Boot A31 From USB

[jrv331]

Im trying to get my A31 to boot from a external USB drive but it wont work. I have tried all options in the boot menu. Is there a way around this.
Thanks
John

[bajaman61]

I just installed Ubuntu 8.10 on my OS-less R50. So be careful, that is the extent of my "expertise" in answering this question.

I put an OS on the USB and then put the USB at the top of the boot sequence by accessing the BIOS. It didn't take.

So I figured perhaps it was the USB to blame.

Fortunately, Ubuntu 8.10 has a command series that properly formats and saves to the USB card. The new and improved memory card in the USB worked as advertised.

Perhaps the formatting on the USB is not what is needed for it to be recognized.

Just my $0.04.

[Benoone]

For any drive to boot it needs the boot sectors (track 0)on the disk/device to be properly formatted so it can boot-strap to the rest of the devce. Usually this is refered to as the MBR or Master Boot Record. If it has a valid MBR/Grub/whatever it then looks for a bootable partition to continue to boot. So... if that format or sequence is incorrect or files are missing it (the disk/device/drive) will not "boot".... ever!

For example, to format a simple floppy one issues the command "SYS A:\" and the OS writes a new MBR to track zero and then copies over to the floppy three necessary files, io.sys, msdos.sys and command.com. Now the floppy gives you a simple command prompt but at least it boots. Later you can add the other files you want to the disk to make it do other things.

If you're trying to boot an IDE or SATA drive on a USB port and you did not format it (and it's MBR) from the same TP you are trying to boot to... then chances are, it will never boot. IBM in lots of cases uses a special 255 head format system that must be duplicated or the BIOS will not see the disk correctly. That problem is documented on this site elsewhere. Solution is to always format the disk using the same BIOS it will later be connected to. (and never fix the "error" some partition software claims about TP drives i.e Partition Magic/PowerQuest)

You can't boot from an USB port unless you have real legacy USB functions available and enabled in the BIOS (not until maybe 2002-05 or so depending on the computer). If the BIOS sees the device and you have the boot option available and the device name is parked at the top of the available choices then that means the CPU/bios can boot it and it if won't boot... your problem is the disk - It is not bootable for one or more of the above reasons.

Windows will not (normally) let you boot from a removable drive - It can be done but requires experience or micro drive or a SATA bios and a SATA drive. I use a 2nd drive caddy, Acronis disk and backup/image software that I can image to another drive on the network and my bootable USB pen drives to get things done.

I just got three USB pen drives working and booting on my T42p and T30 plus they boot on all my other computers. You can find the details at http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=69950

I hope this helps, good luck

Benoone

[jrv331]

The drive Im trying to boot from is a sata drive from a second laptop. My problem is that in my A31 boot menu there is no USB option, just external device. Tried that already and no go. Once my A31 fires up it recognizes my usb drive and will read/write to it. So accessing it is not the problem.
Thanks
John

[Benoone]

My problem is that in my A31 boot menu there is no USB option, just external device.

Yup!

I guess you have no direct legacy bios support for USB which is not uncomon for "elder" machines and unless you can find a newer bios version with that service "built-in" I'm afraid...

But, the fact that the bios does not say usb is not as important as it being able to see the device and the device name. If it does that, you may have a chance with some devices.

Of course it sees your USB after it boots but that's because the OS loaded the USB drivers during the boot process.

As I said above, if your bios does not even know what usb is... you can't expect it to boot it. Some exceptions are usb floppy drives and fat16 usb pen drives.

Good luck

Benoone