Can I boot my R61 of a USB stick?

[101strummer]

My Lenovo R61 Thinkpad won't boot of a USB stick with an ISO on it. I know the USB stick/ISO is OK because another newer laptop will boot of it.

I've pressed F1 and moved the following USB items to the top of the boot order:
USB FDD
USB CD
-USB HDD
Should my laptop recognize the USB stick as one of them?
(and what does the '-' in front of the USB HDD mean?)
When I run it in diags mode I get 'No operating system found' for these items.

When I press F12 only the hard disk, physical CD drive and LAN appear in the boot list.

I've been told that older laptops can't boot of USB sticks, mine was made around 2007. Any advice would be appreciated.

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to the Forum.

If the ISO was properly installed on your USB-stick (not just copied!) it should work!
Here are some instructions: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/file-fold ... so-usb.htm

The USB-stick is -USB HDD in BIOS.
Don't know why it has a - before USB.
Put the USB-stick in, then cold-boot and press F12 to give you the Start-menu.
If you see -USB HD0 select that to boot from.
If not, press Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot and press F12 again.
-USB HD0 should now show.

PS: make sure that USB is ENabled in BIOS! (in Config/USB)

[101strummer]

Thanks - I tried F12 and rebooting but none of the USB options appeared in the menu. I now suspect the drivers aren't being loaded until after the startup.

This is an old machine that I'm just experimenting with. I know the USB stick is OK as I can use it to boot my G50 in legacy mode.

[Cigarguy]

Is your USB stick USB2 or USB3? Older machines usually will not boot from a USB3 stick.

[101strummer]

It's an unbranded USB stick that I got off ebay for less than £2 including postage, so I suspect it's USB2. It's also got a black plastic insert instead of a light blue one.

If the USB options aren't appearing when I press F12 (even after a refresh) then I suspect there is something wrong with the machine. I think I'll just get a blank DVD and create the ISO on that.

[RealBlackStuff]

Try updating your BIOS with Middleton's: http://ali.dj/blog/sata-ii-support-for- ... 61-x61-r61
Make sure to pick the right version!
After that, your HD/SSD can run at SATA II speed.
Make sure to make a bootable CD!

[101strummer]

Unfortunately those are Windows exes and I'm running Ubuntu Linux. Could that be why the USB ports aren't recognised on boot?

[RealBlackStuff]

Nope, a bootable ISO is included in the download.

[brchan]

If you are using linux and want to burn an ISO to a removable media device, use dd. For Windows, use Rufus.

For dd, refer to https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/US ... tion_media. Personally, sometimes dd will burn an iso to the media you want, but it will not boot and seems to happen to certain distros (linux mint debian IIRC). Creating a new partition table on the device sometimes solves it. Using dd on an Arch ISO has always worked for me, though.

[automobus]

boot order:
USB FDD
USB CD
-USB HDD
Should my laptop recognize the USB stick as one of them?
(and what does the '-' in front of the USB HDD mean?)

If your Stick is of class 08:06:50 and suitable, then a line '+USB HDD' in setup utility signifies it is found by ThinkPad firmware. That dash/hyphen/minus means ThinkPad firmware did not find your Stick.

If the USB options aren't appearing when I press F12 (even after a refresh)

What kind of 'refresh'? Did you reset/reload defaults, save, then power cycle?

[101strummer]

I pressed F12 to list the Boot devices and then Alt+Ctrl+Del to refresh them.
If the '-' means the firmware isn't even finding the USB HDD when I press F1 then I think I'll just use the physical CD instead.

[RealBlackStuff]

@automobus:
his "refresh" is Ctrl-Alt-Del and F12 AFTER a cold-boot and F12 that didn't recognize the USB-stick.

@101strummer:
Methinks your problem is the cheap USB-stick.
Check if this helps, it is old but still applies: https://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/2008 ... sh-drives/
Or try a better-quality USB-stick.

[101strummer]

Thanks but I'll try a CD, the USB stick worked on a newer laptop.

[jaspen-meyer]

I get the same behavior newer USB's and older machines.
The problem is the USB is using GPT instead of MBR or the table being used is screwed up.

The Linux utility 'gdisk' will quickly fix the problem.

[101strummer]

I've just been playing around with Slacko Puppy and this is a fairly common problem. It's installer has a whole tab on the subject. Some older machines just can't recognise USB sticks as USB HDD. It gives you the option of formatting the stick as USB CDD/FDD/ZIP or 'chameleon'. My laptop recognized the chameleon mode.

Thanks for all the help and advice. I won't risk updating the drivers as I've now got a spare laptop that works.