Failed booting from USB stick

[Goh Lip]

On 04/16/2010 09:27 PM, Thomas Olsen wrote:
> On Friday 16 April 2010 14:16:00 g.lip at gmx.com wrote:
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: Thomas Olsen
>>>
>>> At grub menu, go to command prompt (press'c'), and type
>>> search -f /vmlinuz
>>>
>>> check output, (as example here, say...hd0,3 and hd2,1)
>>> type 'esc' to go back to menu and at first entry, enter 'e' to edit
>>>
>>> (in this example.... only)
>>> if the entry shows (hd1,1), change that to (hd2,1) and sdb1 to sdc1
>>>
>>> Alt + x to boot.
>>>
>>> When booted, at terminal
>>> sudo update-grub
>>> check if changes is effected at /boot/grub/grub.cfg
>>>
>>> note: usb 'notations' tends to change, eg
>>> hd2,1 may become hd3,1 etc especially with multi- usb readers.
>>> Also will change if plugged into different computers.
>>
>> Okay, at boot prompt, (grub prompt? with a grub>  ? ), type
>> search -f /vmlinux
>
> This tries to find kernel image "search" ;-) (I figured out the vmlinux=vmlinuz)
>
>> check output, (as example here, say...hd0,3 and hd2,1)
>>
>> Then type....
>> linux (hd2,1)/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdc1 ro
>> initrd (hd2,1)/initrd.img
>> boot
>
> When I try to run:
>
> linux (hd1,1)/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb1 ro
>
> it tries to find kernel image "linux" which doesn't exist. If I try to run:
>
> /casper/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb1 ro
>
> it starts to boot the kernel that I can also see if I just normally mount the
> USB stick, but then the kernel panics because it cannot find /dev/sdb1 and
> tells me to supply a proper root argument (BTW: I wonder why they call the dir
> casper?). It suggests sda1, sda2, sda3 (my only HD) and sr0. I then tried
> with:
>
> /casper/vmlinuz root=/dev/sr0 ro
>
> but the kernel still panics telling me the root argument is invalid and that
> it cannot find sr0 device.
>
>> Good luck - Goh Lip
>
> Thanks for all the efforts - I'm on the brink of giving up getting this to work
> but it would be cool to have a portable linux-on-a-stick system. Luckily my
> CD-rw that I thought was toast decided to wake up to life again so at least
> I'm able to burn and boot new install discs.
>

You're right. you've got a *livecd installation* at your usb not a 
normal install. To get a normal install , install like normal but put in 
the usb partition.

But...again, I personally think it's not worthwhile to set kubuntu at 
usb. The transfer speed for usb transfer is too slow to make it any fun. 
A leaner distro like knoppix, puppy or dsl may be okay and fun to take 
around, but I've not done that for some time.


Anyway, if you want to just test-run livecd with the speed of a hd 
install, (but not portable!)..put the livecd iso at hd and access using 
grub2 menuentry as follows, in my example....

menuentry "Livecd  " {
	loopback loop (hd0,10)/pop/ubuntu-10.04-desktop-amd64.iso
	linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper 
iso-scan/filename=/pop/ubuntu-10.04-desktop-amd64.iso noprompt noeject 
quiet splash
	initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}


menuentry "SysResCd" {
         loopback loop (hd0,10)/pop/systemrescuecd-x86-1.5.2.iso
         linux (loop)/isolinux/rescue64 
isoloop=/pop/systemrescuecd-x86-1.5.2.iso setkmap=us docache
         initrd (loop)/isolinux/initram.igz
}


An interesting thing about this is, unlike live cd from cdrom, you can 
make changes stick by making a partition and labeling it casper-rw AND 
putting 'persistent rw' at the end of the linux line of the grub entry.

Thought you might want to know this in case you are interested in trying 
out.


Okay then, Thomas. Good Luck - Goh Lip