Full Debian will not boot from usb, Live Debian will

[newtolinuxxx]

Hello everybody, 100% new to all of this, so any help is appreciated.

I originally tried installing a full amd64 net install on my usb but each install would pop up with errors so I eventually took out all the software packages and left it as the base system install. When I try to boot this on my laptop I get an error message from windows saying there was a problem with my last shutdown and it wants to check the disks. When I boot it from my desktop absolutely nothing happens, it just hangs. I know I installed grub to the correct usb and the installation was successful.

So from here I ensured the USB settings in bios were working fine. My PC has no UEFI settings nor boot safety (it's X58 SLI LE mb) and I disabled UEFI and even tested it with UEFI on, on my laptop. Everything looks good and I am certainly booting from usb, since I had to boot into a usb installation disk to install Debian onto the other usb. The usb I am installing to is a 32gb Blaze B30 and have found no complaints about it working with linux.

Other than that I flashed my bios to make sure it's up to date. I installed Debian Live on my usb to test and make sure Debian can boot from my usb (and it does).

Any help appreciated!

edit:
I've also verified the image is correct and have tried downloading from multiple mirrors during net install.

[kiyop]

I wonder if BIOS/UEFI (and/or Grub2) is misconfigured.

I originally tried installing a full amd64 net install on my usb

Please post concretely how you tried, for example, if you downloaded an iso file, post the concrete URL where you downloaded the iso file.
You downloaded debian amd64 netinst iso file and burnt it to an USB flash (USB-A), didn't you?
You inserted the USB-A to your laptop (or your desktop PC) and booted from it and inserted another USB flash (USB-B) and successfully you could start installation of debian onto a partition in the USB-B, didn't you?

but each install would pop up with errors so I eventually took out all the software packages and left it as the base system install.
(snip by kiyop)
I've also verified the image is correct and have tried downloading from multiple mirrors during net install.

At what step did the installer show you the error? What error message?
Could the installer connect to internet? If not and if the error message appeared at software selection step, the failure in connection to internet might have been the origin of the error.
What internet connection does the PC (and the laptop) have?

When I try to boot this on my laptop I get an error message from windows saying there was a problem with my last shutdown and it wants to check the disks.

At that time, how did you configure the UEFI settings? Was UEFI booting enabled? Was secure boot enabled?

When I boot it from my desktop absolutely nothing happens, it just hangs. I know I installed grub to the correct usb and the installation was successful.

So from here I ensured the USB settings in bios were working fine. My PC has no UEFI settings nor boot safety (it's X58 SLI LE mb)

Some old BIOS cannot boot from media without boot flag. Adding boot flag to a partition in the media may solve your problem.
If you can boot from live debian, check if the problematic USB-B has any partition with boot flag. You can check by booting live debian and opening a terminal and executing the following

Code: Select all

sudo su -
fdisk -l

Check if any partition in the USB-B has "*" in Boot column or not.

I disabled UEFI and even tested it with UEFI on, on my laptop.

I want to ask you many things. But it is elaborate.
Could you please get boot-info URL and post the URL?
How to get boot-info URL is written at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Info

Everything looks good and I am certainly booting from usb, since I had to boot into a usb installation disk to install Debian onto the other usb. The usb I am installing to is a 32gb Blaze B30 and have found no complaints about it working with linux.
(snip by kiyop)
I installed Debian Live on my usb to test and make sure Debian can boot from my usb (and it does).

You can get boot-info by boot info script on live debian. Boot live debian and connect the problematic USB-B and get boot info.
Boot info script is in debian repository as boot-info-script https://packages.debian.org/jessie/boot-info-script
Thus, you can boot live debian and

Code: Select all

sudo su -
apt update
apt install boot-info-script
bootinfoscript
more /root/RESULTS.txt

Alternatively, you can use
http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/

Please post the generated boot-info URL, or the contents of the generated RESULTS.txt between "[ code]" and "[ /code]" tags (omit the spaces just after "[").

[newtolinuxxx]

Thanks for your response!

Please post concretely how you tried, for example, if you downloaded an iso file, post the concrete URL where you downloaded the iso file.
You downloaded debian amd64 netinst iso file and burnt it to an USB flash (USB-A), didn't you?
You inserted the USB-A to your laptop (or your desktop PC) and booted from it and inserted another USB flash (USB-B) and successfully you could start installation of debian onto a partition in the USB-B, didn't you?

I downloaded the net install from http://cdimage.debian.org/mirror/cdimag ... d64/bt-cd/
From there I installed the iso to USB-A with LiLi.

At what step did the installer show you the error? What error message?
Could the installer connect to internet? If not and if the error message appeared at software selection step, the failure in connection to internet might have been the origin of the error.
What internet connection does the PC (and the laptop) have?

After that the installation began successfully and would always terminate at installing the downloaded components at around 48-50%. The error message was a failure to install debootstrap. I just downloaded 8.5.0 and initiated install while on the pc in a virtual machine. This resulted in no errors.

The installer was connected to the internet and downloaded all of the packages. I also tried disconnecting it to see if it would install without a connection and it did not want to.

The pc has a cable internet connection.

At that time, how did you configure the UEFI settings? Was UEFI booting enabled? Was secure boot enabled?

It happens whether uefi is enabled or disabled and secure boot is also disabled. The boot goes straight to windows on the laptop, while sitting there doing nothing on my pc as well as virtual machine.

As stated above, I have now reinstalled to 8.5.0 with only the base system on USB-B. This will not boot. I have attached the boot info, which I got via putting knoppix on USB-A, running in plop boot manager in vmware.

I will attach the fdisk -l and boot info script in the next posts, thanks again!

[newtolinuxxx]

Code: Select all

fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 1035 MB, 1035993088 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 125 cylinders, total 2023424 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x027b0a11

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63     2023423     1011680+   c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Disk /dev/sdb: 31.7 GB, 31658606592 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3848 cylinders, total 61833216 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe3870a22

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1            2048    59738111    29868032   83  Linux
/dev/sdb2        59740158    61831167     1045505    5  Extended
/dev/sdb5        59740160    61831167     1045504   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdc: 5368 MB, 5368709120 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 652 cylinders, total 10485760 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

I believe sda is knoppix USB-A, sdb is debian USB-B, and sdc is an empty container for VM.

Check if any partition in the USB-B has "*" in Boot column or not.

I believe only the sda has the * if I am reading the above fdisk correctly.

[newtolinuxxx]

Code: Select all

                  Boot Info Script 0.61      [1 April 2012]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

 => Syslinux MBR (4.04 and higher) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
 => No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  SYSLINUX 4.04 2011-04-18
    Boot sector info:  Syslinux looks at sector 1970400 of /dev/sda1 for its 
                       second stage. SYSLINUX is installed in the  directory. 
                       No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg /efi/boot/bootx32.efi 
                       /ldlinux.sys /IO.SYS /MSDOS.SYS /COMMAND.COM

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  Debian GNU/Linux 8
    Boot files:        /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab

sdb2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       Extended Partition
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info: 

sdb5: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       swap
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 

sdc: ___________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       swap
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 1035 MB, 1035993088 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 125 cylinders, total 2023424 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sda1    *             63     2,023,423     2,023,361   c W95 FAT32 (LBA)


Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 31.7 GB, 31658606592 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3848 cylinders, total 61833216 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sdb1               2,048    59,738,111    59,736,064  83 Linux
/dev/sdb2          59,740,158    61,831,167     2,091,010   5 Extended
/dev/sdb5          59,740,160    61,831,167     2,091,008  82 Linux swap / Solaris


"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL

/dev/cloop0                                             iso9660    KNOPPIX_FS
/dev/sda1        1293-6D52                              vfat       DEBIAN 8_4_
/dev/sdb1        6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487   ext4       
/dev/sdb5        e85eed12-4187-451c-95fd-83e288a30a7b   swap       
/dev/sdc         cbc229a4-b702-4bb6-a784-4e08d4e8639d   swap       
/dev/sr0                                                iso9660    Plop Boot Manager 5.0.15
/dev/zram0       e90ade02-e7b6-434f-bf1c-2dbe7d75173e   swap       

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

/dev/cloop       /KNOPPIX                 iso9660    (ro,relatime)
/dev/sda1        /mnt-system              vfat       (rw,relatime,fmask=0000,dmask=0000,allow_utime=0022,codepage=850,iocharset=utf8,shortname=winnt,errors=remount-ro)


======================= sda1/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg: =======================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEFAULT adriane
APPEND lang=en apm=power-off initrd=minirt.gz nomce libata.force=noncq hpsa.hpsa_allow_any=1 loglevel=1
TIMEOUT 100
# TOTALTIMEOUT 20
# KBDMAP german.kbd
PROMPT 1
F1 boot.msg
F2 f2
F3 f3
DISPLAY boot.msg
LABEL adriane
KERNEL linux
APPEND lang=en apm=power-off video=640x480 initrd=minirt.gz nomce libata.force=noncq hpsa.hpsa_allow_any=1 loglevel=1 adriane
LABEL adriane64
KERNEL linux64
APPEND lang=en apm=power-off video=640x480 initrd=minirt.gz nomce libata.force=noncq hpsa.hpsa_allow_any=1 loglevel=1 adriane
LABEL knoppix
KERNEL linux
APPEND lang=en apm=power-off initrd=minirt.gz nomce libata.force=noncq hpsa.hpsa_allow_any=1 loglevel=1
LABEL knoppix64
KERNEL linux64
APPEND lang=en apm=power-off initrd=minirt.gz nomce libata.force=noncq hpsa.hpsa_allow_any=1 loglevel=1
LABEL debug
KERNEL linux
APPEND lang=en apm=power-off initrd=minirt.gz nomce libata.force=noncq hpsa.hpsa_allow_any=1 loglevel=1 debug
LABEL debug64
KERNEL linux64
APPEND lang=en apm=power-off initrd=minirt.gz nomce libata.force=noncq hpsa.hpsa_allow_any=1 loglevel=1 debug
LABEL grub
KERNEL grub.exe
APPEND --config=;
LABEL fb1024x768
KERNEL linux
APPEND lang=en apm=power-off vga=791 video=1024x768 xmodule=fbdev initrd=minirt.gz nomce libata.force=noncq hpsa.hpsa_allow_any=1 loglevel=1
LABEL fb1280x1024
KERNEL linux
APPEND lang=en apm=power-off vga=794 video=1280x1024 xmodule=fbdev initrd=minirt.gz nomce libata.force=noncq hpsa.hpsa_allow_any=1 loglevel=1
LABEL fb800x600
KERNEL linux
APPEND lang=en apm=power-off vga=788 video=800x600 xmodule=fbdev initrd=minirt.gz nomce libata.force=noncq hpsa.hpsa_allow_any=1 loglevel=1
LABEL fb640x480
KERNEL linux
APPEND lang=en apm=power-off vga=785 video=640x480 xmodule=fbdev initrd=minirt.gz nomce libata.force=noncq hpsa.hpsa_allow_any=1 loglevel=1
LABEL memtest
KERNEL memtest
APPEND foo
LABEL dos
KERNEL memdisk
APPEND initrd=balder.img
LABEL failsafe
KERNEL linux
APPEND lang=en vga=normal atapicd nosound noapic nolapic noacpi pnpbios=off acpi=off nofstab noscsi nodma noapm nousb nopcmcia nofirewire noagp nomce libata.force=noncq hpsa.hpsa_allow_any=1 nonetwork nodhcp xmodule=vesa initrd=minirt.gz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

================= sda1: Location of files loaded by Syslinux: ==================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

            ?? = ??             boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg                     1
            ?? = ??             ldlinux.c32                                    1
            ?? = ??             ldlinux.sys                                    1

============== sda1: Version of COM32(R) files used by Syslinux: ===============

 ldlinux.c32                        :  not a COM32/COM32R module

=========================== sdb1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  set have_grubenv=true
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="0"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}
function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//sas/disk@0,msdos1' --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487
fi
    font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
  set lang=en_US
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ] ; then
  set timeout=-1
else
  if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
    set timeout_style=menu
    set timeout=5
  # Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
  # unavailable.
  else
    set timeout=5
  fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
function gfxmode {
	set gfxpayload="${1}"
}
set linux_gfx_mode=
export linux_gfx_mode
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487' {
	load_video
	insmod gzio
	if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='hd0,msdos1'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//sas/disk@0,msdos1' --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487
	fi
	echo	'Loading Linux 3.16.0-4-686-pae ...'
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-686-pae root=UUID=6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487 ro  quiet
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-4-686-pae
}
submenu 'Advanced options for Debian GNU/Linux' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487' {
	menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.16.0-4-686-pae' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-3.16.0-4-686-pae-advanced-6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487' {
		load_video
		insmod gzio
		if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
		insmod part_msdos
		insmod ext2
		set root='hd0,msdos1'
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//sas/disk@0,msdos1' --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487
		fi
		echo	'Loading Linux 3.16.0-4-686-pae ...'
		linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-686-pae root=UUID=6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487 ro  quiet
		echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
		initrd	/boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-4-686-pae
	}
	menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.16.0-4-686-pae (recovery mode)' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-3.16.0-4-686-pae-recovery-6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487' {
		load_video
		insmod gzio
		if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
		insmod part_msdos
		insmod ext2
		set root='hd0,msdos1'
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//sas/disk@0,msdos1' --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487
		fi
		echo	'Loading Linux 3.16.0-4-686-pae ...'
		linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-686-pae root=UUID=6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487 ro single 
		echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
		initrd	/boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-4-686-pae
	}
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=============================== sdb1/etc/fstab: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=6e23c4a6-3d2e-4478-8211-4b98d1023487 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=e85eed12-4187-451c-95fd-83e288a30a7b none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/sr0        /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sdb1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

  12.128227234 = 13.022584832   boot/grub/grub.cfg                             1
   0.779972076 = 0.837488640    boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-4-686-pae               1
   0.762058258 = 0.818253824    boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-686-pae                  1
   0.762058258 = 0.818253824    vmlinuz                                        1

======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================

Unknown BootLoader on sdb2

00000000  b9 66 93 b8 57 3f 36 49  d5 b3 de d2 ef 77 ab ec  |.f..W?6I.....w..|
00000010  b8 9e e6 fd fb d6 ac 64  4b eb ca 0b 06 16 ed 22  |.......dK......"|
00000020  b1 32 5f 9b 10 84 04 c0  d8 cb 5b 71 0b b5 65 2a  |.2_.......[q..e*|
00000030  6c 03 de 21 6e fa 06 74  1c ed 21 84 85 42 e8 d7  |l..!n..t..!..B..|
00000040  b0 29 44 17 1c 9c f6 fb  6e 4d ce 3f 15 58 05 c1  |.)D.....nM.?.X..|
00000050  3d 4f 18 de ef 6b 31 b1  9e 00 7b 81 83 97 eb 16  |=O...k1...{.....|
00000060  08 74 f4 e9 11 ba ed 68  7b 44 f3 ed ef 5d 68 8e  |.t.....h{D...]h.|
00000070  69 9b eb 81 34 06 02 f9  0b 7a 45 46 f4 5e 35 4e  |i...4....zEF.^5N|
00000080  f1 13 30 10 ca 25 78 ec  be 21 e7 58 ee 7d 0a ce  |..0..%x..!.X.}..|
00000090  d8 a4 e7 34 22 c3 32 77  da 84 76 7e 85 bc 9a 51  |...4".2w..v~...Q|
000000a0  d7 04 cd bf 6f b4 d1 1d  af eb e3 5b 4f c6 43 ce  |....o......[O.C.|
000000b0  4d bc 5b a9 aa 59 ca e2  fb 40 95 99 f5 51 2b e1  |M.[..Y...@...Q+.|
000000c0  03 97 e2 1e 05 fb b9 78  a8 63 a7 d1 5c cb 63 50  |.......x.c..\.cP|
000000d0  c1 dc 47 07 96 dd 9f 24  3c ac 60 ae bc 2a d2 d6  |..G....$<.`..*..|
000000e0  5f 80 1f 45 be e3 16 f6  9c 9d b7 53 8f 03 9c d6  |_..E.......S....|
000000f0  e7 96 c8 32 b0 8b e0 c1  31 cd 06 62 bb 1e 05 c8  |...2....1..b....|
00000100  8c 60 5b c4 7b 1d ab cf  2b 48 d9 15 73 50 0e 07  |.`[.{...+H..sP..|
00000110  e2 d6 1a 89 ca c1 60 46  15 6f 1a 5d 13 77 27 0e  |......`F.o.].w'.|
00000120  8e be 42 c9 43 45 2e 39  04 01 23 72 30 21 0c 0c  |..B.CE.9..#r0!..|
00000130  d4 3d 61 74 af 67 f6 1f  67 b4 71 a7 9d c4 e3 9c  |.=at.g..g.q.....|
00000140  ca f2 5a b1 f1 8b 78 4c  52 1c 22 fa a1 9d 4f bb  |..Z...xLR."...O.|
00000150  1b 73 37 b8 ac c6 9f 1d  a6 6f ac 2f 36 27 bb 62  |.s7......o./6'.b|
00000160  80 1f b5 e2 b4 b8 28 9e  be de a0 93 d3 8a be 92  |......(.........|
00000170  13 e3 6b d7 c5 85 13 56  81 c5 61 2f ef 7d d2 df  |..k....V..a/.}..|
00000180  cb 27 3a 33 eb a6 dd ca  a3 c6 43 8d 0e 69 2f de  |.':3......C..i/.|
00000190  cc cd 92 76 22 52 ec cf  dc b9 eb d8 23 be b2 20  |...v"R......#.. |
000001a0  95 6a c1 8d bf fb a1 74  fd d1 04 79 ee d2 0b eb  |.j.....t...y....|
000001b0  17 07 89 f0 c5 f3 a3 60  a4 19 c9 e4 f8 79 00 fe  |.......`.....y..|
000001c0  ff ff 82 fe ff ff 02 00  00 00 00 e8 1f 00 00 00  |................|
000001d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
000001f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa  |..............U.|
00000200


========= Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive: =========

sdd sde sdf sdg sdh 

=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

  No volume groups found
mdadm: No arrays found in config file or automatically

[kiyop]

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php? ... 13#p619913

Code: Select all

                  Boot Info Script 0.61      [1 April 2012]
(snip by kiyop)
 => Syslinux MBR (4.04 and higher) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
 => No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.
(snip by kiyop)
Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 31.7 GB, 31658606592 bytes

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php? ... 13#p619725

I know I installed grub to the correct usb
(snip by kiyop)
The usb I am installing to is a 32gb Blaze B30

You failed in installing grub to the correct usb. There are some possible causes.

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php? ... 13#p619912

Code: Select all

Disk /dev/sdb: 31.7 GB, 31658606592 bytes
(snip by kiyop)
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1            2048    59738111    29868032   83  Linux
/dev/sdb2        59740158    61831167     1045505    5  Extended
/dev/sdb5        59740160    61831167     1045504   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdc: 5368 MB, 5368709120 bytes
(snip by kiyop)
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

I believe sda is knoppix USB-A, sdb is debian USB-B, and sdc is an empty container for VM.

Check if any partition in the USB-B has "*" in Boot column or not.

I believe only the sda has the * if I am reading the above fdisk correctly.

You are right. The lack of boot flag in the USB-B may results in that a bad BIOS cannot boot from the USB-B.
The partition table of the USB-B is old MSDOS-type (BIOS), not GPT.
Furthermore, it does not contain any EFI system partition (as is usual for non-UEFI mode boot, thus you need not worry about the lack of it).
Unfortunately, you booted boot info script on Virtual Machine, thus, the results don't include any information on the real PC (desktop) nor on the laptop. Thus I am not sure how to correctly boot the USB-B on the desktop and the laptop.

If you can boot (or chroot into) the debian installed in the USB-B by some tool, you may be able to install grub2 code onto the mbr of the USB-B. To do so, you must boot the installed debian on non-UEFI mode.
One way to install the grub2 code onto the USB-B is as follows:

1) Boot the debian on the USB-B. There are many ways including the followings:
1-a) Download Super Grub2 Disk iso file at http://www.supergrubdisk.org/super-grub2-disk/ and burn it onto a USB (or CD). Insert the USB (or CD) and the USB-B to the PC (desktop, without UEFI mode booting) and turn on the PC. Enter into BIOS setting and make it try booting from the USB (or CD) of Super Grub2 Disk. After booting the Super grub2 disk, try "Everything +". The USB-enable funtion (experimental) will be tried. Find the entry for the debian installed on the USB-B. Select the entry and try booting it.
1-b) *CHROOR METHOD*
Download live debian iso file at https://www.debian.org/CD/live/index.en.html and do similarly as the 1-a) and try booting with the live debian USB (or CD). If you successfully boot the live debian, open a terminal and execute

Code: Select all

sudo su -
lsblk

to know the device file name of the root partition of the debian installed on the USB-B. I assume it is /dev/sdb1.
Execute

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mount -t ext4 /dev/sdb1 /mnt -o rw
mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
mount --bind /dev/pts /mnt/dev/pts
mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
mount -t proc proc /mnt/proc
chroot /mnt /bin/bash

2) Install grub2 code onto the USB-B by the followings:
If you did the above "1-a)", open a terminal and execute

Code: Select all

su

and type root password for the debian installed on the USB-B.
And execute

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lsblk

to know the device file name of the root partition of the debian installed on the USB-B. I assume it is /dev/sdb1.

Connect the PC to internet LAN cable.
Execute

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apt update
apt install grub-pc
grub-install --recheck /dev/sdb
update-grub
fdisk /dev/sdb
a
1
w
sync

You should replace the above "/dev/sdb" with the proper letters. If the root partition is /dev/sdc1, it should be "/dev/sdc".

If you executed "1-b)", execute

Code: Select all

exit
umount -l /mnt/dev/pts /mnt/sys /mnt/proc
umount -l /mnt/dev
umount -l /mnt
sync

Turn off the PC by

Code: Select all

poweroff

and remove Super Grub2 Disk or live debian.
Turn on the PC. Enter into BIOS settings and make it try booting from the USB-B first.

[newtolinuxxx]

Yay, it all worked! I followed what you said on the VM and super grub disk 2 executing steps 1 & 2. I got a page of errors using update-grub though and was wondering if they are anything to be concerned about even if it's all working? An image of the errors is here: http://imgur.com/R05AKEZ

You failed in installing grub to the correct usb. There are some possible causes.

That is so unfortunate. The install said everything worked Does this mean other things that were installed may also have errors? Thanks again!

[kiyop]

Do you mean that grub2 boots at boot time and you can select the installed debian at grub2 and the debian installed on the USB-B can boot without Super grub2 disk?
If not, write the situation concretely in detail.

As for the errors displayed at http://imgur.com/R05AKEZ , /dev/sdb2 may have some error. How about executing file system check on /dev/sdb2?
If you do not know how to execute fsck, first execute the following with root privilege and post the results:

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blkid /dev/sdb2
fsck -f -y /dev/sdb2

ADDED at Sat Jul 16 11:34:33 JST 2016,

Ignore the above comment for /dev/sdb2. You need not execute file system check for /dev/sdb2. I did not understand that /dev/sdb2 is an extended partition. I wonder if you need not worry about warining for /dev/sdb2 displayed after update-grub, but I am not sure.

[newtolinuxxx]

Do you mean that grub2 boots at boot time and you can select the installed debian at grub2 and the debian installed on the USB-B can boot without Super grub2 disk?

USB-B can now boot up without Super Grub 2 disk.

Ignore the above comment for /dev/sdb2. You need not execute file system check for /dev/sdb2. I did not understand that /dev/sdb2 is an extended partition. I wonder if you need not worry about warining for /dev/sdb2 displayed after update-grub, but I am not sure.

I ran the commands on the other partitions and everything looks good. Thanks!

[kiyop]

USB-B can now boot up without Super Grub 2 disk.

Congratulations !

I made a typo:

Ignore the above comment for /dev/sdb2. You need not execute file system check for /dev/sdb2. I did not understand that /dev/sdb2 is an extended partition. I wonder if you need not worry about warining for /dev/sdb2 displayed after update-grub, but I am not sure.

The above "warining" is wrong. It should be replaced with "warning".