Acer Aspire One boot from SDHC

[flubbard]

When I install to the SD Card, I cannot get the SD card to boot through the reader. I am able to get a USB stick to boot when installed to the USB drive. This keeps me from being able to grab the UUID from the SD instance of eeebuntu. Any thoughts on why it may not be booting? It appears to be installing through the ubuntu installer.

- flub

[superJoel]

When I install to the SD Card, I cannot get the SD card to boot through the reader. I am able to get a USB stick to boot when installed to the USB drive. This keeps me from being able to grab the UUID from the SD instance of eeebuntu. Any thoughts on why it may not be booting? It appears to be installing through the ubuntu installer.

- flub

Run a live CD or installer... install the OS to your SD card with it in the reader (or you'll have problems)... it should be able to boot up off the SD card while in the reader... then do the other steps. Keep us posted.

[flubbard]

That is basically the process that I have tried. I have the live CD (with installer) loaded onto a pen drive from which I boot. I install eeebuntu from that drive onto the SD card, which I have in the reader. I then reboot with only the SD card in the reader but it immediately bypasses it and boots the host operating system (Windows XP). Are all readers created equally, or is it possible that the reader that I have is not making my SD card appear as a USB drive as much as another one would. I am using a generic model which basically allows you to plug the SD card into a little dongle that looks very similar to a pen drive.

Thanks again for the input. I'm sure I must be missing something very silly.

- flub

[superJoel]

That is basically the process that I have tried. I have the live CD (with installer) loaded onto a pen drive from which I boot. I install eeebuntu from that drive onto the SD card, which I have in the reader. I then reboot with only the SD card in the reader but it immediately bypasses it and boots the host operating system (Windows XP). Are all readers created equally, or is it possible that the reader that I have is not making my SD card appear as a USB drive as much as another one would. I am using a generic model which basically allows you to plug the SD card into a little dongle that looks very similar to a pen drive.

Thanks again for the input. I'm sure I must be missing something very silly.

- flub

Just to clarify... at boot, you are pressing F12, esc (or the required function key to get to the boot device selection menu), then you select your USB dongle with the SD card in it, or it's not showing up, and boots into XP anyway?

[flubbard]

I have the machine enabled to boot first from the USB port if available, in which case it does not find the SD card reader as a boot device. When I hit F12 with only the SD card in (through the reader), it does not list it as a boot device. It only shows the hard drive and the legacy network boot.

[superJoel]

I have the machine enabled to boot first from the USB port if available, in which case it does not find the SD card reader as a boot device. When I hit F12 with only the SD card in (through the reader), it does not list it as a boot device. It only shows the hard drive and the legacy network boot.

so with the SD card in your USB Reader dongle it doesn't see it at boot. hmmm. It might be your USB card reader. I just bought an OHM SDHC card reader at Target for $5 that I know works to boot off of. You might want to make sure that your SD card's boot flag is set first before you go off spending any money though.

[flubbard]

I checked and the boot flag was set. It looks like I may be making a run to target to try a different reader. I'll let you know how I make out.
- flub

[superJoel]

I checked and the boot flag was set. It looks like I may be making a run to target to try a different reader. I'll let you know how I make out.
- flub

I just checked on my OHM SDHC Card reader that it will still show up on the boot device selection screen without an SD card in it... it's got to be your reader.

Good luck Flub.

[flubbard]

It works! Thank you for your help...in the end here is what I found:
I bought a new SanDisk memory SDHC reader (I couldn't find the one that you mentioned at Target) and was able to boot off the SDHC card as expected, though I did end up having to reinstall the instance on the SD card which makes me wonder if there were some other issues with the first reader.

Also, the directions did not quite work for me, and would like your input if possible. I formatted the thumb drive as ext2 and installed grub onto the device. Then I copied over the initramd and the vmlinuz files. Grub would load but gave me the error file not found. In the end, if I eliminate the UUID line from the menu.lst that refers to the USB drive, it works. I still refer to the SD card by UUID, but I think it automatically is assuming that the ram file should be the one on the boot device. Is this correct, or will I wind up with other problems.

In the end, I am doing exactly what the original post talked about, but using a USB stick to jump start the process instead of the internal HD. The nice thing is that the original Windows XP install has not been touched (including the boot sector on the drive).

Thanks again for the help.
- flub

[superJoel]

It works! Thank you for your help...in the end here is what I found:
I bought a new SanDisk memory SDHC reader (I couldn't find the one that you mentioned at Target) and was able to boot off the SDHC card as expected, though I did end up having to reinstall the instance on the SD card which makes me wonder if there were some other issues with the first reader.

Also, the directions did not quite work for me, and would like your input if possible. I formatted the thumb drive as ext2 and installed grub onto the device. Then I copied over the initramd and the vmlinuz files. Grub would load but gave me the error file not found. In the end, if I eliminate the UUID line from the menu.lst that refers to the USB drive, it works. I still refer to the SD card by UUID, but I think it automatically is assuming that the ram file should be the one on the boot device. Is this correct, or will I wind up with other problems.

In the end, I am doing exactly what the original post talked about, but using a USB stick to jump start the process instead of the internal HD. The nice thing is that the original Windows XP install has not been touched (including the boot sector on the drive).

Thanks again for the help.
- flub

Yes this should be how it works. It will initially boot off your USB, but then go over and run off your SD card (now you should be able to startup without the SD card being in your USB reader... right?) in the left or right card reader.