[Elucidus]

I just picked up a Zotac ID80 to replace an older SD10.

It boots off the previous HDD just fine, but obviously there are a number of missing drivers, so I'd like to just wipe it all and start fresh.

I've created a Ubuntu 11.10/64bit pendrive that simply will not boot. I also tried this with unetbootin.

I've tried a Kingston Data Traveller USB stick as well as a 1gb SD card.

The symptoms are:when I try to launch the USB key (from priority boot OR disabling the HDD as a boot device), it will simply go back to the BIOS setup screen.

The device has a single 2gb DDR3 module, a 60gb HDD and a logitech K400 wireless keyboard/mouse dongle attached. I've tried a couple different ports for that. (The K400 works fine in the old Ubuntu install)

Any tips?

Thanks!

*update*

Also tried to format the USB stick to work as a Windows 7 installer. No go.

(both flavors - unetbootin for Ubuntu 11.10 and Win7 worked fine on another laptop.)

This post has been edited by Elucidus: 02 April 2012 - 12:54 AM

[Ocean Grown]

Hi Elucidus,

When you boot with your Unetbootin made USB boot drive, make sure you have the BIOS setting correct.

In the Boot Menu, make sure the Boot order is set to HDD first. Then, in the HDD boot priority menu (or something similar) make sure the Kingston USB is set to 1st boot. Since the USB drive has logical partition/grub the BIOS is seeing the USB drive as a HDD device.

Hope that helps!

Elucidus, on 01 April 2012 - 08:21 PM, said:

I just picked up a Zotac ID80 to replace an older SD10.

It boots off the previous HDD just fine, but obviously there are a number of missing drivers, so I'd like to just wipe it all and start fresh.

I've created a Ubuntu 11.10/64bit pendrive that simply will not boot. I also tried this with unetbootin.

I've tried a Kingston Data Traveller USB stick as well as a 1gb SD card.

The symptoms are:when I try to launch the USB key (from priority boot OR disabling the HDD as a boot device), it will simply go back to the BIOS setup screen.

The device has a single 2gb DDR3 module, a 60gb HDD and a logitech K400 wireless keyboard/mouse dongle attached. I've tried a couple different ports for that. (The K400 works fine in the old Ubuntu install)

Any tips?

Thanks!

*update*

Also tried to format the USB stick to work as a Windows 7 installer. No go.

(both flavors - unetbootin for Ubuntu 11.10 and Win7 worked fine on another laptop.)

[supaahiro]

Hi Elucidus,

You can also try loading the Boot menu by pressing the F11 key.

Regards,

supaahiro

[NickPa]

It looks like you've tried it in another laptop and shown that the USB drive is setup correctly, so that rules that out.

Are you in a USB 3.0 (orange) or USB 2.0 (white) port? You want to be in one of the 2.0 ports.

When I did it on my ID80 I think I used one of the front USB 2.0 ports.

[Elucidus]

 NickPa, on 05 April 2012 - 11:41 AM, said:

It looks like you've tried it in another laptop and shown that the USB drive is setup correctly, so that rules that out.

Are you in a USB 3.0 (orange) or USB 2.0 (white) port? You want to be in one of the 2.0 ports.

When I did it on my ID80 I think I used one of the front USB 2.0 ports.

Thanks, I've tried the front port, both of the rear ports.

I'm pretty sure there's some kind of weird software/hardware glitch going on with this system. I got it to boot off of a USB HDD enclosure by putting that enclosure in the SATA bay, then moving it to the USB enclosure and booting again.

At any rate, the system is crashing a lot using the 280.35 drivers, so I'm feeling a bit more confident that something is wrong with it.

I've tried 3 OSes on it now - Ubuntu 11.04, 11.10, and Win7HP. Win7 performs the best, except for the aforementioned crashing problems. (it occasionally loses audio as well and I have to disable/re-enable HDMI as an output source.)

Ubuntu 11.10 was horrible.

11.04 was decent, but didn't perform anywhere near as well as W7HP did.

Seeing as how most people AREN'T having problems, I feel like I may have found a lemon. My previous ZBox (SD10) was a solid runner and I had it running on Ubuntu 11.04 within about an hour of unboxing, so I'm not turned off of the systems yet. I'm planning on returning this one and switch to an AD04 and see how that goes.

[Elucidus]

Elucidus, on 06 April 2012 - 10:31 AM, said:

I'm planning on returning this one and switch to an AD04 and see how that goes.

Took the ID80 back to the store and kicked the AD04 build off tonight. It booted off of a USB stick no problem.

Looking forward to seeing how the AD04 performs... :)

[tinmice]

I've already had two non-working ID80s and have opted for an AD02.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be able to boot from the USB though, much as described above. In the BIOS, there is the main boot priority choices, and then a secondary menu. The secondary menu just seems to swap the main ones around though, any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

[Elucidus]

 tinmice, on 12 April 2012 - 01:37 PM, said:

I've already had two non-working ID80s and have opted for an AD02.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be able to boot from the USB though, much as described above. In the BIOS, there is the main boot priority choices, and then a secondary menu. The secondary menu just seems to swap the main ones around though, any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

Does your USB show up as a bootable device?

FWIW - My AD04 is working flawlessly. Wish I'd just gotten it from the getgo.

[Wosto]

Had the same problem booting from a USB Drive...

As it turns out, not only do you need to have the USB Drive as the primary boot device but you ALSO need to go to the USB setup in the BIOS and set it to either "floppy" or "forced hard drive". My USB BIOS setting was set to "auto", once I switched it to "Forced Hard Drive" the ID80 booted from the USB Drive.

This post has been edited by Wosto: 20 June 2012 - 11:45 AM