# Booting from USB not working in BIOS?



## Steria (May 19, 2012)

Computer in question: *Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo 600*

I am trying to boot from my USB, but I seem to be unable to do so. I have entered BIOS by pressing "DEL" upon restart, and into the boot menu. 

The default setup is this (see image below):










These are the options I have for boot sequence.

Floppy
LS120
HDD-0
SCSI
CDROM
HDD-1
HDD-2
HDD-3
ZIP
USB-FDD
USB-ZIP
USB-CDROM
USB-HDD
LAN
Disabled

For the 1st, 2nd and 3rd options I have set USB-ZIP, USB-FDD and USB-HDD, respectively.

No matter what option I choose to boot up from, Windows XP always seem to boot up instead of the operative system from my USB device (Linux Mint in this case). I have tried to place the USB drive in 2 different USB inputs on the computer as well.

What am I doing wrong?


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## Steria (May 19, 2012)

I also turned "USB Legacy Support" to enabled (it was disabled from before).

Even when putting USB-HDD on the 1st option, and Floppy on the 2nd and 3rd, Windows XP starts up...


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

Try removing the hard drive so XP can't boot.
It is possible the USB doesn't have a boot sector.


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## Steria (May 19, 2012)

Panther063 said:


> Try removing the hard drive so XP can't boot.
> It is possible the USB doesn't have a boot sector.












This happened when starting up w/o the harddrive plugged in.
On top, it says "Rocketfish", which is the USB device I am trying to boot from...


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

How did you prepare the USB drive? Your system will identify a bootable flash disk as a USB-HDD, so set that accordingly in bios boot order. You can also manually boot from the USB disk by pressing F12 or F9 depending on what key your system uses to load the boot device menu. If that doesn't work too, the flash disk was not properly prepared and isn't bootable at all.


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## Steria (May 19, 2012)

Stancestans said:


> How did you prepare the USB drive? Your system will identify a bootable flash disk as a USB-HDD, so set that accordingly in bios boot order. You can also manually boot from the USB disk by pressing F12 or F9 depending on what key your system uses to load the boot device menu. If that doesn't work too, the flash disk was not properly prepared and isn't bootable at all.


Hi Stancestans. The bootable USB was created using Rufus, and I know it is working properly since I tried it on another newer desktop (to make sure).

I have set the 1st boot device to "USB-HDD" and tried many times, but it just boots up w/ Windows XP regardless (when the harddrive was plugged in).

I only get 2 options when starting the computer (see image below):










Then I get this screen:










This is under "Advanced Bios":










This is under "Integrated Peripherals" (I have set USB Legacy Support to "ENABLE" now):


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

F12 and/or F9 prompts may not be shown at the POST screen, but the system may respond to them and you wouldn't know until you've tried them both, one at a time. When it powers up and the Fujitsu Siemens logo comes up, press F12 once every second. If nothing happens, start over and press F9. I've encountered old systems that support booting from usb disks, but not bigger that 2GB. How big is that usb drive?


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## Steria (May 19, 2012)

Stancestans said:


> F12 and/or F9 prompts may not be shown at the POST screen, but the system may respond to them and you wouldn't know until you've tried them both, one at a time. When it powers up and the Fujitsu Siemens logo comes up, press F12 once every second. If nothing happens, start over and press F9. I've encountered old systems that support booting from usb disks, but not bigger that 2GB. How big is that usb drive?


The screenshots above were from the DEL (Setup) menu.

I tried to press F9 every second when the Fujitsu logo came on, but nothing happened. Same thing for F12.

The USB I use is an 8 GB one.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Steria said:


> For the 1st, 2nd and 3rd options I have set USB-ZIP, USB-FDD and USB-HDD, respectively.



And are you trying to use one of those type of devices?

USB-ZIP is a ZIP disc drive, USB-FDD is a floppy disc drive, and USB-HDD is a USB Hard Drive.

You would select based on the type of drive that you are using. None of those options support a USB thumb drive.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

Steria said:


> I tried to press F9 every second when the Fujitsu logo came on, but nothing happened. Same thing for F12.
> 
> The USB I use is an 8 GB one.


Plug in the usb drive, turn PC on, enter BIOS, enter advanced bios features and expand hard disk boot priority. Is the usb drive listed?


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## Steria (May 19, 2012)

Stancestans said:


> Plug in the usb drive, turn PC on, enter BIOS, enter advanced bios features and expand hard disk boot priority. Is the usb drive listed?


I do have the USB plugged in, and then I start the machine. I am trying with a 2GB USB stick now too.

The only options I get are these:

Floppy
LS120
HDD-0
SCSI
CDROM
HDD-1
HDD-2
HDD-3
ZIP
USB-FDD
USB-ZIP
USB-CDROM
USB-HDD
LAN
Disabled


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

Steria said:


> I do have the USB plugged in, and then I start the machine. I am trying with a 2GB USB stick now too.
> 
> The only options I get are these:
> 
> ...


I just noticed your version of bios is much older than the one in the motherboard manual, and the hard disk boot priority option that I mentioned earlier is not available in your current bios. You may wanna update the bios to the latest available version. I took a quick look at Fujitsu's support site and they have a bios update dated 2008 for your system. Apply it. I believe you have to run the update utility from within Windows, unless there are procedures for creating a USB drive for use with the Q-flash utility of the current bios, which will be provided on the same download page.


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## Steria (May 19, 2012)

Stancestans said:


> I just noticed your version of bios is much older than the one in the motherboard manual, and the hard disk boot priority option that I mentioned earlier is not available in your current bios. You may wanna update the bios to the latest available version. I took a quick look at Fujitsu's support site and they have a bios update dated 2008 for your system. Apply it. I believe you have to run the update utility from within Windows, unless there are procedures for creating a USB drive for use with the Q-flash utility of the current bios, which will be provided on the same download page.


I was able to burn the alternative .iso file for Lubuntu 15.10 on a 700MB CD-R disk and install that on the desktop computer. HOWEVER, it would be very nice to be able to boot from USB in the future, or if I want to install another operative system etc. The desktop computer is currently on Lubuntu though, and XP has been deleted from the desktop.

Could you link me the bios update? I just went into the Fujitsu Siemens site, and I only saw a BIOS file there dated 2005(?). And is it easy to install this bios update on the system running Lubuntu?


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

Steria said:


> I was able to burn the alternative .iso file for Lubuntu 15.10 on a 700MB CD-R disk and install that on the desktop computer. HOWEVER, it would be very nice to be able to boot from USB in the future, or if I want to install another operative system etc. The desktop computer is currently on Lubuntu though, and XP has been deleted from the desktop.
> 
> Could you link me the bios update? I just went into the Fujitsu Siemens site, and I only saw a BIOS file there dated 2005(?). And is it easy to install this bios update on the system running Lubuntu?


You're right. The latest BIOS updates are dated 2005, not 2008. I must have mixed that up with some other download, probably the manual, but still, your system seems to still be using a 2002-2003 version. Grab an update for your specific board, including the correct revision. I see there are a number of different revisions for the same board models, so be very careful to select a download for your exact board's revision. If those packages are meant to be run from within Windows, then you MUST run them from Windows. BIOS updates are not to be messed with, so follow the included instructions carefully.

Your computer is very old. It's time to think of upgrading if you want a reliable system that will make use of the latest technology, such as your 8GB flash disk and so much more.


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