USB drive prepared for installation of Kubuntu 9.10, but laptop does not boot from it.

Bas Roufs basroufs at gmail.com
Wed Dec 23 12:07:14 UTC 2009


Thanks, everybody for your all input in this thread so far!

> One result from Google [1] suggest that the computer is from 2002 and
> that make more sense as it has a CD/DVD combo drive.
>
> [1] http://www.staschke.de/linux/md5400-eng.html#technik

You are absolutely right, Jerry and Jonas,  The laptop I refer to is a MEDION
MD5400 <http://www.staschke.de/linux/md5400-eng.html#technik>- from 2002,
NOT from 1992, as I incorrectly wrote yesterday late evening, in a sleepy
state. Pls. accept my apologies for this sleepy mistake.... However it may
be, link above is very relevant and useful for me.

> Bas, do not know if you have a Karmic partition in your hard drive with
> grub2. If you do, please boot from the hard drive Karmic, with the usb
> drive inserted, check the following.....

In my first message, Goh Lip, I was not very clear with respect to some
essential software basics at the laptop. In January 2009,. I received this
laptop with a totally disfunctional and viral WinXP configuration. Via
a Knoppix
live CD <http://knoppix.net/>, I made a backup of some essential files at a
USB stick. Afterwords it was a big relief to totally whipe away all the
Windows rubbish. Than, I managed to install Kubuntu 8.10 via a normal i386
image CD. A few months later, I upgraded the configuration successfully to
Kubuntu 9.04 - Jaunty - which has functioned quite well. Last November, I
tried to upgrade the configuration to 9.10. But I made one serious mistake:
I tried to do so  via a slow and unreliable WIFI connection. Somewhere
halfway the upgrade process, this connection has been interrupted. Ever
since that moment, I get the following feedback when I try to start the
laptop:

*GRUB Loading stage1.5

GRUB Loading, please wait ....
Error 15*

After 'Error 15', the only thing I keep seeing is a blinkering cursor. At
that point the upstart process of some unclear configuration between Jaunty
and Karmic simply stagnates.
Before the failed upgrade attempt, I had made a backup elsewhere of all the
files at the laptop. That's why, I tried to 'install Kubuntu Karmic 'from
scratch'. But apparently, the CD/DVD combo drive does not function any more
really properly. A countless number of attempts to realise a 'fresh´
install simply failed sooner or later in the installation process. Also
booting from CD was troublesome. Each time, I needed to again instruct BIOS
to do so.

> Bas, in case you don't have Karmic at hard drive, I suggest you
> reinstall (not copy image) direct to your usb drive and set grub2 to
> that usb. Boot using esc, F12, F8 or F10, whatever the case for your
computer.

As I mentioned above, there is no Karmic or Jaunty or any other OS via which
I can access the HD directly. But because of some technical problem with the
CD/ DVD combo drive, I do not manage to approach it neither via a Karmic
image CD. Also the Knoppix CD does not function any more properly at that
drive. Thatś why, I have been trying to boot from the USB drive with a view
to installing from there Karmic at the HD. The laptop has 4  USB 2.0 access
points. In the BIOS, I have put 'removable devices' aat the top of the list
of items to boot from. When doing so after putting the USB stick in the
laptop, the set-up software DOES recognise the presence of the USB stick.
However, it still does not boot there.

> One note from my experience running kubuntu from usb.... it is extremely
slow..., it is not worth
> the effort. Running dsl linux or puppy linux from usb is fast and good;
very different from
> running kubuntu or kubuntu netbook remix from usb. (may be good for
internal flash drives) ...

Exactly because of such consdierations, I do not consider running some Linux
distro at the USB stick. On the other hand, I am wondering whether a bit of
extra software could help solving the boot problem worked out above. At the
USB stick, I have more than enough space for extra software in addition to
the Karmic installation image.

A 2nd option I am thinking about is simply replacing the CD/ DVD combo drive
with some other 2nd hand device enabling me to boot from CD via the laptop.
But I do not know yet, whether something like that is possible.

Thanks for your feedback.

Bas.
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