Not all USB Flash Drives are Bootable?

I was playing around with getting Arch Linux on my EeePC and one of the first steps is to create a bootable USB Flash drive with the Arch Core ISO put on it to boot.

Easy enough done but then I could not get the stinking EeePC to boot from the USB Flash Drive, acted like it did not even have a boot loader loaded in the MBR, curious.

So then I attempted to use another USB Flash drive and found it to work just fine, I did not change a single setting on the EeePC it just seem that the one USB Flash Drive isnt 'able' to boot.

Curioser and Curioser.

It just appears that some USB Flash Drives wont arent able to boot. The one that would not work for me I picked up at MicroCenter for like $15, one of those generic drives they have at the counter. Some details;

 

Bus 002 Device 018: ID 090c:1000 Feiya Technology Corp. Memory Bar
Device Descriptor:
bLength                18
bDescriptorType         1
bcdUSB               2.00
bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass         0 
bDeviceProtocol         0 
bMaxPacketSize0        64
idVendor           0x090c Feiya Technology Corp.
idProduct          0x1000 Memory Bar
bcdDevice           11.00
iManufacturer           1 USB 2.0
iProduct                2 Flash Disk
iSerial                 3 AA00000000000511
bNumConfigurations      1
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength                 9
bDescriptorType         2
wTotalLength           32
bNumInterfaces          1
bConfigurationValue     1
iConfiguration          0 
bmAttributes         0x80
(Bus Powered)
MaxPower              100mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength                 9
bDescriptorType         4
bInterfaceNumber        0
bAlternateSetting       0
bNumEndpoints           2
bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage
bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI
bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk (Zip)
iInterface              0 
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength                 7
bDescriptorType         5
bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
bmAttributes            2
Transfer Type            Bulk
Synch Type               None
Usage Type               Data
wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
bInterval             255
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength                 7
bDescriptorType         5
bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT
bmAttributes            2
Transfer Type            Bulk
Synch Type               None
Usage Type               Data
wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
bInterval             255
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
bLength                10
bDescriptorType         6
bcdUSB               2.00
bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass         0 
bDeviceProtocol         0 
bMaxPacketSize0        64
bNumConfigurations      1
Device Status:     0x0000
(Bus Powered)

Ones that I did get to work; 

SanDisk Corp. SDCZ2 Cruzer Mini Flash Drive (thin) 4GB

Hewlett Packard v120w 2GB 

By the way the HP v120w I picked up at MicroCenter for $12, neat little drive.

If you have some details on a USB Flash Drive that you have that you could not get to boot, it would be great if you could comment here with the Make and Model.  

Enjoy!

Leave a Reply