[sf-lug] More on the EeePC boot problem

[Sam Geffner]

Jim, thanks for the urgent help.  The partitions' are formatted Fat16, can
be read on windows desktop, The card reader behaves the same whether I use
the dedicated slot or the USB port.  And I have an identical SD card that I
made up to do system restore that reads fine and boots to a Gui.  So I think
its something to do with the bootloaders used, which is arcane to me.

-- 
Sam Geffner
sgeffner at gmail.com
415-648-7744
415-793-3562 cel


"That which makes our task difficult is part of the task."



On Jan 31, 2008 10:04 AM, jim stockford <jim at well.com> wrote:

>
> others may have better ideas.
> the only things that come to my mind are
>
> * the filesystem on the usb stick: what is it? plain old FAT? other?
> there may be a problem reading the filesystem on the USB stick.
>
> * the SD card reader: i'm interpreting your words to mean that
> the Eee has a slot for SD format devices, you have a device
> that fits in the SD slot and presents USB slot(s). there may be
> some driver issue, possibly similar to the PCMCIA bus architecture,
> where your system doesn't have a driver that sees through the
> driver for the SD slot circuitry.
>
>
>
> On Jan 31, 2008, at 9:19 AM, Sam Geffner wrote:
>
> > The Eee actually has a dedicated SD slot.  And I have a usb card
> > reader that I can slip the slot in.  When I boot the Eee, I press
> > escape to see a boot menu, and select the "USB flash card reader"
> > which can be either the SD slot or the USB reader.  Then all I see is
> > a blank screen with a flashing underscore cursor.  FWIW, I get the
> > same behavior when I try to boot my desktop from the SD card.
> >
> > The isolinux.cfg file in the root of the card reads:
> >
> > DEFAULT /casper/vmlinuz
> > GFXBOOT bootlogo
> > GFXBOOT-BACKGROUND 0xB6875A
> > APPEND  file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper
> > initrd=/casper/initrd.gz quiet splash --
> >  LABEL live
> >   menu label ^Start or install Ubuntu
> >   kernel /casper/vmlinuz
> >   append  file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper
> > initrd=/casper/initrd.gz quiet splash --
> > LABEL xforcevesa
> >   menu label Start Ubuntu in safe ^graphics mode
> >    kernel /casper/vmlinuz
> >   append  file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper xforcevesa
> > initrd=/casper/initrd.gz quiet splash --
> > LABEL driverupdates
> >   menu label Install with driver ^update CD
> >   kernel /casper/vmlinuz
> >    append  file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper
> > debian-installer/driver-update=true initrd=/casper/initrd.gz quiet
> > splash --
> > LABEL oem
> >   menu label ^OEM install (for manufacturers)
> >   kernel /casper/vmlinuz
> >    append  file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper
> > oem-config/enable=true initrd=/casper/initrd.gz quiet splash --
> > LABEL check
> >   menu label ^Check CD for defects
> >   kernel /casper/vmlinuz
> >   append  boot=casper integrity-check initrd=/casper/initrd.gz quiet
> > splash --
> >  LABEL memtest
> >   menu label ^Memory test
> >   kernel /install/mt86plus
> >   append -
> > LABEL hd
> >   menu label ^Boot from first hard disk
> >   localboot 0x80
> >   append -
> > DISPLAY isolinux.txt
> > TIMEOUT 300
> > PROMPT 1
> >  F1 f1.txt
> > F2 f2.txt
> > F3 f3.txt
> > F4 f4.txt
> > F5 f5.txt
> > F6 f6.txt
> > F7 f7.txt
> > F8 f8.txt
> > F9 f9.txt
> > F0 f10.txt
> >
> >
> > But I never get that far.
> > --
> > Sam Geffner
> > sgeffner at gmail.com
> >  415-648-7744
> > 415-793-3562 cel
> >
> >
> > "That which makes our task difficult is part of the task."
> >
> > On Jan 31, 2008 9:05 AM, jim stockford <jim at well.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> seems you want the EeePC to boot from the USB drive, yes?
> >>
> >> knowing symptoms will help. what do you do, what do you see?
> >>
> >>
> >> On Jan 31, 2008, at 8:47 AM, Sam Geffner wrote:
> >>
> >> > I bought an EeePC to have on an upcoming trip.  I leave Friday
> >> > evening. I have been struggling for 5 days to get a bootable flash
> >> > drive with Ubuntu on it so I can install Ubuntu Gutsy with Hamachi
> >> and
> >>  > VNC.  I followed the directions at
> >> > http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2007/09/28/usb-ubuntu-710-gutsy-gibbon-
> >> > install/  and have a partitioned media stick which looks right but
> >>  > doesn';t boot.  Clearly there is something about the bootloader
> >> that
> >> > escapes me.  Can anyone please offer some email support or even some
> >> > hands-on help [Noe Valley] before Friday?  Installing Hamachi and
> >> VNC
> >>  > on the crippled Xandros that comes bundled with the Eee would also
> >> be
> >> > an option.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks all
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > Sam Geffner
> >> > sgeffner at gmail.com
> >>  > 415-648-7744
> >> > 415-793-3562 cel
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > "That which makes our task difficult is part of the
> >> > task."_______________________________________________
> >> > sf-lug mailing list
> >>  > sf-lug at linuxmafia.com
> >> > http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/sf-lug
> >>
> >
> >
> >
>
>



-- 
Sam Geffner
sgeffner at gmail.com
415-648-7744
415-793-3562 cel


"That which makes our task difficult is part of the task."
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