Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 10:32:55 -0400 From: Jerry McAllister <jerrymc@msu.edu> To: Craig Rodrigues <rodrigc@crodrigues.org> Cc: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org, freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org, Fluffles <etc@fluffles.net>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: boot2 can't boot from USB? Message-ID: <20070316143254.GC75446@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> In-Reply-To: <20070315213045.GA11147@crodrigues.org> References: <20070120073117.GB60202@x12.dk> <200703061246.09687.antik@bsd.ee> <45ED5850.6050506@nipsi.de> <200703061420.36980.antik@bsd.ee> <20070307135017.GC2864@garage.freebsd.pl> <45F2EEBD.6070007@barryp.org> <86ps7evniu.fsf@dwp.des.no> <45F91CF0.6010506@fluffles.net> <20070315213045.GA11147@crodrigues.org>
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On Thu, Mar 15, 2007 at 05:30:45PM -0400, Craig Rodrigues wrote: > On Thu, Mar 15, 2007 at 11:16:16AM +0100, Fluffles wrote: > > If so, i may have found some bugs / problems with boot2. Long ago i > > tried to make a bootable USB pendrive with FreeBSD 6.1 on it. It failed > > to boot with the message "invalid slice" and i got a prompt like: > > I have worked a lot with getting FreeBSD to boot off of USB devices, > and have gotten it to work. > Specifically, I have worked with USB pen drives, and USB CD-ROM drives. > It *is* possible, but what I have found is the following: > - on some motherboards, you need to explicitly configure the BIOS > to boot off of a USB device (either a disk, a CD-ROM, or a "Zip drive") > - booting off of USB-CDROM devices seems to be much more reliable than > booting off of USB pen drives > - if you have an "older" motherboard BIOS, say from about 3-4 years ago, > booting off of USB devices is more unreliable, than a "newer" motherboard > BIOS > - if I have 5 different models of USB pen drives, each model may behave > differently, and may or may not boot. Same for USB CD-ROM drives, > but I've found CD-ROM drives to be more reliable than pen drives. > > So to summarize: > - booting off of USB devices seems to be sensitive > to your motherboard BIOS, and the firmware written into your USB device. > - booting off of USB CD-ROM drives seems to be more reliable than booting > off of USB pen drives Just to add to your list, I have been successful booting from a USB floppy drive. I don't remember the floppy drive make, but I have used it on both a Dell Optiplex and a IBM (Lenova) laptop. ////jerry > > There is no logic to this, I've just found this out from trial and error, > and banging my head a lot. > > -- > Craig Rodrigues > rodrigc@crodrigues.org > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-bugs > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-bugs-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
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