Re: [gentoo-user] making bootable USB

[thegeezer <thegeezer@thegeezer.net>]

On 02/09/14 15:10, Joseph wrote:
> On 09/02/14 14:38, thegeezer wrote:
>> On 02/09/14 14:10, Joseph wrote:
>>> On 09/02/14 10:56, Mick wrote:
>>>> On 2 September 2014 09:00, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Neil Bothwick wrote:
>>>>>> On Tue, 02 Sep 2014 01:23:45 -0500, Dale wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Device    Boot Start       End Blocks  Id System
>>>>>>>> /dev/sdb1 *        0    389119 194560  17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I don't know if it matters or not but on one of my sticks, I get
>>>>>>> this:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Device    Boot Start       End  Blocks  Id System
>>>>>>> /dev/sde1 *        1   3915775 1957887+  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Mine is FAT32 where yours is NTFS.  Could that difference cause
>>>>>>> this
>>>>>>> problem?
>>>>>> No, it's just fdisk trying to guess the type of a filesystem that
>>>>>> isn't
>>>>>> actually there. I've just run it over 7 distro ISOs and got "Hidden
>>>>>> HPFS/NTFS" for 5 of them.
>>>>>
>>>>> Well, it seems everyone is grasping at straws.  So far, that is the
>>>>> only
>>>>> difference I have seen.  It's a head scratcher for sure.
>>>>>
>>>>> Dale
>>>>
>>>> There's some more straws to grasp, namely the partition table that the
>>>> OP created with fdisk, as well as the first partition on it:
>>>>
>>>> Assuming the USB is still on /dev/sdb, then use fdisk to delete
>>>> partition /dev/sdb1.
>>>>
>>>> Then manually delete the USB DOS partition table:
>>>>
>>>> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=512 count=1
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Finally, reinstall the iso once more without creating any partitions
>>>> manually:
>>>>
>>>> dd if=/home/joseph/Downloads/install-amd64-minimal-20140828.iso
>>>> of=/dev/sdb
>>>>
>>>> sync
>>>>
>>>> NOTE: Make sure that /dev/sdb is indeed your USB stick or you'll
>>>> cause damage
>>>> to whatever is on /dev/sdb.
>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Mick
>>>
>>> I just did as you suggested dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=512 count=1
>>> dd if=/home/joseph/Downloads/install-amd64-minimal-20140828.iso
>>> of=/dev/sdb
>>> sync
>>>
>>> make no difference, the USB still will not boot.
>> What actually happens when you try to boot ?
>> do you get any messages?
>> some bios will require you to specify usb boot device type of cdrom or
>> hard disk
>> do you have a press F11 for boot choices menu or similar?
>> it could be that you have usb cdrom selected as primary boot device, ide
>> disk as secondary and then "other removables" after this.
>> please confirm your bios boot orders
>>
>
> Booting sequence is USB and HD.  If I will not insert bootable USB it
> will boot from HD
> It works, as the bootable USB I created with Systemrescue CD script it
> worked.  When I plug in the USB stick it boots from it.
>
However, there is a difference between USB-CDROM and USB-HDD and USB-FDD
each of these is a different type of device.
which is set in your BIOS ?
the systemrescue-cd must be a version that your bios recognises, if your
bios doesn't like USB-HDD boot then that is most likely the issue you have.

have you tried installing grub2 and doing a direct iso boot ?  the
gentoo minimal install cd support doing this for a long time now, and is
my preferred route as you can load on the iso images and just change the
grub conf menus