[syslinux] Re: Trying to figure out why my Cruzer Micro 512"MB" won't boot.

[Nazo]

On 2/6/06, Nazo <nazosan at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2/6/06, Nazo <nazosan at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Office Depot ran a deal with a Cruzer Micro 512MB (actually, around
> > 488MiB) for about $20 after a rebate I may not see for months.  I saw
> > the ad yesterday and stopped by pretty well first thing this afternoon
> > to snatch one up while they were still there since I've been having to
> > make do with two 256MB drives to hold all the data I neded since one
> > drive couldn't hold enough (though I must admit my rescue disc type
> > stuff takes up most of that space that made me need another flash
> > drive to hold it all.)  I really wanted to completely consolidate
> > everything into one flashdrive and just sell the old drives or
> > something.  Unfortunately, it just doesn't seem to want to boot.  I
> > used the trick highlighted in the readme file on the fake USB-ZIP
> > method because my bios is among those which can't boot a USB-HDD.
> > This method has worked on my previous 256MB flashdrives and my bios,
> > so I had good reason to believe it should have worked on this one.  I
> > get no errors and windows and linux both work flawlessly with it, so
> > the only conclusions I can draw is that either the bios absolutely
> > does not recognize it as a valid boot device so skips it completely
> > (which might explain why it instantly goes straight to the harddrive
> > with no visible delay) or that the drive itself is not properly
> > working as a bootable drive.
> >
> > Any idea if it's the drive or the bios?  Either way, is there anything
> > I can do at all, or am I stuck having to keep carrying two flashdrives
> > still?
> >
>
> I'm sorry, I just remembered I could use my grandmother's computer to
> test on another system.  Her's is an Intel chipset (can't recall which
> one) P4 system made around the time they switched from RDRAM to DDR
> SDRAM (sorry, can't be more specific off the top of my head.)  Anyway,
> it too lacks the USB-HDD option in the boot options, but, also has the
> USB-ZIP, so I tried my drive on it too.  While mine simply skips the
> drive almost like it's not even there, hers freezes up on it.  I think
> this proves the problem is more specific to the drive itself than my
> bios.  I guess this means I'm stuck, but, just to be sure I would like
> to ask if anyone knows of anything that might be done?
>

I did some searching on google and saw mention by various people of
having tested a SanDisk Cruzer Micro 512MB with Syslinux and it
working.  Probably the most notable one I found was from Puppylinux
(or linux puppy or something with a puppy in it anyway) where they
mentioned specifically what they'd tested with and what version of
Syslinux they used.  They said they used version 3.08, so I tried
that, but, it still doesn't work.  I don't think they tested it with
the whole fake usb zipdrive thing though.  I'd bet on USB-HDD mode. 
Thing is, a bootable rescue is worthless if it won't boot, so I have
to get it working in USB-ZIP mode and, for that matter, working at
all.  If those people were able to get it working at all, I can't help
but think that it must be physically possible to do so.  Is there
anything I could have done wrong or just something that can be done
differently that might make a difference?