[syslinux] USB boot problems on Gigabyte GA-M55Plus-S3G

[Ronald F. Guilmette]

In message <BLU0-SMTP2660F9FD24F490433C41E898BBA0 at phx.gbl>, Ady wrote:

>If booting it then succeeds, I would also suggest using fdisk just to 
>set (write) the "active" flag (nothing else) and test again.

I see no use nor any compelling reason to carry out this particular
test now.

As I/we now know, the only thing that seems to be affected by the status
of the partition bootable flag on a USB stick (with this motherboard &
BIOS) is the presence or absence of the relevant USB device on the
BIOS's Boot Priority list.  But apparently a USB device does not even
have to be visible on that list for the BIOS to make an attempt to boot
from it, as long as the general category of the device is set (in the
BIOS) as either First or Second or Third Boot Device and as long as
there are no attached devices (with media present) which have higher
priority among that set {First,Second,Third}.

In short, setting the "bootable" flag is just a nicety.  In an ideal
world, Clonezilla and UBCD and OpenELEC will eventually provide install
images and/or install instructions that will insure that their respective
bootable partitions _are_ (unlike now) formally flagged as bootable, 
but having that flag set is apparently not a hard & fast requirement
for booting those things, even with this (antiquated?) board & BIOS.


Regards,
rfg