boot menu (you have to go in/out of BIOS first).
> However, this doesn't work when I first switch the machine on :
> M$ XP starts regardless & I have to reboot from there to get BIOS,
> the boot menu & the USB (I've disabled 'quiet boot' in BIOS,
> but POST msgs still don't appear).  Is this because it takes a few seconds
> before the USB stick warms up & gets recognised (its light blinks) ?

There's an accelerated-boot option in the BIOS. You have to switch that off to 
be able to boot a USB stick (unless you can find the few milliseconds that 
the BIOS is listening to the keyboard). Took me days to find that one :-(

-- 
Rgds
Peter

Re: [gentoo-user] ASUS EeePC 1000HA : boot query

[Philip Webb]

091025 Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Sunday 25 October 2009 00:30:48 Philip Webb wrote:
>> There's  1  problem : you hold F2 down to get BIOS,
>> then use Esc for a boot menu (you have to go in/out of BIOS first).
>> However, this doesn't work when I first switch the machine on :
>> M$ XP starts regardless & I have to reboot from there to get BIOS,
>> the boot menu & the USB (I've disabled 'quiet boot' in BIOS,
>> but POST msgs still don't appear).  Is this because it takes a few seconds
>> before the USB stick warms up & gets recognised (its light blinks) ?
> There's an accelerated-boot option in the BIOS.
> You have to switch that off to be able to boot a USB stick
> Took me days to find that one :-(

Thanks ! -- it would have taken me days too, if you hadn't told me !
Having disabled 'boot booster' in BIOS, it works straight after power-on :
 F2  gets the BIOS menus or  Esc  gets the boot menu with choice of OS.

-- 
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT     ___________//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT    `-O----------O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Re: [gentoo-user] ASUS EeePC 1000HA : boot query

[Daniel da Veiga]

On Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 20:30, Philip Webb <purslow@ca.inter.net> wrote:
> I've got my new toy to boot from USB with SystemRescue 1.3.1 ,
> which comes up beautifully with Gentoo using 'Altker32'
> (the 'default' kernel boots into some kind of emergency mode);
> despite what the intro help says, the desktop manager is Xfce,
> which is started via 'wizard' & offers basic useful apps,
> eg Terminal Emelfm Firefox Geany Gparted .
>
> There's  1  problem : you hold F2 down to get BIOS,
> then use Esc for a boot menu (you have to go in/out of BIOS first).
> However, this doesn't work when I first switch the machine on :
> M$ XP starts regardless & I have to reboot from there to get BIOS,
> the boot menu & the USB (I've disabled 'quiet boot' in BIOS,
> but POST msgs still don't appear).  Is this because it takes a few seconds
> before the USB stick warms up & gets recognised (its light blinks) ?
>
> This is important: if that's correct, I can wipe out XP
> & the machine will still recognise the USB stick & boot,
> but if the problem is something else (I don't know what it might be),
> I fear risking an unbootable box without even the M$ option remaining.
>
> Can anyone reassure me ?
>

I have a couple of EEEs and my brother have the same model you have.
All three work the same way, you hold ESC while booting (you can just
keep it pressed after you power it on) and a boot menu comes. This
usually list every device (including USB devices connected). Sometimes
you have to try a different USB port or even just plug out and in
again and try again, but still, no need to go into windows.

-- 
Daniel da Veiga

Re: [gentoo-user] ASUS EeePC 1000HA : boot query

[Peter Humphrey]

On Sunday 25 October 2009 13:22:21 Daniel da Veiga wrote:

> I have a couple of EEEs and my brother have the same model you have.
> All three work the same way, you hold ESC while booting (you can just
> keep it pressed after you power it on) and a boot menu comes.

That's interesting. I didn't try that because, traditionally, holding a key 
down results in a stuck-key error message, so it didn't even occur to me.

You learn something new every day - if you're not careful!

-- 
Rgds
Peter