[syslinux] "isolinux.bin missing or corrupt" when booting USB flash drive in old PC

[David Christensen]

On 03/19/2017 09:05 AM, Ady Ady via Syslinux wrote:
> Now, besides this whole discussion and with no reference to anyone in
> particular nor offense intended, I have to admit that I am a little bit
> tired of answering questions related to how an ISO image either fails
> or succeeds when booting from USB (we both have been part of these
> discussions during the last few years) . I am very much aware that
> maintainers of Linux distributions want to keep distributing _only_ ISO
> images and they want to support _only_ the "simple" dd method, in spite
> of the fact that for the most part optical media is not being used for
> these purposes anymore. At the same time that distro maintainers want
> to "simplify" their workload, The Syslinux Project keeps ignoring the
> matter. Although these words could be interpreted in a negative manner
> (not my intention), the point is about actual positive effects: let's
> try to provide some kind of simple path to move forward, considering
> that distro maintainers and Syslinux' developers won't.

I used debian-8.7.1-i386-xfce-CD-1.iso because that is what Debian makes 
available.


I have experienced problems with Debian's "isohybrid" images, USB flash 
drives, and older computers for many years.  So long as the computer had 
an optical drive, I had a work-around.  Now I have a computer without an 
optical drive, and I decided to try to get to the bottom of the problem.


I have had better luck using "memstick.bin", etc., images produced by 
other projects (Memtest86+, FreeBSD).


If someone knows of a Debian 8.7.1 i386 Xfce installer "memstick.bin" 
image, please provide a URL.


If someone knows of a document that explains how to build a 
"memstick.bin" image with the Debian 8.7.1 i386 Xfce installer on it, 
please provide a URL.


David