SL500 won't boot from USB key

[peterzay]

BIOS has [removable device] for first boot device.  USB is enabled.  These are factory default options.  Has anyone successfully booted this laptop from any USB key?

[zoltanthegypsy]

I don't have an SL to try, but there are comments on the web indicating that it works.

How are you preparing your USB key?  What happens if you hit F12 during boot? Can you select the USB key there?  (It's F12 on my machines - may be different on your machine)

Z.

[peterzay · Accepted solution]

Two USB boot key preparation methods were used, neither worked:

- default Ubuntu 10.04 tool /System/Administration/Startup Disk Creator

- unetbootin

Booting with F12 does present a menu option to boot with USB key.  Thanks, great advice.

I still do not understand why the BIOS boot sequence does not present USB as a choice, but I can live with that.

[zoltanthegypsy]

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peterzay wrote:

Two USB boot key preparation methods were used, neither worked:

- default Ubuntu 10.04 tool /System/Administration/Startup Disk Creator

- unetbootin

Booting with F12 does present a menu option to boot with USB key.  Thanks, great advice.

I still do not understand why the BIOS boot sequence does not present USB as a choice, but I can live with that.

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Glad it worked.  Just speculating, but some BIOSen show a USB flash drive as a hard drive rather than a removable device.  Maybe that's what is going on.

Z.