Author Topic: Computer not booting confirmed working USB (Read 35636 times)

Tacotardis42 · « **on:** December 25, 2015, 09:19:13 am »

Hello all! I'm trying to run a bootable USB on my windows 7 emachines, and when I select it as a boot option it gives me a blank screen with a flashing line that looks like it's awaiting input, like in command prompt. If I click anything, it makes a beeping noise (From computer itself, not plugged into speakers) and if I hit Ctrl alt delete it reboots. The USB is confirmed to work on other computers. I have done a proper power reset, and I have run Windows repair in safe mode. I have not checked, but I am almost positive I have BIOS and not UEFI. What can I do? P.S Merry Christmas!

Boggin · « **Reply #1 on:** December 25, 2015, 10:07:41 am »

It would be best if you booted to the BIOS to see if you have UEFI/Secure Boot and there is an option to enable Legacy USB.

Have you also tried a different USB port ?

When you plug the USB in within Windows, does AutoPlay open for you to view the files ?

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 25, 2015, 10:24:09 am »

I'll try a different usb port, and I'm pretty sure I only have bios because I have two options at starup, F12 for boot options (let's me choose boot device such as usb, cd/dvd etc.) and del for setup that I have never tried. It does not autoplay. How do I double check uefi\bios? P.S The Windows\Panther folder is empty, so that's not an option, and it has run a live usb before, so I know it can.

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 25, 2015, 12:46:35 pm »

I have verified that is indeed BIOS. On another note, in the setup options (I decided to check there) It has quick boot, and quiet boot as options. They are both enabled. As far as I can tell they have nothing to do with secure boot, right?

Jethro Bodine · « **Reply #4 on:** December 25, 2015, 01:52:55 pm »

I make a lot of bootable USBs and most work perfectly first time , but every now and then I get one that
works on one machine but not another.
You have BIOS and not UEFI , so that's unlikely to be the problem .

My usual fix is simply to choose a different tool for making the USB .

There are plenty of good free ones to choose from .... Rufus , Unetbootin , LiveLinux , Pendrive Linux and others .
Or you could go for the one with the most catchy name .... Win32DiskImager , which is actually pretty good ,
and it works fine with 64-bit images as well !

There are always the odd few ISOs that won't play nicely with certain specific tools .
I just never bothered to find out the reason why ..... one more DFK/DFC .

Boggin · « **Reply #5 on:** December 25, 2015, 02:40:55 pm »

It may be as Jethro says, but for elimination disable the Quick Boot - haven't a clue what a quiet boot is.

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #6 on:** December 25, 2015, 04:54:44 pm »

Ok will do Boggin! Also Jethro, since I'm not very familiar with these things, but I used grub4dos as my boot manager for the usb, but can unetbootin do *roughly* the same thing? I've used it before for an ubuntu usb install before, but can it do a custom one as well? And sorry if I'm saying something nonsensical, but I'm new to the world of booting up with anything other than my hard drive.

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #7 on:** December 25, 2015, 04:58:06 pm »

Oh and Boggin, while I'm in the BIOS menu, quiet boot is:
"Disabled: Displays
normal POST message.
Enabled: Displays OEM
Logo instead of POST messages."
It is enabled. Disableing quick boot now.

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #8 on:** December 25, 2015, 05:04:24 pm »

Well ok then, when I boot from usb with quick boot disabled, it gives me some detailed information, possible about my drivers and partitions with the text "<esc> to boot in.....[10 to 1 second countdown]", and if I click escape or wait for the countdown it gives me the exact same problem. You can check that off the list.

Julian · « **Reply #9 on:** December 25, 2015, 09:19:58 pm »

Aaah grub for dos do you have multiple boot disks on that usb drive? And if your computer has usb 3.0 don't use it use the other ports another thing is check for usb settings in bios do you have a compatibility mode?

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 25, 2015, 09:49:29 pm »

I'll try my best to answer! It is just one boot disk, as far as I know my computer is not using usb 3.0 ports (I think?) and I don't think I have usb options in bios but I'll check tommorrow.

Jethro Bodine · « **Reply #11 on:** December 25, 2015, 11:54:10 pm »

I'm not certain exactly what it is you want to do.

All of those tools I mentioned perform essentially the same task .
There very few options for the user apart from choosing the ISO , choosing the destination drive (eg a USB stick )
choosing which format ( if formatting is needed ) and in some cases , adding a persistent file.

From memory , I think Rufus offers a few more options (boxes to tick ) but that's about it.
If you want multiple , bootable ISOs on the same stick then YUMI is what you need.

If you want to modify / customize Grub4dos there is a tool at Sourceforge called "GRUB4DOS Toolbox "

That's about the extent of it .... maybe it's of some help to you.

PS - Good advice from Julian in his post above .... USB 3 is best avoided for this type of thing
also , Thumbdrives that come with built-in security ( ie encryption ) can sometimes be troublesome.

jraju · « **Reply #12 on:** December 27, 2015, 05:45:58 am »

Hi, Tacko
The pointer by Julian that is it usb compatible bios settings is a must for booting from usb. In older machines, you may have bios settings. Please go to bios , boot order menu and find if there is option to boot from usb/pendrive. If those options are not present, then you have no choice but to use other tools to boot from usb. It is not usb 2.0 or 3.0 port, It will boot if you have this option to boot from usb in your boot priority device settings. Check and report

Boggin · « **Reply #13 on:** December 27, 2015, 10:25:49 am »

Quote from: jraju on December 27, 2015, 05:45:58 am

Hi, Tacko
The pointer by Julian that is it usb compatible bios settings is a must for booting from usb. In older machines, you may have bios settings. Please go to bios , boot order menu and find if there is option to boot from usb/pendrive. If those options are not present, then you have no choice but to use other tools to boot from usb. It is not usb 2.0 or 3.0 port, It will boot if you have this option to boot from usb in your boot priority device settings. Check and report

From the opening post, Taco was able to select it as a first boot option, but for AutoPlay not opening when plugging it in within Windows tends to point to another problem - could be a problem in the USB Controllers in Device Management that the machine isn't seeing it.

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #14 on:** December 27, 2015, 11:11:23 am »

Quote from: Boggin on December 27, 2015, 10:25:49 am

Quote from: jraju on December 27, 2015, 05:45:58 am
Hi, Tacko
The pointer by Julian that is it usb compatible bios settings is a must for booting from usb. In older machines, you may have bios settings. Please go to bios , boot order menu and find if there is option to boot from usb/pendrive. If those options are not present, then you have no choice but to use other tools to boot from usb. It is not usb 2.0 or 3.0 port, It will boot if you have this option to boot from usb in your boot priority device settings. Check and report

From the opening post, Taco was able to select it as a first boot option, but for AutoPlay not opening when plugging it in within Windows tends to point to another problem - could be a problem in the USB Controllers in Device Management that the machine isn't seeing it.

In regards to that, my computer can run the usb perfectly fine, and I can access the files on it, but since autoplay doesn't open when it's plugged in, would that still indicate the USB controllers are at fault? And also, changing the boot order to my flash drive first, hard disk second, did nothing. It just skipped the flash drive and went straight to the hard disk. This did not not happen before. The usb still works properly.

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #15 on:** December 27, 2015, 11:25:42 am »

I'm going to update my usb related drivers now, hopefully that will clear things up somewhat.

Boggin · « **Reply #16 on:** December 27, 2015, 12:21:27 pm »

The driver would normally load when you very first plugged the USB stick in, so not sure how you are going to update them unless it's related to this tutorial - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/165554-usb-driver-general-fix-problems.html

Edit - it looks like Shane has fixed my non-email notifications

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #17 on:** December 27, 2015, 01:39:57 pm »

Quote from: Boggin on December 27, 2015, 12:21:27 pm

The driver would normally load when you very first plugged the USB stick in, so not sure how you are going to update them unless it's related to this tutorial - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/165554-usb-driver-general-fix-problems.html

Edit - it looks like Shane has fixed my non-email notifications

As far as I can tell, the drivers are loaded (I could easily be wrong though), but on a slightly different note, are there any good driver updaters out there on the net? I have the IObit driver booster one, but I know that it sometimes hides drivers unless you have the pro version. Do you know any good alternitives?

Boggin · « **Reply #18 on:** December 27, 2015, 02:09:05 pm »

I doubt any driver updater program will find drivers for USBs.

Other than that tutorial, I would look to your chipset or video drivers for the Controllers.

This laptop has integral AMD CPU/Graphics so the video drivers are the chipset drivers, but your computer or motherboard support site should list what is available.

Have a run through that tutorial to see if at least if the USB can be read in Windows with AutoPlay and then try it on a boot.

Do you have another USB stick you can plug in to rebuild the INFCACHE.1 folder or any other USB device ?

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #19 on:** December 27, 2015, 05:51:53 pm »

I have done all things in the tutorial with no problems. It did not fix my problem though. All of my drivers appear to be up-to-date.

jraju · « **Reply #20 on:** December 27, 2015, 07:18:41 pm »

hi, Taco
It seems that your bios system supports flash drive boot. Did you get past POST , then you get the command promt blinking and sound of the system, denotes that it is having problem in POST stage. Did you check the Ram. Defective Ram also cause this problem if it is defective, or unerased memory in it. Just try this. . Remove the Rams , and clean them with soft cloth and place them again. Check. if it ok, then boot . If not , remove the battery cmos and clean it and then put in the place. Try this.
There is another way, just remove the battery , short circuit, the two nodes, by making contact the battery base with the side holders of battery, thereby erasing electronic memory from residue, if any. Place the battery and try to boot.
Please remove the plug from socket before attempting this.
Normally your failure to get past POST stage, is caused by RAM. If one of the Ram is defective and the other is working, this may result in failure of boot. Try to remove the extra ram if any, leaving the least memory required to test. Failure of RAM is the major cause of the computer not to boot up,
Did you check the uSB whether it is bootable

Boggin · « **Reply #21 on:** December 28, 2015, 01:10:12 am »

When you plug the USB in and then tap F12 to get to the boot order change, is the USB listed by name ?

As it works on other machines then there shouldn't be a need to format it and recreate it - I use Windows USB/DVD Burner Tool for my Win 7 bootable media.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool

I was looking for this MS Fixit yesterday but couldn't find it https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/mats/windows_usb_diagnostics

Plug the USB in and give the Fixit a run to see if it reports anything.

jraju · « **Reply #22 on:** December 28, 2015, 04:20:36 am »

Did you check the uSB whether it is bootable

Boggin · « **Reply #23 on:** December 28, 2015, 04:38:19 am »

Quote from: jraju on December 28, 2015, 04:20:36 am

Did you check the uSB whether it is bootable

From earlier posts, it has worked in other machines - it just isn't being read on this one within Windows or is it being recognised as having an OS to boot up with.

jraju · « **Reply #24 on:** December 28, 2015, 04:41:30 am »

Hi, Boggins,
Is that means that he has tried to check the boot in running windows on other computers?