ASUS A8n-VM motherboard doesn't recognize bootable Linux thumb drive

[sspiegler]

My desktop built around 2007 has an ASUS A8n-VM motherboard. I created a live bootable Linux thumb drive (formatted correctly) that the BIOS doesn't see upon reboot. Any help why not and what I might be able to do to boot into the Linux live boot? Thanks, Scott

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Have you set USB as the first boot device in the BIOS?
Or you may be able to select USB from the boot device menu without going in to the BIOS.

 

[sspiegler]

Hi Phillip, When I was in the boot tab of the BIOS I didn't see the zip drive as an option. I saw the hard drive, the Floppy (which I don't have, and the CD-ROM drive, but no thumb drive.

How would I get into the boot device menu??

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Boot device menu is usually accessed by pressing and holding F2 as soon as boot process begins, but from what you've told me in your second post it looks like your motherboard doesn't support booting from a USB device anyway.
If it did, there would be a "USB" option under the 'Boot' tab in BIOS Setup.

The Boot Device Menu would show only the same devices that are under the 'Boot' tab in the BIOS, only difference is the Boot Device Menu is a "one off" event. It doesn't make any changes in the BIOS.

You can only boot from the hard drive or from a bootable CD. Shouldn't be any problem to create a Linux Live CD from a CD Image.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

One last thought. Make sure the USB device you want to boot from is actually plugged in before you power on the PC, so that the BIOS detects it. It won't appear in any boot menu if it's not actually plugged in and detected.

If still is doesn't show in boot menu, your motherboard definitely doesn't support USB booting.

 

[sspiegler]

Thanks for that explanation. In terms of making a CD, could I just burn the files from the thumb drive onto the CD? Would I need to format in FAT32 first before doing so?

 

[sspiegler]

I burned the files from the usb drive onto a DVD, as the size was over a Gig. I set the BIOS to boot first to the C/DVD drive. When I restarted it seemed like it was looking at the DVD drive for a few seconds, but then it booted into Windows! 🙁

Did I do something wrong?

 

[sspiegler]

You can only boot from the hard drive or from a bootable CD. Shouldn't be any problem to create a Linux Live CD from a CD Image.[/quotemsg]

I am not sure how I marked this thread as solved, because I don't yet have a solution. Can you read the comments I added since your last post to see what remains unresolved? Essentially, I made a Linux Live DVD and set #1 boot to be from DVD drive, but it doesn't boot to Linux on reboot. Is that possible that a motherboard wouldn't support booting from a DVD drive?