laptop won start from USB stick

[fotoflex]

Hi,
my Toshiba Satellite P-110 Vista Home Premium packed it in a few days ago.
I used my Ubuntu live disc 10.10, which I had used earlier after a crash, again to save some files.
And this time I even got the wifi working, so I can use it like a real laptop again.
So I tried to install Ubuntu, but that wouldn't work, the laptop cannot read either the origina lOS nor the Ubuntu.
Run it frum a USB stick, I thought, and followed the instructions via System - Administration - Startup Disc Createor.
I understand a USB keeps your settings and updates, etc, in fact, runs like a real OS.
I set the boot to FDD, but then I also get the message; 'Error, no such device'.
When I again open from the CD, I can see the stick contains everything it's supposed to.
Tried the same thing again, with the same negative result.
And now I'm stuck!
Any help is greatly appreciated, but please remember, I don't know anything about Ubuntu and hardly anything about Vista.

Thanks in advance,
Fotoflex

[r3xu5]

Have you made the usb bootable?

[fotoflex]

Have you made the usb bootable?

Thanks.
I followed all the steps in the startup disc creator, but I didn't come across an option for bootable or not.
'Startup Disc' sort of suggests Bootable to me, but I have to answer no.
So, how should I do that?

[black veils]

you dont want FDD, it has to be something else like USB HDD, or another menu from selecting HDD. If your system is capable of doing so hit the F12 key when the Toshiba Splash Screen appears and select USB as the boot device. The device has to be plugged in PRIOR to powering up the system for the boot menu to recognize it.

when you tried to create this persistent usb stick, did you download an .iso installer file for it?

you need a modern system really for security reasons. i would recommend bodhi linux or peppermint os as they will be lighter, you dont want something heavy running from a usb stick unless maybe it is a 3.0 port.. both are based on ubuntu.

[oldfred]

My Toshiba Satellite came with XP and is about 6 years old.
It boots from USB and from f12 (or is it f10?) one time boot key shows USB as a bootable option. But flash drive has to be bootable and plugged in before starting up.

[fotoflex]

Screenshot.png

thank you black veils,

but the Startup Disc Creator wants to erase the USB HDD before putting Ubuntu on it.
I don want to lose the files on the disc, and 1 TB seems a lot to me, just run Ubuntu?

I did not download an .iso installer for it,
I ran the live CD, read what I could about creating a startup stick on the internet, and then used the SDC.
When finished, it states that you can start up any computer like your own.
That seems a clear statement to me.

[oldfred]

But the startup installer erases the flash drive and it usually needs over 1GB to extract & install the ISO, the ISO is about 700MB. If you have data on that flash drive it may be time to buy another, they have dropped a lot in the last few years and larger ones are now less than a $1 per GB.
You are showing an older version 10.10 that is not supported anymore. Much better to download 12.04 or 12.10.

With my laptop I find 12.04 64 bit runs better than 10.10 did. If you have over 2GB of RAM then use 64bit.

[fotoflex]

But the startup installer erases the flash drive and it usually needs over 1GB to extract & install the ISO, the ISO is about 700MB. If you have data on that flash drive it may be time to buy another, they have dropped a lot in the last few years and larger ones are now less than a $1 per GB.
You are showing an older version 10.10 that is not supported anymore. Much better to download 12.04 or 12.10.
With my laptop I find 12.04 64 bit runs better than 10.10 did. If you have over 2GB of RAM then use 64bit.

The USB Stick is empty AND erased before Ubuntu is installed.
It's 4 GB, I set the slide to 3 GB for the extra space allocated for settings.
So there's 1 GB for Ubuntu, that should be enough.
Black veil said I needed to use a USB HDD, that's what I responded to.

My laptop has SETUP (f2) or MULTIBOOT (f12).
But I can see a USB option there, only FDD, which is Flash Disk Drive, I think.

The hard disk is not available any more, thatś how all this started.

I had only 1GB RAM

Why would the stick not be bootable after installing?
And how do I change that?

I need the CD-player to run Ubuntu from, so I can't burn 12.04 or 12.10 to a CD.
Or can I download either and get them to the stick somehow?

[black veils]

you misunderstood, i meant usb hdd in bios. that did confuse me when you were saying about 1tb. ffd is floppy disk drive i think.

have you tried pressing F12 or something when booting the computer for one-time boot selection?

you can use the old cd of 10.10 to download ubuntu mini.iso which is a very small download. then use that startup disk creator to select the file and create bootable usb stick. the mini.iso relies on wired internet connection when installing. here is a guide (you can ignore the stuff about non-pae if it is not relevant though) How To Install Ubuntu On Non-PAE Capable Hardware ~ Web Upd8: Ubuntu / Linux blog

[fotoflex]

you misunderstood, i meant usb hdd in bios. that did confuse me when you were saying about 1tb. ffd is floppy disk drive i think.
have you tried pressing F12 or something when booting the computer for one-time boot selection?
you can use the old cd of 10.10 to download ubuntu mini.iso which is a very small download. then use that startup disk creator to select the file and create bootable usb stick. the mini.iso relies on wired internet connection when installing. here is a guide (you can ignore the stuff about non-pae if it is not relevant though) How To Install Ubuntu On Non-PAE Capable Hardware ~ Web Upd8: Ubuntu / Linux blog

Okay.
No, there'ś no option for USB HDD in the bios.
Can make a screenshot, sorry.
F2 lets me change the boot-order permanently, f12 for one-time.
Wired, is that absolutely necessary? Or just an advice?
Too much to explain, but I'm not on wired internet.