New motherboard won't boot from USB

[01BTC10]

I just bought a Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 http://ncix.com/products/?sku=62402&vpn=GA-970A-UD3&manufacture=Gigabyte&promoid=1360

BAMT won't boot. I tried other OS image and it keep getting boot error. The USB pen drive is booting fine on my ASUS board. USB pen drive LED is on so power is getting there. USB keyboard is working fine too... I tried about all possible bios configuration possible.

Board is rev 1.1 with F4 bios. CPU is AMD Athlon II X3.

Anyone on this forum that bought the same board?

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[Vladimir]

You are going to have to get yourself some low cost SSD drives. This is a quick and easy solution. The alternative is RMA's, messing with BIOS updates etc...

[01BTC10]

I found the problem is because my BIOS is very strict about MBR compatibility. Now I can boot in DOS mode. The flash drive need to be formated as a Win98 Startup disk using HP USB disk storage format tools. Unetbootin menu is booting from USB but won't install BAMT.

If I use Windows or Linux diskimager it is deleting the good MBR. I tried converting BAMT  .img to .iso and it is not booting with Unetbootin.

Is it possible to boot BAMT from a Win98 DOS command prompt? Maybe there is a way to burn the image and keep the working MBR?

If the working MBR is deleted, the flash drive is not recognized at all by the BIOS.

Here are some info if someone happen to buy the same nightmare:

GB's BIOS will only boot USBs formatted to FAT-32, conforming to normal MBR bootloader. I've seen this before, and surmised that the 'stick-maker' was formatting in ReiserFile, or one of the EXT 'flavors', but no one ever followed up to confirm or deny... Also, if it's putting the bootloader into its own partition - won't work!

In the BIOS, on the "Integrated Peripherals" page, the "USB Storage Function" item must be enabled (which should be the default) to allow USB booting...

I've put a little work into a 'GB USB booting tutorial', and frankly, I'd just go ahead and finish it up for you, but I really don't want to reboot the several times it will take me to 'firm up' procedural details, and take the BIOS/boot pictures for the post - just noticed VAIL finally went 'public beta', so will be downloading for likely twenty-six hours or so  There's likely enough there to test a 'raw DOS boot', just to see if your hardware (especially the USB stick itself) will do it...

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274441-30-tutorial-making-bootable-flash-drive

Fixed. Here is a brief summary. Since my ubuntu live usb sticks (2gb kingston and 8gb sandisk sd/usb reader - fat32, created in ubuntu 10.04) would not boot this board even though they would boot my ga-ep45-ud3p, I decided to try bilbat's suggestion with the HP usb boot program. I created the win98 boot disk on the kingston 2gb stick without reformatting. It booted right up. Next, I used windows version of unetbootin to write the ubuntu live cd to the kingston disk. This fired right up and completed the install.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274723-30-880gma-ud2h-fails-boot

[check_status]

If you look around the Debian site about installing to USB, you will see they ask you to format your USB media as FAT for their USB-HDD .img.

I have a Gigabyte board, GA M61P-S3, and it was difficult to figure out how to boot from USB. In the BIOS, Boot from menu (F12), there is a + next to HDD, highlight that and click enter (it's a drop down menu). You should see your USB device listed as USB-HDD, highlight that and click enter.Now it should boot from your USB device regardless of file system it's formatted in.

[01BTC10]

I need a special tool to format the USB stick. I used this http://hp-usb-disk-storage-format-tool.en.softonic.com/ with Win98 DOS files available via Google. But it won't boot multiple partition USB image like BAMT. Xubuntu work fine.

This look like a good solution that I will try:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=65915.msg856252#msg856252
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.msg856293#msg856293

[hoqq]

You only get the message "boot error"? That's from syslinux, the boot manager which is included in the BAMT image.

I've been able to get BAMT booting any mobo until now. In most cases booting was possible after formating the usb in usb-hdd mode and setting the partition alignment to cylinder, use Bootice to do that.

If that doesn't work, probably on rather old boards, put Plob Boot Manager to the MBR of your usb.  When booting choose HDD-0 from the plob menu and Bamt will appear 

I'll post more detailed instructions if requested...

[01BTC10]

Thank's BAMT is booting fine with this fix: http://www.bitcointrading.com/forum/index.php?topic=416.msg1149#msg1149

[check_status]

Thank's BAMT is booting fine with this fix: http://www.bitcointrading.com/forum/index.php?topic=416.msg1149#msg1149

You are working too hard and taking up too many slots! How will you automate turning on your system?
You are at the beach checking out the opposite sex when your Bitcoin miner crashes and you are not there to choose from the menu because you are busy choosing from a different menu. 

You need to enable USB Storage function and maybe USB Legacy Function, in Integrated Peripherals.

At the F12 screen slect + Hard Disk, then the USB drive.

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/44384-unable-boot-usb-key-ga-890fxa-ud5.html

Hi there,
I have this mobo and am also running the F6 BIOS and can BOOT and install various Linux distros without problem from the USB Stick. You might want to use this: Universal USB Installer – Easy as 1 2 3 | USB Pen Drive Linux to create a Bootable pendrive.

Once you have created the install drive shut down the PC and plug the USB stick into one of the USB2 ports (don't try using the USB3 ones).
Restart the PC and press F12 to get to the BOOT menu. You need to choose the USB-HDD option to access the pendrive.
Apart from keyboard and mouse do not have any other devices plugged into the USB ports. Although this is not essential it does help eliminate any issues.

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/44384-unable-boot-usb-key-ga-890fxa-ud5.html

Guys, it sounds like his stick is bootable already as he mentions using it on other PC's, I think he just needs to learn the "Gigabyte Way" of booting to USB

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/44384-unable-boot-usb-key-ga-890fxa-ud5.html

No need to jump through too many hoops 01BTC10, just learn the "Gigabyte Way" of booting to USB.  

[01BTC10]

You are working too hard and taking up too many slots! How will you automate turning on your system?
You are at the beach checking out the opposite sex when your Bitcoin miner crashes and you are not there to choose from the menu because you are busy choosing from a different menu.  

No everything boot automatically. The only one difference is that I use 2X USB flash drive. I don't even have any monitor or keyboard attached to my rig.

But thank's for your post I will try your method too if it can save me 4$/rig