Can't get USB flash drive to boot [closed]

I ran into this, too. The issue I found was that my 16 GB USB was formatted as NTFS. I tried changing the block size and reformatting with Windows Quick Format, but what solved the issue was to reformat as FAT32. Ubuntu boots just fine, now. Too bad I can't use NTFS, but the difference will be minor.

If you have access to a Windows machine, make one using Rufus. I have had trouble with unetbooting and live creator, but rufus seems to work every time.

If you are using a Sandisc USB stick, the problem often is the U3 partition.

use http://u3.sandisk.com/launchpadremoval.htm to remove it (from windows)

This is HP related problem. I've got the same issue with Linux Mint 12 rc. It boots from the USB fine on Lenvo thinkpad or Dell Latitude but on HP doesn't work. What is strange that I've got another pendrive with XP like live linux based on Ubuntu 10.04 and this boots just fine on HP. Tested on different HP machines.

both were created using the same Unebootin.

And today I found the solution. You need to go into BIOS setup (for HP usally f10 during startup), go to "System Configuration" tab or similar and to Boot Options. Setup the highest priority for USB Hard Disk (should be before USB CD-ROM - the best is to give USB CD-ROM the lowes priority eg. seventh). Also USB Hard Disk should be before USB Floppy.

Hope this would work for you either.