Can't boot flash drive on GIGABYTE motherboard
Situation
When I try to boot from my flash drive, my GIGABYTE 970A-UD3 motherboard returns this:
Loading Operating System ...
Boot error
All other motherboards I've tried support booting from that flash drive (and a backup flash drive). The operating systems I tried on both flash drives were created with usb-creator-gtk
(Ubuntu USB Startup Disk Creator).
I know that the motherboard understands that there is an operating system on the flash drives because when I erase them, it complains in an ALL CAPS RAGE that there isn't an operating system, which is correct.
How can I boot a flash drive that's bootable from other motherboards on this motherboard?
Qualification
- This question is not a duplicate of this one because directly writing to the flash drive as an ISO 9660 (
dd if=operating_system.iso of=/dev/sdb
) still does not have the motherboard recognize the operating system. - This question should be a duplicate of this one because I provide more information not provided by that poster.
- This forum thread has broken links and does not have a solution to my problem.
- Nobody knows what's going on in this forum thread.
Solution 1:
Use Plop Boot Manager.
Materials
2 computers
1 computer with the problematic (GIGABYTE) motherboard
1 computer for write operations to flash drives
2 USB FDDs
1 (tiny capacity) flash drive for Plop Boot Manager
1 (larger) flash drive for the anticipated boot disk
1 open USB slot
Setup
-
Download Plop Boot Manager. Get
plpbt-x.x.x.zip
(wherex.x.x
is the latest version number). - Extract the
.zip
file you downloaded. - In the folder resulting from the extraction, find
plpbt.img
. Unmount your tiny FDD.
-
Write the file (Plop Boot Manager) to the beginning of your tiny FDD with this:
Linux:
sudo dd if=plpbt.img of=/dev/sdn
Mac:
sudo dd if=plpbt.img of=/dev/diskn
(Assumes that you changed directories (
cd plpbt-*
) into the extracted folder. Replace the value of theof=
parameter with the path of your particular flash drive. Be careful with this command by checking it for correctness!)Windows: Use Win32 Image Writer to write the
.img
file. - If you haven't already, write the bootable operating system to your other flash drive like normal.
Usage
-
Plug the Plop Boot Manager FDD into the computer with the problematic (GIGABYTE) motherboard.
-
Reboot or power on that computer. On GIGABYTE motherboards, press F12 at the BIOS splash.
-
Select the Plop Boot Manager FDD for booting. On GIGABYTE motherboards, choose either
USB-ZIP
orUSB-HDD
. The flash drive is actually recognized as a floppy, not a regular flash drive. - Plop Boot Manager should now be running. There may be a starfield screensaver in the background.
- Plug in the other FDD. (Exchange with the Plop Boot Manager FDD if you're out of slots.)
-
Select the flash drive option from the Plop Boot Manager menu.
Now the bootable flash drive operating system should be starting up!
As a bonus, there are other uses for your Plop Boot Manager FDD now, and it can be your "key" to other possible booting issues you might encounter.
Solution 2:
- In the BIOS, ensure you have Integrated Peripherals > USB Legacy Enabled.
- Also ensure you have Integrated Peripherals > USB Storage Enabled.
- Set Boot Order to HDD, None, None.
- With the USB Boot Drive inserted, Reboot.
- Hit F12 at the Boot Screen to bring up the Boot Menu.
- Choose HDD+ on the Boot Screen, not any of the USB options!
- Choose your USB Device on the next screen.
Source: http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/24883-welcome-gigabyte-technical-support-133.html#post394471
HOURS of research - I hope this helps.