From: andrew on
Ian Rawlings wrote:

> Well, there's always bootable USB discs..  I've set up a laptop that I
> could boot from a USB disc, worked very well.


Is this only an option with newer bios? i.e. if there's no option to set in
the bios how can I check to see if a bios upgrade is able to support boot
from usb. I ask because a 5 year old HP Pavilion laptop of my daughter has
a defunct cd rom drive and the replacement costs more than the laptop is
worth.

AJH
From: Folderol on
On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 10:52:26 +0000
andrew <news(a)sylva.icuklive.co.uk> wrote:

> Ian Rawlings wrote:
>
> > Well, there's always bootable USB discs..  I've set up a laptop that I
> > could boot from a USB disc, worked very well.
>
>
> Is this only an option with newer bios? i.e. if there's no option to set in
> the bios how can I check to see if a bios upgrade is able to support boot
> from usb. I ask because a 5 year old HP Pavilion laptop of my daughter has
> a defunct cd rom drive and the replacement costs more than the laptop is
> worth.
>
> AJH

It's a can of worms with older machines. As well as BIOS issues, some
laptops won't play nice with some USB drives, you would need to
research the combination you are trying before you fork out the dosh.

.... voice of experience :(

--
Will J G

From: Theo Markettos on
Folderol <folderol(a)ukfsn.org> wrote:
> It's a can of worms with older machines. As well as BIOS issues, some
> laptops won't play nice with some USB drives, you would need to
> research the combination you are trying before you fork out the dosh.
>
> ... voice of experience :(

I'd use a CompactFlash card in a CF-PCMCIA adaptor to boot - should show up
just like another IDE hard drive.

Are there any bootloaders that know about things like USB drives and CDs -
so you can use the broken BIOS to boot into the bootloader, which will find
the USB CD and then fetch the boot image from that?

Theo
From: graham on
On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:19:51 +0000, Folderol wrote:

> On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 10:52:26 +0000
> andrew <news(a)sylva.icuklive.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> Ian Rawlings wrote:
>>
>> > Well, there's always bootable USB discs..  I've set up a laptop that
>> > I could boot from a USB disc, worked very well.
>>
>>
>> Is this only an option with newer bios? i.e. if there's no option to
>> set in the bios how can I check to see if a bios upgrade is able to
>> support boot from usb. I ask because a 5 year old HP Pavilion laptop of
>> my daughter has a defunct cd rom drive and the replacement costs more
>> than the laptop is worth.
>>
>> AJH
>
> It's a can of worms with older machines. As well as BIOS issues, some
> laptops won't play nice with some USB drives, you would need to research
> the combination you are trying before you fork out the dosh.
>
> ... voice of experience :(

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2007/09/17/testing-your-system-for-usb-boot-
compatibility/
may help with the check.
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