Trouble booting Elementary OS from USB?

[CommanderLiamTHX]

Hi, so a family member has this Dell Dimension E310 running Windows XP, and we thought that we should update it to something better. I made a 16GB USB boot of Elementary OS Luna using Unetbootin, and whenever I stick it in and press F12 to boot off of it, all it says is "Boot Unsuccessful." Is there any fix to this?

 

[Kharn]

Does your BIOS support booting from USB?

 

[CommanderLiamTHX]

Does your BIOS support booting from USB?

Yes, it worked fine with Zorin OS 7.1 Lite, which I was going to put on, but the number pad (to the right) on the keyboard wasn't supported for some reason. Then again,Zorin OS Lite IS a netbook OS.

 

[Kharn]

Can you access the grub profile on the USB stick and post it here?

Also can you boot off the stick on another computer?

Edit: can you also try it with another stick? I have seen unetbootin act funny at some times with sticks I have used in the past and odd distros. Hell BT4 on a corsair survivor 16gb and my old MBP was a nightmare but using a crappy OEM on picked up in Munich airport worked fine.

 

[CommanderLiamTHX]

1. I'm a huge noob, don't know what that means or how to do that, sorry.
2. Only other computer I have here is an Acer Chromebook.

 

[Kharn]

1: OK how noob?
2: can you use that memory stick to boot the OS in question on that stick with that computer?

 

[CommanderLiamTHX]

1: OK how noob?
2: can you use that memory stick to boot the OS in question on that stick with that computer?

Well, it's apparently hard to get it working on a Chromebook without a lot of hacking,

and I don't know how to get the Grub Profile off of the USB stick.

 

[Kharn]

Humm, OK Chrome is nominally only based on linux and I haven't used it unless some one chimes in before I do I will need to look around how to open the grub config files from a usb stick in a chrome book.

Can I check back tomorrow with you? But in the mean time if you need to have a working system CentOS desktop or any version of Ubuntu should work off that stick.

 

[CommanderLiamTHX]

Okay.
Also I might try hacking my Chromebook to run Elementary too, because I'm taking a programming course and need gedit, so I'll start working on that.

 

[Kharn]

I would not bother with that, Chrome books are quite honestly a failed experiment at worst OR a failed version of the old Unix Dumb Terminals of the 70/80's, it can be done but it's not worth it.

If you just want a working nix box take a look around for a cheep 2nd hand system and install unix on that, I am not saying I wont help but a Chrome book will not help you get through uni or any course worth a damn.