NASLite Network Attached Storage

I get the message in the subject ling when I try to boot using my USB memory stick. This is setup as a fixed disk, not the super floppy option (which I've tried, but get a boot failure in that mode). I have an Intel D850MV motherboard with the latest bios from Intel installed (v. P15). I've tried changing about every option in the bios and this is the furthest I've gotten towards a working system using this product.
I haven't owned a floppy drive or disks for about 4 years now, so using a kicker disk isn't an option. I have little desire to spend money on obsolete technology even if I can find one. The last place I looked was selling floppy disks at the same prices as dvd's. I do have an old zip drive lying around, though. Doubt that would work, but has anyone tried it?
Has anyone run across the problem listed and have any solutions?
Otherwise, I'm inclined to wait until the HDD version comes out. At least I know my old computer boots from a hard drive.

Thanks.

Uh, forget about the zip drive part of the question. I noticed that there is already a discussion on it. Thanks.

Do you get the error immediately after you see the syslinux line on the screen?

Also, what USB boot options are available to you in the BIOS?

Often a disagreement of proper disk geometry can cause such problems. The BIOS expects to see 16 heads while the disk reports 32, etc. Trying to boot the USB Flash as USB ZIP, of USB Floppy, etc, can often circumvent this. Try all options with the flash formatted as an HD and then again with it formatted as superfloppy. Do that with USB2 disabled in the BIOS. Turn USB legacy support for DOS ON if option is available.

All BIOS implementations tend to differ in that respect. Some are pretty strange in the way they articulate configuration options.

Hope that helps.

Tony,

This is the first message I see after initial bios screen (how much memory, etc) and the Promise sata controller loads.

Options in bios are 'USB boot' enable/disable.
There is a 'USB legacy support' enable/disable option. I've tried it both ways with both types of install. These are the only two things that relate to USB. There is no selection of what type of USB device you have connected.

One thing that I notice is that when the USB stick is plugged in I get an option in boot order to choose 'removable device'. When I look under the bios option for removable device it primarily relates to floppy drives. I can change the type of floppy drive if I want to, but there is no mention of a USB choice there.

Changing the disk geometry only allows me to change the parameters for the existing hard drives in the system. I've tried doing with installation with the hard drives enabled and disabled including disabling the controller itself.

Uzi,

What Motherboard is it? in my bios when i plug in a usb pen it shows up as a Hard drive i select this and move it above the other devices to boot the usb pen.

I have a CD rom kicker disk that should get your pen booted. dont give up yet though on the usb booting.

Edit, I remember when I have my zip drive connected I could not boot from USB..

gaiden,

I have an intel d850mv, pre SE model (it doesn't support USB 2.0).

When I plug in the pen all I get is there is now a 'removable device' in the system. When I set the pen up as a super floppy, I get a boot failure message. I don't think it is finding it at all in this mode.
When I set it up in the fixed mode, I get the message as indicated in the subject line. I've since ripped out all the hard drives and anything else that could cause an issue, just leaving the video card to see the monitor, and I still get the same message. So, it seems it is detecting the pen, but something is stopping it from loading correctly, hence the ascii characters displayed.
RE: zip disk. I took a look at it and it has a hard drive interface, not a floppy interface as I initially thought (hey, it has been YEARS since I've looked at one of those horrid things!). No reason to even try to use it as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks.

How did you make such a beast?

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/lou.greyfaulk/tools.htm

make your pen a super floppy then use the kickers in the zip file here, best to use a CDRW make one then test it if it dont work try the other..

This is spooky. I bought NL a few hours ago & when I realised the download info had gone into the spam, I started to try to get it going on this K57SA mobo. No luck with either option 1 or 2, so over to here, scanned your post, & reading the replies, looked through the bios options & there is a "enable USB in DOS" option, so thanks to the poster for that tip. Selected that & a scrolling screen of ascii!

This was with option 2 formatting. I also realised after no end of reboots with cd in / out that I could just select 3 usb boot options & let the mobo try each 1 in turn

So, back to the USB util, & try option 1. This now boots

BTW, I don't have a USB stick, but a Multi - format Flash card reader that I use for my SD camera cards, so if you have 1, you could try that.

Anyway, now to see if the rest sets up ok.

HTH,
john

gaiden,

I downloaded your cd kicker images. I tried out both of them. They both booted fine. I watched the messages as the panasonic disk booted (the iomega one is too fast as you indicated it would be) and saw that it identified the internal USB hub, yet it didn't find the memory stick attached. I end up with a message stating that it can't find the root folders probably because it can't find the usb stick. TVJohn suggests trying a flash card reader. That was the first thing I tried before I bought the memory stick. That device isn't recognized by the NAS utility at all, so I couldn't put the system files on it. I'm concerned that the memory stick I have isn't being recognized properly as I just picked the cheapest priced model I could find.
So, at this point I am emptying an 80GB usb hard drive (currently being used as storage until I get the NAS device working) and will using that to boot from. If anything should work this would be it. If this works then I can take back the memory stick and get something that may be more compatible (again assuming that this is the problem). I'll post the results once I manage to get the files off of it.

fyi: I called esupport to see if they have a new version of the bios, but no go. Intel supposedly supplies the latest version which I have already installed.

Uzi,

Is it recognised ok on that mobo in Windows or Linux or whatever?

It appears only the DOS enable stopped mine booting, but it was always recognised by the utility.

The 80G hd is a bit of an overkill, so I'm sure you're anxious to get the usb going. Like you, I don't wish to mess about with floppies, or even a cd rom.

UZI,

What is the usb pen you have? also you mentioned you used a card reader did you use a Compact Flash card.

If you can try another usb pen, or if you have a old mp3 player you can use one of those.

Should you require more info on your board go here http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/mv ... bd_d850mv&

and the manual is here ftp://download.intel.com/design/motherb ... 514501.pdf

I've read the motherboard documentation. It says that legacy usb is only for motherboards and mice. It won't work with any other device. So, the flash card, the memory stick, and the 80GB USB drive wouldn't be recognized by the motherboard in any case. I've tried them all in all the different configurations, no go. The USB hard drive actually froze up the computer when it was booting and if I stuck it in afterwards the NAS utility wouldn't load any software on it as it said it had too large a partition.
I've tried the kicker disks and while they recognize the usb hub, they don't find an attached memory stick.
I think the motherboard just won't support usb properly on its own.

Gaiden,

the memory stick is a GXT 64MB USB 2.0 pen.

you could try a PCI USB card.

i'll see what I can find out about the bed.

But interestingly you got the ascii dump, which I did too.....

I've done more testing, & it appears I was lucky with my "Twinmos" card reader. I've bought another reader today because I need XD access, & luckily it also supports the new SD2 standard, as I bought such a card in error & at least I know it works now

However, although recognising my CF boot card, & booting fairly rapidly, it failed at stage 2 in the boot process, so maybe the developers could perhaps shed some light on why the card can't be verified, as it clearly reads ok, & correctly initialises? Could it be flash block size related?
Could a slight mod' be made to the init' code to bypass this?

I also tried the 16meg XD card that came with the camera - useless for photography of course. That can't even create the filesystem

Does anyone already have detailed information on card readers & or card layout & protocols?