Bootable USB Port

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geeve · #1 Post by **geeve** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 8:54 am

Hello All,

I am considering buying the X41 Tablet and have a couple quick questions...

I know the X41 has external optical drives that i can boot from, but i would rather not get the external drives if i can use USB keychains.

Question 1: If i have a USB Keychain (I have a 1 GIG Key) can i boot from it and install Windows?

Question 2: Does the BIOS support USB boot?

Thanks for you help!

Weymouth_Stan · #2 Post by **Weymouth_Stan** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:59 pm

Yes, it'll boot from a USB device. I've not installed XP from one, but it should work.
You'll need to make the USB drive bootable with the HP utility or somesuch.

Yotam · #3 Post by **Yotam** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:17 pm

I'd say the BIOS support any type of boot... I think it'll boot even from my camera. You can even boot from SD card (the computer has one).
I made a small test and tried to boot Knoppix from some devices. It even booted from a DVD-RW internal IDE drive which I connected via a USB2-IDE device - when none of my other desktops and acer laptop can't boot from it. (So you can just connect your CD-ROM with such device, instead of making and using USB keychain)
BUT - It might be that your usb device will not be recognized by BIOS - and then you wouldn't be able to boot from it. Most of USB flash devices are known, but be aware of this.

Second thing - the computer comes with XP Tablet preinstalled which you don't want to overwrite with PRO or HOME version because they does not support the tablet options. Unless you have clean copy of tablet and you want to install it instead of the preinstalled version (to avoid, for example, FranklinCovey uninstall problem

), you wouldn't have to use USB flash memory to install windows.

em500 · #4 Post by **em500** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:05 pm

> You can even boot from SD card (the computer has one).

I'm pretty sure the X40 doesn't support booting from the internal SD. Is this a new functionality of the X41(T)?

Yotam · #5 Post by **Yotam** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:13 pm

em500 wrote:> You can even boot from SD card (the computer has one).

I'm pretty sure the X40 doesn't support booting from the internal SD. Is this a new functionality of the X41(T)?

Ok it's my mistake. I heard it is possible but after looking at BIOS there is no option of SD card in the boot devices list.
I didn't try it with a card inside, or didn't try it at all, because I don't have a free SD card for testings (have only one in the PDA).

Sorry for this mistake.

cromas · #6 Post by **cromas** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:46 pm

With the intention of installing Windows quickly and without a CD, I tried several preparation programs, but wasn't able to get my X41T to boot from an SD card. I also installed the X41T drive into a desktop and ran winnt32 /syspart, but the X41 wouldn't boot off that either. I was, however, able to boot from several different hard drives and a CD-RW drive using a IDE/USB interface.

beq · #7 Post by **beq** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 11:29 pm

That's interesting that it doesn't work... I'd thought the SD slot on the X series just connects via USB internally?

Yotam · #8 Post by **Yotam** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 6:43 am

Maybe it is related to the fact that the SD reader is not always available, but only when you start it using the program that pops when pressing Fn+F9. It seems to be kind of "non-plug and play" device.

em500 · #9 Post by **em500** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:20 am

beq wrote:That's interesting that it doesn't work... I'd thought the SD slot on the X series just connects via USB internally?

The SD is handled internally by the Ricoh RL5c476 Cardbus controller (and AFAIK the X40 can't boot from PCMCIA/PC-Card/Cardbus either). There is also still no Linux driver for the SD slot (if it were USB internally this would be trivial).

Bootable USB Port

Bootable USB Port

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