Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

SOLVED)Hi all, loving the new forums,

I have acquired a pre-owned machine with an ASUS BIOS and Windows 10 pro. Unfortunately it appears to be the first machine that has defeated EVERY attempt to getting puppy running.

I have tried both the fosapup64 and Bionicpup64_UEFI isos, installed via the Rufus app and also manually using a technique I found on the old forum on a USB stick.

After several attempts I found a setting in the BIOS that blocks any attempt to boot a different OS and disabled that. Sadly there is still no luck.

Error messages (from my memory) include "state the magic number" (no kidding), "No suitable (word I forgot) or (another word I forgot) found" and "Cannot find linuxcfg".

All the above happen when I select boot from USB. If I select the USBuefi option it just jumps straight to the windows boot screen.

Unfortunately I can't use any other computer to boot puppy at the moment as both my other PCs died on the same night after several years (true story).

Can anyone help? I miss my ridiculously fast loading times, woof sounds on boot up and the beautiful simplicity of deadbeef and mtpaintedit

Sorry to hear about your woes! Puppy should load easily in most cases, in my experience.

I have found RUFUS to be great for making live USBs, but not for installations. Your problem may relate to older methods used to make a USB puppy which can cause trouble loading in modern machines, IMHO.

1) Try using the latest portable RUFUS to make a LIVE USB making sure that you tick the UEFI and BIOS button

2) Ensure secure boot is disabled in BIOS, disable fast boot

3) Try booting the LIVE USB from inside windows 10:
> power button in win 10
> and hold shift key and > restart
> choose an option
> Use a device
If a compliant UEFI USB device is able to be booted, it will be present as an option

4) I suggest you make a frugal install of Bionic 64 or Fossapup on a second USB using the Stickpup option, which will give you a modern boot layout. Frugalpup is good too, but more options makes for more confusion IMHO.

Rather than trying to troubleshoot a rufus install, I would burn a puppy cd and trying to make the usb from it.

Even with Secure Boot disabled Puppy still won't start?

Try these to isolate the issues:
> Use a different USB stick
> Plug onto different USB ports
> Select GPT instead (not MBR) in Rufus
> Try different distro (i.e. Clear Linux)

If none works, then more likely the issue is on your ASUS (BIOS settings, hardware, etc.) and focus there.

If this computer has the UEFI firmware bios.
There are so many different versions and changes over the years.
That the UEFI version, makes a difference, on what will work, for settings.
Even what setting are there to set.

Do you know what format the USB partition is?
Did Rufus format it or just use it?
Usually it needs to be formatted fat32, if it has only one partition on it.

Make sure you shutdown Windows 10 in complete normal shutdown.
Do not shutdown in hibernate.
hibernate still keeps some of the boot control set to Windows 10 only.

I think you say you found this in the bios.
Usually there will be a setting to enable/disable USB booting.
For sure have secure boot disabled, legacy boot enabled, or enable CSM (depends on UEFI version what selections are).

Did this computer have any boot security password setup to be able to boot it?

Make and model of Computer may give us a clue?
Who knows, may be some special setting or key press needed, to get it to correctly boot from USB, and a different OS, than Windows 10.

Hi, @redandwhitestripes

I can understand your frustrations. I faced the same struggle when my company bought a new batch of Windoze 10 machines. Soon, i realised those new PCs will automatically update and shutdown themself, broke hardware drivers, and bloated with unwanted junks. Instead of letting the machines gaining control over me, i decided to boot puppy over them.

You can read this thread for more info:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1553

Many puppy experts gave their solutions, and each of them worked. Eventually, i chose to use Frugalpup to create a pendrive with legacy and UEFI both enabled, and since then, i can boot from all PCs, no matter new or old boxes. Take note though, you need to disable 'Secure Boot' in the bios first.

Keep trying, and don't give up!

" pre-owned machine with an ASUS BIOS "

Always best to have the exact model number.

My Asus desktop boots Puppy with no probems.
Took me ages to find out that hitting F8 gave the boot menu.
Thanks Asus.

As some have stated using a different port or USB can make Puppy boot.

I suspect something needs changing in the bios.

Report back with the Asus model number or motherboard number.
Somewhere somebody else has had the same problem and there will be a fix posted
albeit for a different Linux OS..

::::::::;;

a quick search.

" How do I fix ASUS BIOS utility?

Try the following and see if it resolves the problem:
In the Aptio Setup Utility, select the "boot" menu and then select "Launch CSM" and change it to "enable".
Next select the "Security" menu and then select "secure Boot Control" and change to "disable".
Now select "Save & Exit" and press "yes".

" Aptio Setup Utility is a kind of BIOS setup utility that is developed by American Megatrends.
And it comes bundled with almost all ASUS computers including laptops and desktops."

Chris.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to reply. After much trial and error, I have discovered that BOTH of the new USB sticks I purchased (both Kingston, 8gb) were to blame. Swapping in an older USB stick got things up and running.

Thanks to the comments here I learned a lot about BIOS and how to change some settings, so it has been educational. Thanks again.

Do not totally give up on using those Kingston USB sticks.

Use the Gparted program that is in all Puppy versions.
Make new partition table .Suggest msdos.
Make first partition small 300MB size, formatted fat 32, flagged boot.
The rest of the drive a ext3 formatted partition.

Fossapup64 9.5 already has Frugalpup Installer program.
Use this program to do the Puppy versions installs to the USB sticks.

Here is topic about Frugalpup Installer.
viewtopic.php?f=105&t=337
There is a newer version of Frugalpup Installer, than the one that comes with Fossapup64.
May want to download, install, and use the newer version.
But the older version will still do a good install to USB.