[syslinux] "isolinux.bin missing or corrupt" when booting USB flash drive in old PC
Ady Ady
ady-sf at hotmail.com
Sun Mar 19 02:03:41 PDT 2017
>
> The computer has a HDD mobile rack. I removed the HDD when testing the
> Debian installer image on a USB flash drive. So, the only drive other
> than the USB flash drive under test was the optical drive.
>
>
In my last email, I forgot to emphasize the following generic
procedure.
In the BIOS setup screen(s), one set of options are intended for
sorting the boot order according to type of devices (CD-ROM, HDD,
floppy...).
There is _another_ set of options, usually on the first (or the main)
setup screen. The BIOS detects a list of devices currently connected to
each PATA/IDE/SATA port. The detection also varies, depending on
additional settings such as "legacy/raid/ahci/sata", or even "pio/dma"
mode, meaning that the same devices might be detected and _listed_
within the BIOS main screen when using some of these settings, whereas
they won't be listed while using different BIOS settings.
With your USB device connected and the computer powered off (as in
completely shut down), power up and get into the BIOS setup screen. In
the main screen, the first device, connected to the first, detected
(P)ATA/IDE port, should be your USB device, as if it were to be
identified as a regular HDD. This is different than the boot _order_
screen.
If the main screen in your BIOS can list the USB device as the first
device in the list, and it can also be set as the first device in the
boot order settings, then the chances of booting successfully can
increase.
This procedure is independent of the potential 32KiB limitation for
isolinux.bin for certain BIOS implementations. This potential
additional issue can still be an impediment to boot in certain systems
anyway. The same goes for other potential issues.
Yet, if the BIOS cannot list / detect the USB device as if it was a
common HDD (UNrelated to the boot order, just in addition to it), then
the chances for a successful boot are diminished.
Regards,
Ady.
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