Can't boot from USB on Compaq Evo D510

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I am trying to boot from a Slackware live USB on an old Compaq Evo D510 (specs below), but although the BIOS recognizes that there is a USB device, and allows me to set that device as the first boot priority, it gives me the message "Non-System disk or disk error; Replace and strike any key when ready"

I can confirm that the USB stick is bootable; it runs fine on my laptop.

I thought at first maybe the motherboard just didn't support booting from a USB device, but I don't think that is the case seeing as the BIOS gives me "USB device" as boot option. My guess is that the BIOS can't read ext4 filesystems, but I'm really hoping that isn't the case. Any insight on the situation would be much appreciated (:

System specs:

  • Pentium 4 CPU, 1.7 GHz

  • 256 MB of RAM

  • BIOS v03.04 (?)

user151768

Posted 2016-12-24T04:35:28.410

Reputation: 3

Answers

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Without knowing how you created your flash drive, it is hard to say what the issue is. But I believe that because it has given you the "Non-System disk or disk error", there was an issue with the way that the flash drive may have been created, and more specifically the boot files and/or sectors. If you go to docs.slackware.com and search for "transfering iso content to usb stick" it should give you a step-by-step guide how to do it.

You can also use either LinuxLive USB Creator or Rufus to create your flash drives.

Christopher Hawker

Posted 2016-12-24T04:35:28.410

Reputation: 123

I used the iso2usb.sh script provided by alienbob to write the USB stick. And like I said, it boots fine on other computers. Jusst not this one – user151768 – 2016-12-24T05:02:15.127

Could you try using LinuxLive or Rufus to create the flash drive and see if that will allow the system to boot? – Christopher Hawker – 2016-12-24T05:03:42.357

I cannot. Both of those are Windows programs and I don't have a windows machine available. I have used Linux Mint's "USB Image Writer" program to write the Slackware Live iso to another USB stick with the same results: boots fine on my laptop, doesn't work on the Compaq. – user151768 – 2016-12-24T05:51:06.923

Asked: 2016-12-24T04:35:28.410

Viewed: 1 424 times

Active: 2016-12-24T04:54:06.950