meerkat live usb = no boot

[Docaltmed]

I've been trying for two days to get my meerkat to boot from a Live USB.

By hitting F2 on start, I have gone into the BIOS and enabled the USB boot option.

I have tried the following images:

Kubuntu 11.04 downloaded by torrent and USB created by Kubuntu's live usb creator.

Kubuntu 11.04 downloaded from server and USB created by Kubuntu's live usb creator.

Kubuntu 10.04 downloaded and live usb created by unetbootin.

I figure one of these ought to work. It is not that the USB is not being recognized. The USB is recognized, and then I get the following message: boot error.

If I press any key, it will then proceed to boot off of the hard disk to my previously-installed Ubuntu 9.10.

What is wrong?

[Docaltmed]

Ok, I've now verified that the problem lies with the Meerkat, as I have used multiple USB sticks and multiple ISOs, and created Live USBs that are capable of booting multiple other computers.

I have also tried multiple USB ports in the Meerkat itself, all with the same result:

Boot Error

Kinda running out of ideas, here. If I can't update the computer via a USB port (it has no optical drive), it's pretty much a brick.

[Docaltmed]

Hmm...it would seem that there is no upgrade path from 9.10 to 10.04, so I can't just upgrade via the 'net.

[Docaltmed]

Have now tried all available USB ports with live USBs containing 10.04 and 11.04, both of which were used to boot other computers.

Still no joy.

[isantop]

Have you tried pressing F10 repeatedly during the BIOS splash page? That will bring up a boot menu you can use to tell the computer explicitly you want to boot off of the USB drive.

[Flyers2391]

I am having the same problem. Ubuntu 11.04 on a live USB (known working on other computers) and it shows in the BIOS, but after hitting F10 for boot devices, only the hard drive is listed.

[dmoconnell]

First let me throw out my "I'm New" warning. Now for the real stuff. I've heard that you need to flag a usb key to be bootable (using Gnome partition editor you can do just that) Could it be that usb creater is for some reason not marking it bootable? I've used that program and have never had a problem but things happen.
Try simple going into Gpartion editor
Select your USB from the upper right corner drop down then in the main window right click and select flags - select boot
Hope this helps
Dm

[Flyers2391]

First let me throw out my "I'm New" warning. Now for the real stuff. I've heard that you need to flag a usb key to be bootable (using Gnome partition editor you can do just that) Could it be that usb creater is for some reason not marking it bootable? I've used that program and have never had a problem but things happen.
Try simple going into Gpartion editor
Select your USB from the upper right corner drop down then in the main window right click and select flags - select boot
Hope this helps
Dm

thanks for the response, but I know it is working on other computers. I tested to ensure (in case something happened to it since a week ago when I booted to it on a Dell) it still booted on my non-System76 laptop.

I tried every option change in the BIOS I thought COULD change what would happen but I got nowhere. The most promising thing to happen was the drive would light up like it was being read and then the screen would show "boot error". The drive boots fine on other computers but not on any ports on the ment1

[macpj]

I was having the same problem with my Meerkat. I put a fresh image on a USB flash drive I had and ran into the same problem. USB worked & showed up on other machines, however would not show up in boot list. Finally I decided to try a new USB flash drive. I bought a RocketFish 4GB USB flash, installed the image & was able to boot the machine from it. I don't know what the issue was, but the new drive worked for me..

[Docaltmed]

Ok, I'm at a total loss. I have tried multiple flash drives, multiple images, everything boots just fine on multiple other computers...

Then I plug it into my System76 and all I get is still boot error.

I have even tried using Netbootin to create a minimal install partition on the hard drive. But when I boot using the Unetbootin option from the Grub menu, I get an Error 15 file not found error.

I've traded emails endlessly with System76, they are out of ideas.

One last chance before I chuck this piece of garbage in the trash. Any suggestions? Anything?