USB boot problem Grub/PLoP

[MartinS]

ok, I just saw that this thread has a second page where I can download the test version.

Using qemu everything seems to work fine. When I boot the system from the USB stick the system doesn't hang-up anymore but when choosing the USB entry I was thrown out from the graphical menu to the text screen. The message there was:
"(hd0,0)
Linux-zImage, setup=0x800, size=0x9d68"

I have installed GRUB4DOS in the MBR of my USB stick and then load Plop from the GRUB4DOS menu:
title PLoP Boot Manager Test
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /ploptest/plpbt.bin
kernel /ploptest/plpbt.bin

Hope this helps a little.

[Elmar]

hi,
meanwhile there is a new test version
http://download.plop.at/files/tmp/plpbt-test2.zip

regards
elmar

[MartinS]

Still got the same result, but the value of size did change:
"(hd0,0)
Linux-zImage, setup=0x800, size=0x9dc0"

[Elmar]

pleae explain the boot sequence and whats is where installed

[darkhoodsins]

Ive had the same problem. Im gonna try booting it from the CD to see if it works.

[MartinS]

I have a USB 2.0 stick. The stick is NTFS formated and I have installed GRUB4DOS in the MBR. From the GRUB4DOS boot menu I call the plpbt.bin. After that I'm in the Plop menu from where I select the point USB. It then loads the EHCI drivers and then the reported messages pops up (after I've been thrown off the graphical menu). The message which are printed on the screen in the graphical menu are too fast, so I can't tell what exactly has been printed there.

[Elmar]

do i understand it correct?
bios -> usb -> grub4dos -> plpbt.bin -> usb -> hang

[MartinS]

Yes, that's the setup of my boot configuration when testing.

[Elmar]

why are you booting 2x usb? i think thats the problem.

[MartinS]

I've stumbled across this post: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8605&start=0&p=73319&#entry73319
When I normally boot from my USB stick the speed is limited to USB 1.1 but according to this post it should increase to 2.0 after loading Plop's EHCI driver.

[Elmar]

ok, can you try for testing to boot the plop boot manager from cd and then use usb. lets see if it hangs too

[MartinS]

Still the same. It scans for USB devices (I think it finds my keyboard and mouse and recognizes them as non mass storage devices) after the scanning I'm getting thrown out of the graphical menu again. I don't know where the "Linux-zImage..." message came from, perhaps it came from GRUB4DOS. I think when I'm thrown out of the graphical menu it just displays the last messages which were on the screen before entering the graphical menu.

[Elmar]

if you boot the plop boot manager from cd, then the message "Linux-zImage..." is not  possible to see. this message comes from grub/grub4dos after selecting the plop boot manager or a linux kernel.

i want to know what happens when you boot
bios -> plop boot manager cd -> usb

so describe how you booted last time in every step

[MartinS]

My setup is as follows:
-I boot from CD-ROM (created using the plpbt.iso file)
-Devices attached to USB are my keyboard an mouse (it doesn't matter if I attach the USB stick)
-After booting from the CD I select USB in the graphical menu.

Then some messages about loading the EHCI driver and scanning the ports appear on the screen. I don't know if theres's anything else printed on the screen because after those messages flash on my screen I'm thrown off the graphical menu and back to the text console. When I select USB using virtualbox the driver loads and I'm back to the main selection screen, which I guess should be the way it's supposed to be.

PS: Although I've selected notify for this forum entry I don't get any notification e-mails (I've checkd my e-mail address, it should be valid)...

[Elmar]

the usb harddisk should be connected when testing
bios -> plop boot manager cd -> usb

the usb driver does not work correctly under virtualbox

email notify: maybe a spam filter blocks it?

[MartinS]

I've tested it with and without the USB Stick attached to the computer. My bug report is about running Plop on my "real" computer, just to clarify things.

Strange now the e-mail notification works. I've changed the e-mail address. Don't know if there was a typo in my e-mail address before or if there was some other problem...

[Elmar]

when you press ctrl-u in the main menu, then the boot manager stops when it finds the stick and does not continue to boot. does it stop?

[MartinS]

Ok, I've made some tests. I've always booted using the CD.

USB Stick recognized     USB-Mouse and USB-Keyboard     System boots
by BIOS                           plugged in
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
yes                                  no                                                   no
no                                   yes                                                  no
no                                   no                                                    yes

In the first two cases the system didn't boot, when there was a USB device already attached to the computer, when the computer booted. Those setups didn't work.
When there was no USB device attached to the computer and I booted into plop, then plugged in my USB-stick, and tried to boot USB it worked.
I'm not sure if this could be some BIOS problem...

PS: Do you speak german?

[Elmar]

hmm, can you give me some details of your computer, manufacturer, motherboard, ...

yes, i speak german but lets stay in english

[MartinS]

The computer is custom build. The mainboard is an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe. The USB devices are connected directly to the mainboard USB ports.

[Elmar]

hmm, at the moment i have no idea how to fix this

[MartinS]

ok, s..t happens. I really appreciate your efforts.