BookwormPup: Not booting from USB

[INSPIRON_E1505_USER]

It was working fine before, the previous USB I was using was unfortunately wiped or formatted. So, then I made a new bootable USB recently with the downloaded iso 10.0.8 because I also didn't have my previously downloaded iso. Now it's not working or booting, tried everything from rufus and using my bionic pup to make a bootable etc. tried all options. This is on an old 2005-2006 dell laptop, retro shenanigans! Trying to join the 20 year laptop club

I also tried different USBs, just in case I had a bad one or something. My bionic32 and bionic64 USBs still boots

I get this:

image000000[1].jpg (91.82 KiB) Viewed 138 times

I work nights and on call, so weird working hours, so give me time to respond

[bigpup]

I assume you are plugging into a USB port that other USB drives will boot OK.

My first guess is you got a bad download of the ISO.

So do a new fresh download.

If downloading to a Windows formatted location (fat32 or ntfs) there is a chance it has fragmentation in it's file system and this will fragment the ISO.

Boot with the working Bionicpup64 USB and download to this drive. Download to /mnt/home so it is not in the save but just on the drive.

The USB installer programs in Bionicpup64 should be able to make a working install.

If still not working.

What partitions on the drive and their formats?

Compare it to the bionicpup64 drive that works.

Make it the same partition and format setup.

What specific installer programs did you try that are available in Bookwormpup64?

You could install the latest version of Frugalpup Installer in your Bionicpup64.
viewtopic.php?t=337
It has the latest stickpup installers that should work.
There are different ones for different ways to setup a USB and do a install to a USB stick drive.
.
.

[INSPIRON_E1505_USER]

I found the problem i think.

****FOR SHORT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ***>>>>> tried these multiple times and the culprit is the not having the "lba" flagged also, along with the "boot" flag.

@bigpup I did everything you told me too and i keep having issues then clicking stuff and trying everything i got it to work, but i was curious to why it all of sudden works and what i did that was different. So i loaded another USB the same way i was doing at first and i was getting the same problem. That eliminated downloading a bad iso and i tried all three different links from the main bookwormpup thread.

I found from comparing my setups that work and the ones that didnt work and the way i was using the installer; is that when i used gparted to format the USB for fat32 and to made sure the "boot" flag was checked in manage flags option, i was also unchecking "lba" as i thought i only want "boot" flag. So when i made another USB and left it checked and checking the "boot" flag option also together. It now boots correctly now! Everywhere. All computers. So i guess on my side the 'lba" needs to be checked in the flags. Is that a design of the USBs i got? I dont know for sure, i do have different brands.

and all that was done through bionicpup64.....i don't know why my windows computer using rufus does not work, no matter what i do.

A quick search on "lba" definition: The LBA flag indicates that a partition should be accessed using Logical Block Addressing (LBA) instead of Cylinder-Head-Sector (CHS) addressing.

Still clueless what that is, if anybody can chime in, that would be a great learning experience

Then i ran into another issue after initial setup on bookwormpup64, anywhere i clicked the desktop would switch or clear all the icons even conky and it only shows a home folder. I don't know why, but when i set up a save for my first shut down and rebooted, everything is fine now...so far.

Also got a alert/error message initially after setup i never seen: No pinboard was in use...the 'Default' pinboard has been selected. Use 'rox -p=Default' to turn it on in the future. ????

I wont ask anymore questions i have, i can get long winded or "long typed" because they don't relate to USB booting/install. Hope this helps someone going through the same thing.

[bigpup]

Then i ran into another issue after initial setup on bookwormpup64, anywhere i clicked the desktop would switch or clear all the icons even conky and it only shows a home folder. I don't know why, but when i set up a save for my first shut down and rebooted, everything is fine now...so far.

It is a computer.
Sometimes they just do strange things.
Sometimes during the boot process, not everything gets properly read into memory, and loaded correctly.

You are assuming all the hardware is working perfect all the time.

But if it now correctly works after a reboot. Be happy!

If it does this again, then we can start looking for a reason why.

[bigpup]

None of my drives need to be flagged lba, but I am using much newer computers than you are. With much newer bios firmware.

I would say lba flag is something the computers bios boot process is setup to look for, to see a drive as boot-able and usable to boot from.
Along with having the boot flag.

Usually that is all that the bios is looking for the boot flag.

The bios just automatically figures out anything else or takes for granted, what is needed is there.
Well, the computers I have seem to.

Your computer seems to need to be told lba

Now with UEFI bios.
Usually the boot flag is replaced by the esp flag

It really gets down to what makes the computers bios boot process happy, to understand that this partition on the drive, is the one that has the boot loader on it and the drive is usable.
The boot or esp flagged one.

ChatGPT

why flag a drive partition lba?

ChatGPT said:

ChatGPT
Flagging a drive partition as LBA (Logical Block Addressing) typically refers to setting a partition type or indicating how the partition is accessed and used by the system. LBA is a method used for addressing the sectors on a storage device like a hard drive, SSD, or flash drive, and it replaces the older CHS (Cylinder-Head-Sector) addressing method. Here's why you might flag a drive partition as LBA:

1. Compatibility with Modern Systems:
LBA is a more efficient and standardized method for addressing sectors on storage devices, making it compatible with modern systems and operating systems.
Older systems used the CHS method, which could be limiting for larger drives, as it only supported a smaller range of disk addresses.
Flagging a partition as LBA allows modern systems to correctly interpret and access larger disk partitions beyond the limits of the CHS addressing method.
2. Required by Some Partition Schemes:
For instance, the GPT (GUID Partition Table) partitioning scheme requires LBA addressing for its entries and partition layout. Modern systems that use UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) instead of traditional BIOS rely on GPT, which uses LBA to address the storage.
In older systems using MBR (Master Boot Record), partitions may be flagged as LBA to allow access to drives larger than 2TB (which was a limitation of the MBR scheme).
3. Larger Disk Support:
The LBA scheme supports a much larger addressable range than CHS. With LBA, storage devices larger than 2TB (a limit imposed by the older CHS method) can be used efficiently, especially with newer partitioning schemes like GPT.
4. Logical Sector Alignment:
Modern storage devices often use 4K sector sizes (4096 bytes), as opposed to the older 512-byte sectors. The LBA scheme works well with these larger sector sizes, ensuring proper alignment of logical and physical sectors, improving read/write efficiency and longevity of the drive.
5. Partitioning Tools or Disk Management Systems:
When using partitioning tools or disk management systems, the LBA flag helps indicate how the partition should be addressed at a lower level, especially when it comes to accessing or modifying large drives.
In summary, flagging a partition as LBA ensures compatibility with modern systems, efficient handling of large disks, and optimal usage of sector addressing. It plays a role in ensuring your partition can work correctly with the system's firmware and partitioning scheme, particularly when dealing with large storage capacities or modern partitioning standards like GPT.