another usb boot error no drive found (grub)[some what solved]

[ramaswamyps]

i tried to install in my usb hdd pclos-phoenix-2010.10
the installation went through ok
on restarting the grub does bot find the usb hdd to boot from.
my laptop does not boot from usb hdd by default. it has only option to boot from usb fdd.
will this program make my laptop to boot from usb hdd??

[Was_Just19]

will this program make my laptop to boot from usb hdd??

What program??


If your laptop has no means of booting from a USB drive then there is not a lot you can do, but there may be some means of booting depending on the laptop and how much effort you may be prepared to put into doing so.

You do not give sufficient details of what you did or indeed what programme you are asking about to be sure what answer to give.

When booting your laptop, is there an option to display the boot choice? The USB drive may be listed amongst the HDDs for booting.

On some PCs it is one of the ' F ' keys, while on others it is the 'Esc' key ........  there should be a notice to that effect on the screen if it is visible.
If as you boot, those notices are hidden, then you will need to edit the settings in BIOS to enable you to see the notices.

A lot more information is needed about your specific hardware and what exactly you did when installing, to address your question more thoroughly.

regards.

[ramaswamyps]

i use toshiba tecra M2 laptop with one built in hdd and 2 usb 2 ports.
in the bios i can boot from cdrom,network,usb floppy drive..internal hdd
while booting F12 will get to this menu of choice.
i first installed pclos in my built in hdd in one partition.
i have a 60gb usb hdd available with me
i have installed pclos in the usb hdd using the usb installer source from my cd/dvd player built in.
i followed the program instrucions and at boot loader option i installed grub in the built in hdd.
the boot from internal hdd grub does not look at the usb hdd until pclos booted from builtin hdd.
i have tried many little programs to load a usb drive at boot time none worked.
i was hoping pclos installer will solve it.but no success.the usb driver is not loaded from bios or any grub program.
if oyu can give me some ideas how to go about i will certaily follw up.
any more info required i am happy to provide.
thanks for the reply.

[Old-Polack]

i use toshiba tecra M2 laptop with one built in hdd and 2 usb 2 ports.
in the bios i can boot from cdrom,network,usb floppy drive..internal hdd
while booting F12 will get to this menu of choice.
i first installed pclos in my built in hdd in one partition.
i have a 60gb usb hdd available with me
i have installed pclos in the usb hdd using the usb installer source from my cd/dvd player built in.
i followed the program instrucions and at boot loader option i installed grub in the built in hdd.
the boot from internal hdd grub does not look at the usb hdd until pclos booted from builtin hdd.
i have tried many little programs to load a usb drive at boot time none worked.
i was hoping pclos installer will solve it.but no success.the usb driver is not loaded from bios or any grub program.
if oyu can give me some ideas how to go about i will certaily follw up.
any more info required i am happy to provide.
thanks for the reply.

You should have installed grub to the MBR of the USB drive. That can be fixed later, but first you need to get grub from the internal drive installed to the internal drive's MBR, so you can boot to that installation. The method is spelled out here;

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,62786.msg508062.html#msg508062

The directions show a normal users prompt, but to be safe, it would be best to do this from a terminal as root. Once you have that done, I can show you how to boot to the USB drive, That will be later tonight, as I'm pressed for time at the moment.

[Dragynn]

Just a note here from my own system. In my bios, there is not only a boot order menu ( 1. HDD, 2. CD-ROM, etc.), there is also a "hard drive boot priority" menu, clicking on this gives me the list of current HDD's attached to my system ( *note* for the USB-HDD to on this list, it must already be inserted before I boot). The default order is:  1. internal HDD   2. USB-HDD.  When I want to boot from USB, it is necessary to go into this menu and move the USB-HDD up to  #1 position.  After that I don't even need to go into boot menu (F12 key) for it to boot from the USB, it is automatic.

Maybe this can help, good luck!

[Was_Just19]

Well it seems you must have done a full install of the OS to your external HDD .....  otherwise you would not have had the option to install Grub to the MBR of any other drive.

You need to reinstall Grub on both the internal and the external HDDs.

I will leave those instructions to o-p so as not to confuse things.

I am a little surprised that the external HDD is not shown in the HDD list when you select F12 ......  it is here and that is how I boot from USB drive in one of the PCs.

Over to o-p 

regards.

[Old-Polack]

Just a note here from my own system. In my bios, there is not only a boot order menu ( 1. HDD, 2. CD-ROM, etc.), there is also a "hard drive boot priority" menu, clicking on this gives me the list of current HDD's attached to my system ( *note* for the USB-HDD to on this list, it must already be inserted before I boot). The default order is:  1. internal HDD   2. USB-HDD.  When I want to boot from USB, it is necessary to go into this menu and move the USB-HDD up to  #1 position.  After that I don't even need to go into boot menu (F12 key) for it to boot from the USB, it is automatic.

Maybe this can help, good luck!

Good point. Every BIOS from every MB I've purchased since 2003 has had that Hard Drive Boot Priority section, and none showed the USB drive at all, unless it was plugged in and running prior to the  machine itself being turned on.

[ramaswamyps]

i have pclos grub in the internal hdd and thats how i boot to pclos , gentoo, and windows xpsp3
this is a 2003 made laptop. i have earlier tried usbstick ,usb hdd etc but found noway of getting the usb hdd shown in the boot devices list..
i can mount the usb hdd pclos and chroot and install grub to usb hdd mbr also and try to boot from it.
i have kept the usb hdd connected after installing from the internal pclos.
with F12 function i did not find hdd boot Hard Drive Boot Priority  in my bios.Hard Drive Boot Priority 
i was hoping to see the usb device in the grub menu of the internal hdd
i have tried updating the bios firmware
grub4dos,grub2, like programs also with no change in boot order.
i can upload the user /fru manuals if it will help
thanks for your valuable replies.

[Old-Polack]

i have pclos grub in the internal hdd and thats how i boot to pclos , gentoo, and windows xpsp3
this is a 2003 made laptop. i have earlier tried usbstick ,usb hdd etc but found noway of getting the usb hdd shown in the boot devices list..
i can mount the usb hdd pclos and chroot and install grub to usb hdd mbr also and try to boot from it.
i have kept the usb hdd connected after installing from the internal pclos.
with F12 function i did not find hdd boot Hard Drive Boot Priority  in my bios.Hard Drive Boot Priority  
i was hoping to see the usb device in the grub menu of the internal hdd
i have tried updating the bios firmware
grub4dos,grub2, like programs also with no change in boot order.
i can upload the user /fru manuals if it will help
thanks for your valuable replies.

I'm typing this from a computer that has no USB booting capabilities, yet I'm running this OS from the USB hard drive. There's a simple trick to make this work. From the running PCLOS installation, mount the partition on the USB drive that is the Phoenix / partition. Copy the Phoenix /boot directory to the running PCLOS / directory. You will be told that a /boot directory already exists and asked if you want to overwrite it, or rename the copied directory. Rename the copied directory phoenix.

Now, in your master /boot/grub/menu.lst copy the PCLOS boot stanza and paste the copy beneath the original, leaving an empty/blank line in between. Edit the new stanza as follows;

title Phoenix
kernel (hdx,n)/phoenix/vmlinuz  BOOT_IMAGE=Phoenix root=/dev/<USB / partition> resume=/dev/<USB swap partition> splash=silent vga=791
initrd (hdx,n)/phoenix/initrd.img

Replace <USB / partition> and <USB swap partition> with the actual designations as your system sees them. Leave the (hdx,n) the same as it is for the PCLOS installation.

Save the file, reboot, and select the Phoenix option from the boot menu. If you've done all of the above correctly, it should boot the USB Phoenix installation.

Edit: Fixed typo shown in later post quotes.

[ramaswamyps]

i tried as you have explained.
i get error the disk does not exist.
i have given below the menu.lst of usb install and the internal disk install.

the usb /boot/grub/menu.lst
===================================================================
timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd1,5)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title linux
kernel (hd1,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=991ea5c7-679a-44be-869f-f34147defd15  splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd1,5)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd1,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=991ea5c7-679a-44be-869f-f34147defd15
initrd (hd1,5)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd1,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=991ea5c7-679a-44be-869f-f34147defd15  failsafe
initrd (hd1,5)/boot/initrd.img

title windows
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

title PCLinuxOS (Phoenix)
root (hd0,5)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

title Linux sda7
root (hd0,6)
==================================================================
the internal pclos /boot/grub/menu.lst after copying the usb menu.lst
===================================================================
timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,5)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title windows
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

title linux
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=475d726a-e08d-48b4-b217-33239902a7dd splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=475d726a-e08d-48b4-b217-33239902a7dd failsafe
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.img

title Gentoo

root (hd0,6)
chainloader +1

## copied from usb pclos-grub-menu.lst  ###

title PHOENIX USB
kernel (hd1,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=991ea5c7-679a-44be-869f-f34147defd15  splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd1,5)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd1,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=991ea5c7-679a-44be-869f-f34147defd15
initrd (hd1,5)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd1,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=991ea5c7-679a-44be-869f-f34147defd15  failsafe
initrd (hd1,5)/boot/initrd.img

title windows
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1


# title Phoenix
# kernel (hdx,n)/phoenix/vmlinux  BOOT_IMAGE=Phoenix root=/dev/sdb6  resume=/dev/sdb5 splash=silent # vga=791
# initrd (hdx,n)/phoenix/initrd.img

title Phoenix
kernel (hd0,5)/phoenix/vmlinux  BOOT_IMAGE=Phoenix root=/dev/sdb6  resume=/dev/sdb5 splash=silent vga=791
initrd (hdx,n)/phoenix/initrd.img

title PCLinuxOS (Phoenix)
root (hd0,5)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

title Linux sda7
root (hd0,6)
===================================================================
i dont see how i can code the content of files here.

i get the error disk not found even when i tried to change hdx,n to 0 1 and 2

i have hd0 internal found as sda usb disk is found as sdb.

i am not very clear about substitution of disk number .

i copied the /boot from usb to / of internal pclos and nameddit as phoenix.
copied the boot stanzas to main menu.lst.

i need more guidance to make this work it seems.

thanks for your patience old-pollack


edit:

i found vmlinux in the boot line and corrected it
initrd also i had to bring from /phoenix of main drive.

well now it has booted from usb disk and upgrading the softwares.

one more question is can i boot in the windows installation of the usb disk?
if so how can i reach the grub installed in usb hdd?
is this exclusively for pclinuxos or any linux,windows ?

will help me more if i can boot into usb windows.also.

i am sure you have given enough guidance in this matter and your experience shows.
thank you very much old-pollack

[Old-Polack]

i tried as you have explained.
i get error the disk does not exist.
i have given below the menu.lst of internal disk install.

==================================================================
the internal pclos /boot/grub/menu.lst after copying the usb menu.lst
===================================================================
timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,5)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title windows
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

title linux
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=475d726a-e08d-48b4-b217-33239902a7dd splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=475d726a-e08d-48b4-b217-33239902a7dd failsafe
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.img

title Gentoo

root (hd0,6)
chainloader +1

## copied from usb pclos-grub-menu.lst  ###

title PHOENIX USB
kernel (hd1,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=991ea5c7-679a-44be-869f-f34147defd15  splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd1,5)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd1,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=991ea5c7-679a-44be-869f-f34147defd15
initrd (hd1,5)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd1,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=991ea5c7-679a-44be-869f-f34147defd15  failsafe
initrd (hd1,5)/boot/initrd.img

title windows
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1


# title Phoenix
# kernel (hdx,n)/phoenix/vmlinux  BOOT_IMAGE=Phoenix root=/dev/sdb6  resume=/dev/sdb5 splash=silent # vga=791
# initrd (hdx,n)/phoenix/initrd.img

title Phoenix
kernel (hd0,5)/phoenix/vmlinux BOOT_IMAGE=Phoenix root=/dev/sdb6  resume=/dev/sdb5 splash=silent vga=791
initrd (hdx,n)/phoenix/initrd.img

title PCLinuxOS (Phoenix)
root (hd0,5)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

title Linux sda7
root (hd0,6)
===================================================================
i dont see how i can code the content of files here.

i get the error disk not found even when i tried to change hdx,n to 0 1 and 2

i have hd0 internal found as sda usb disk is found as sdb.

i am not very clear about substitution of disk number .

i copied the /boot from usb to / of internal pclos and nameddit as phoenix.
copied the boot stanzas to main menu.lst.

i need more guidance to make this work it seems.

thanks for your patience old-pollack


edit:

i found vmlinux in the boot line and corrected it
initrd also i had to bring from /phoenix of main drive.

well now it has booted from usb disk and upgrading the softwares.

one more question is can i boot in the windows installation of the usb disk?
if so how can i reach the grub installed in usb hdd?
is this exclusively for pclinuxos or any linux,windows ?

will help me more if i can boot into usb windows.also.

i am sure you have given enough guidance in this matter and your experience shows.
thank you very much old-pollack

You had the Phoenix kernel line almost correct, (My typo error in the instructions, fixed now, for others that might read this thread.) but needed to show the proper drive in the initrd line also. Should now be;

title Phoenix
kernel (hd0,5)/phoenix/vmlinuz  BOOT_IMAGE=Phoenix root=/dev/sdb6  resume=/dev/sdb5 splash=silent vga=791
initrd (hd0,5)/phoenix/initrd.img


Your BIOS, and therefore grub, cannot see the USB drive. The Linux kernel can, which is why this works. Placing the Phoenix kernel on the internal drive, within the existing PCLOS partition, makes it accessible to grub, and once loaded it can then see, and load, the rest of the Phoenix installation on the USB drive.

To avoid future confusion, I would delete all the entries shown above in bold green.

I really don't know how to get Windows installed on the USB drive to boot with a Bios that cant see the USB drive. I would assume it could be done if the version of Windows on the USB drive were the same as the one on the internal drive, using an entry in the internal drive installation's boot.ini, but it's been a long time since I used Windows, and don't know what that entry would consist of.

As you've now installed the Phoenix grub to the USB drive's MBR, if you plug the drive into a computer that allows USB booting, you should be able to boot Phoenix directly, after setting the USB drive as the boot drive in BIOS. The Phoenix menu.lst stanzas would have to be edited to change all (hd1,5) entries to (hd0,5), as the boot drive is always seen as (hd0).

[ramaswamyps]

thanks old-pollack now i understand how this arrangement works.
there is a usb windows distribution i tried that but i got the same disk not found error. and did not investigate further till this time.
probably some of the boot files in the fixed drive may help to see the usb hdd

anyways pclos works fine. from the usb hdd.