W510: problem booting from USB keys

jonseymour · ‎10-02-2010

I've been trying to boot a W510 from various Linux USB keys.

The system does detect the USB key and the boot proceeds to a point, but it fails at when it tries to find the media - for example, in the case of the system rescue cd (v1.6.1) , it is looking fo the sysrec.dat file which is on the USB key.

It seems like the USB device isn't visible to the booted system.

I was able to boot from essentially the same software from a CD.

I've installed the latest BIOS 1.32 with no change in behaviour.

Does anyone have any idea what might be going wrong?

jon.

Adda · ‎10-02-2010

Are you using the USB 2.0 ports, the one on the back or the one in the eSATA USB combo connector?

jonseymour · ‎10-02-2010

Hi,

I was using the two just in front of the video connector on the left hand side.

I''ll try the others to see if that makes any difference.

jon.

jonseymour · ‎10-02-2010

Yep, the one at the back works - thanks!

Just out of interest, why does it matter which port I use?

jon.

Adda · ‎10-02-2010

W510's have both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.
The USB 3.0 ports are a not native, but a discrete NEC solution while the USB 2.0 ports are integrated into the intel chipset.
So the USB 3.0 connectors need a driver to function, USB 2.0 does not, they can be controlled by the BIOS.

jonseymour · ‎10-02-2010

Thanks for the info.

So if I happened to have a kernel &/or module that new about this driver I might have been able to complete the boot, but since I didn't, I couldn't?