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isostick will not boot in any computer I have tried it with


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#1 gregoliver

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Posted 11 June 2015 - 07:20 PM

Before I return this device, I just wanted to post to see if I did not do something correctly or erroneously.

[greg@sammy isoStick]$ sudo ./isostick-updater 
updating serial port list! 
"401a341e34dcc00" 
"e5" 
  HW Rev:  C 
Boot Rev:  1 
  FW Rev:  1677 
      WP:  false 
  Serial:  "E34DD68C3953343836332020FF0101" 

[greg@sammy ISOSTICK]$ find .
.
./config
./config/isosel.bin
./config/iso_filename.txt
./ISO
./ISO/AC2014Full.iso
./ISO/ESXi-5.5u2-2068190-IBM_20150310.iso
./ISO/VMware-ESXi-5.5U2-RollupISO2.iso

[greg@sammy ISOSTICK]$ file -ib config/iso_filename.txt 
text/plain; charset=us-ascii

[greg@sammy ISOSTICK]$ cat config/iso_filename.txt 
/ISO/VMware-ESXi-5.5U2-RollupISO2.iso



I have tried with an empty iso_filename.txt as well.  The issue is that every computer I try it on just flashes *very* briefly, and continues on to the next boot device if it exists, or just reboots if not.  My laptop sees both devices, and I have tried with / without UEFI enabled.  Also, I have 2 computers without UEFI at all and neither will boot from it.

 

I have also ataken the same stick and installed grub4dos with ISOs, and booted it that way just fine, but this is the exact thing I am trying to move away from now that most distros are making the "live" disks that cannot be simply booted from iso without a lot of work.  Of course, I had to select the isostick usb HDD versus the isostick CD at boot selection.

 

The 2 ISOs I have on there now I know are good since I boot them both with grub4dos on other sticks currently.

 

Any ideas before I ive up and return it?

 

Tia -

 

Greg



#2 elegantinvention

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Posted 12 June 2015 - 12:19 AM

Sorry your isostick is having trouble!

 

The files all look correct.

  • Is the microSD card formatted FAT32?
  • Is the filesystem clean?
  • Does the ISO show up in the isostick's cdrom as expected?

You might try disabling isosel by renaming /config/isosel.bin to something else, such as /config/isosel.bin-disabled, to see if it is an isosel compatibility issue. With isosel disabled, the ISO will still load into isostick's cdrom as expected, but you won't get the ISO menu when booting from isostick. It is perfectly fine to leave it disabled.

 

If isosel is the problem, you might try re-downloading it. For reference at the time of this post, the SHA1 of isosel.bin is E566484907203DC98109542F4ADE12945D2E7115, and the MD5 is 0D0FD754EDF1425F555A5212B5689D24.



#3 gregoliver

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Posted 12 June 2015 - 01:57 AM

Sorry your isostick is having trouble!

 

The files all look correct.

  • Is the microSD card formatted FAT32?

 

Yes - it is Fat32 - vfat

[greg@sammy ~]$ sudo blkid /dev/sdb1
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="ISOSTICK" UUID="BCEC-A507" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="e8008057-01"

[greg@sammy ~]$ sudo parted /dev/sdb print
Model: ELEGANT ISOSTICK FLASH (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 15.9GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  15.9GB  15.9GB  primary  fat32

[greg@sammy ~]$ sudo fsck.vfat /dev/sdb1
fsck.fat 3.0.27 (2014-11-12)
/dev/sdb1: 8 files, 148153/1942740 clusters


  • Is the filesystem clean?
  • Does the ISO show up in the isostick's cdrom as expected?

I am unsure what should happen.  Should the file I have is iso_filename.txt show as mounted in the CD drive when I insert it into a machine?

 

You might try disabling isosel by renaming /config/isosel.bin to something else, such as /config/isosel.bin-disabled, to see if it is an isosel compatibility issue. With isosel disabled, the ISO will still load into isostick's cdrom as expected, but you won't get the ISO menu when booting from isostick. It is perfectly fine to leave it disabled.

 

If isosel is the problem, you might try re-downloading it. For reference at the time of this post, the SHA1 of isosel.bin is E566484907203DC98109542F4ADE12945D2E7115, and the MD5 is 0D0FD754EDF1425F555A5212B5689D24.



#4 gregoliver

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Posted 12 June 2015 - 02:03 AM

 

Sorry your isostick is having trouble!

 

The files all look correct.

  • Is the microSD card formatted FAT32?

 

Yes - it is Fat32 - vfat

[greg@sammy ~]$ sudo blkid /dev/sdb1
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="ISOSTICK" UUID="BCEC-A507" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="e8008057-01"

[greg@sammy ~]$ sudo parted /dev/sdb print
Model: ELEGANT ISOSTICK FLASH (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 15.9GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  15.9GB  15.9GB  primary  fat32

[greg@sammy ~]$ sudo fsck.vfat /dev/sdb1
fsck.fat 3.0.27 (2014-11-12)
/dev/sdb1: 8 files, 148153/1942740 clusters


  • Is the filesystem clean?
  • Does the ISO show up in the isostick's cdrom as expected?

I am unsure what should happen.  Should the file I have is iso_filename.txt show as mounted in the CD drive when I insert it into a machine?

 

You might try disabling isosel by renaming /config/isosel.bin to something else, such as /config/isosel.bin-disabled, to see if it is an isosel compatibility issue. With isosel disabled, the ISO will still load into isostick's cdrom as expected, but you won't get the ISO menu when booting from isostick. It is perfectly fine to leave it disabled.

 

If isosel is the problem, you might try re-downloading it. For reference at the time of this post, the SHA1 of isosel.bin is E566484907203DC98109542F4ADE12945D2E7115, and the MD5 is 0D0FD754EDF1425F555A5212B5689D24.

 

So, one thing of interest is rhat when I insert the device into a running machine, then nothing shows up as a CD device.  Only the flash disk shows up.  When I press the button with a paperclip, then they ttyUSBACM0 device shows up, but I never get a CD device otherwise, except at boot.  But when selecting that device, it just reboots quickly, or bypasses the device and moves right along to te next device.  Keep in mind, I have this exact bahavior with 4 local computers.

 

1.  Samsung Ultraboot (UEFI disabled in BIOS)

2.  Dell Stusio xps 165 (non-UEFI BIOS)

3.  IBM x-series 3650 M4 (Boot set to UEFI and Legacy

4.  IBM x-series 3650 M4 (CMOS set to Legacy Boot only)

 

-Greg



#5 elegantinvention

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Posted 12 June 2015 - 03:06 AM

Indeed the ISO mentioned in iso_filename.txt should show up in the isostick cdrom drive all the time.

Can you check that iso_filename.txt is plain ASCII, not Unicode / UTF8? Presently the isostick only understands ASCII.



#6 gregoliver

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Posted 12 June 2015 - 12:50 PM

[greg@sammy ISOSTICK]$ file -ib config/iso_filename.txt
text
/plain; charset=us-ascii

[greg@sammy ISOSTICK]$ cat config/iso_filename.txt
/ISO/VMware-ESXi-5.5U2-RollupISO2.iso

 



#7 elegantinvention

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Posted 12 June 2015 - 08:30 PM

Try cleanly unmounting the flash drive, then unplug the isostick and flip it to read-only mode and plug it back in. See if the cdrom shows up properly with the ISO in it.

Other than that, do you have another microSD card you could try?



#8 gregoliver

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Posted 14 June 2015 - 05:01 PM

Try cleanly unmounting the flash drive, then unplug the isostick and flip it to read-only mode and plug it back in. See if the cdrom shows up properly with the ISO in it.

Other than that, do you have another microSD card you could try?

OK, so the fat 32 partition did have the dirty bit set.  From linux, I usually just do a `sync` before I yank them.  Clearing the dirty bit fixed it, and now the isostick is booting properly!

 

Thanks - you may want to ad that to your "Getting Started" post (or better yet - fix it in firmware) - I have spent more $$ in my time than I paid for the stick :)

 

FYI - it is working on my samsung laptop and my IBM x-series with and without UEFI enabled.


Edited by gregoliver, 14 June 2015 - 05:01 PM.


#9 gregoliver

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Posted 14 June 2015 - 06:49 PM

Just another note, isosel does not work on any computers I have, but specifying the ISO in iso_filename.txt works on all of them.



#10 elegantinvention

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Posted 14 June 2015 - 07:15 PM

Great, glad to know it is now working!

 

A fix for isosel is in the works, and I will be sure to fix the firmware to deal with the dirty bit being set as well!



#11 gregoliver

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Posted 26 December 2015 - 05:46 AM

Great, glad to know it is now working!

 

A fix for isosel is in the works, and I will be sure to fix the firmware to deal with the dirty bit being set as well!

I hate to dig up an old thread, but I have a few of these now, and I was wondering when the UEFI version (or the version where isosel works to select the image) will be ready?  I ran into a situation today where I forgot my USB MHL adapter, so I could not change the iso_filename.txt from my tablet, and therefore could not do what I needed because the system would only boot the original ISO assigned in the file.  I unfortuntely had no way to manually change it.  Bad thing was, it is a few hundred miles from home while visiting a relative for X-Mas..

 

Just an update would be nice.  If you are not planning on actually releasing ny more updates, that is fine too.  Just please let us know.  I'm not poor, I can afford the larger devices that do UEFI, but I have always been an underdog supporter, and I have liked the product.

 

Thanks!



#12 elegantinvention

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Posted 04 January 2016 - 08:52 PM

It's being worked on, slowly but surely. The progress is over in this thread:thumbsup:






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