Booting from Memory Stick?

Joe DeFuria · Post by **Joe DeFuria** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 2:34 pm

Since I refuse to put a floppy in my new machine, I'm trying to see if I can get it to boot from a Memory stick.

I did some basic googling, but no real luck on how or if this can be done. I have accomplished this much so far: (I have a memory card reader attched via USB to the Asus P4P800 Deluxe)

1) Set the BIOS to force the usb mass storage device as a hard drive
2) Have been able to boot from Win98 "setup disk CDROM", and access the memory stick via Dos.
3) Have been able to FDISK the memory stick, and set the partition to active. (I had to disconnect my hard drive to do this, as it wouldn't allow the setting of the active partition with the hard disk there.)
4) Formatted the memory stick with system files (format /s)
5) System Attempted to boot to the memory stick...but it just hangs.

Any ideas?

the_smell · Post by **the_smell** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 3:51 pm

I once booted a memory stick only to discover they aren't entirely shock proof!

sorry, couldn't resist.

How far did it get into the boot process, was it past the drive detection and starting to load the OS? I read somewhere that on some motherboards usb1.1 devices tend to have more success than 2!?! My only other thought is BIOS update might be worth a try.

I've only ever tried CF for booting with an ide adaptor, it worked very well. Sorry that was a particularly uninformative post - mostly a poor excuse for a bad joke.

Joe DeFuria · Post by **Joe DeFuria** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 5:32 pm

the_smell wrote:I once booted a memory stick only to discover they aren't entirely shock proof! sorry, couldn't resist.

Yuk! Yuk!

How far did it get into the boot process, was it past the drive detection and starting to load the OS?

Yes, it started to attempt to boot the OS...just hung with a nice blinking cursor.

I read somewhere that on some motherboards usb1.1 devices tend to have more success than 2!?! My only other thought is BIOS update might be worth a try.

Hmmm..I'll try an older USB 1.1 memory stick reader. (BIOS is less than a week old though.)

...mostly a poor excuse for a bad joke.

I've heard worse.

Joe DeFuria · Post by **Joe DeFuria** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 5:58 pm

Now this is odd...

I was actually able to boot from my USB 1.1 external Memory Stick reader....exactly once. (My mother booted from a Memory Stick once.....once!...

)

The first time I plugged it in, I could select it from the boot menu...but after that one time...it's no longer there. It always shows up in the BIOS, but not in the bbot menu.

Now I'm really confused.

the_smell · Post by **the_smell** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 6:46 am

Mmmmm... Is the memory stick still ok - can you use it just as a storage device without problems?

I reccon I'm more confused!

So close, yet...

Joe DeFuria · Post by **Joe DeFuria** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 7:37 am

Yup...the memory stick is just fine. Definitely odd...

the_smell · Post by **the_smell** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 4:18 pm

Ok, I think I'm going to have to resort to a desperate plea...

HELP!!!

Does anyone else have any ideas of how to sort out this memory stick trouble!?!

My only hope is it's something really obvious as it would appear booting from USB devices is not at all uncommon from a few google searches - although few use the MS.

If all else fails, and the MS is a no go, the options I see are:
1. Go for compact flash on IDE (not too expencive and it will work)
2. Boot over network
3. Cry, shout, pull hair and start a personal vendetta against all storage devices other than memory stick, therefore forcing someone else to fix the problem since we'll all be stuck with it

But seriously someone help!!!