P5B-VM Doesn't Support USB Drive/Mem Stick Booting?

Unknown

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Nov 30, 2007, 3:27:08 PM11/30/07

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I have a P5B-VM with BIOS Version 1001. I believe that is the latest
version. I just assumed that this motherboard supported USB Drive/Mem
stick booting, but when I looked in the BIOS options for boot priority
sequence, I couldn't find anything to do with the USB drives or mem
sticks in the options list.

All I saw were the HDD, the DVD drive, the floppy and the CD-ROM drive
in the list of the boot priority sequence choice menu.

Does this motherboard not support any type of USB booting at all or
did I miss something? Thanks!

RobV

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Nov 30, 2007, 4:52:16 PM11/30/07

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What does the manual say?

Paul

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Nov 30, 2007, 5:34:54 PM11/30/07

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Asus provides advice in the FAQ for your board, but I only half believe it.

http://support.asus.com/faq/faq_right_second_detail.aspx?kb_guid=EF610CAD-5606-4A40-9BBB-78BC8B1DB817&SLanguage=en-us

"Question

I am unable to boot from my bootable USB flash drive built via standard
USB boot utilities. What can I do to resolve this problem?

Answer

This could be because the USB flash drive used is not formatted into the
compatible mode directly supported by this motherboard. As there are two
kinds of USB storage mode (being USB HDD and USB ZIP mode), system will
not be abel to boot from USB flash correctly if the mode has been incorrectly
selected.

To fix this problem, please kindly ensure the USB controller has been enabled
in BIOS, then format your USB flash drive as USB HDD, and enter BIOS, set to
force detect the USB flash drive as USB HDD, and your system should then be
able to boot from such USB flash drive."

The question remains, what tool to use to achieve that end ?

Paul

RobV

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Nov 30, 2007, 6:20:57 PM11/30/07

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More than likely, they're trying to say that the BIOS file on the flash
drive must be decompressed from the zip format it downloads as. Also,
you can plug in a flash drive and format it as a HDD (right click,
format drive [Fat16, or Fat32]), just as you would any other disk drive.

For the OP: As for reading the manual, on page 2-2, section 2.1 with the
heading "Managing and updating your BIOS", all means of flashing are
listed and described in the proceeding pages. Using a USB flash drive
is listed in 1 and 3 as a means to flash the BIOS. Detailed
instructions are provided.

Bill

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Dec 1, 2007, 12:34:50 AM12/1/07

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In article <fiq34f$thf$1...@aioe.org>, nos...@needed.com says...

Well, just for shits and giggles, I took my 2GB Crucial Gizmo USB
drive < FAT format > and stuck it in a USB port on my P5B VM machine
and rebooted.

Went into the BIOS, Ver 1001, and under the Boot section under HARD
DRIVES it listed my hard drive first and my USB drive second. I
switched the order putting my USB drive first then made sure that it
was the first device in the boot list ahead of the floppy and dvd.
Pressed F10 and enter. The bios reset and eventually the red light on
the USB stick flashed and a message appeared on the screen that said
" Missing Operating System " which figures since there is no OS on the
USB drive, just files.

Now I've know there are places on the web that will tell how to put
an operating system on a USB stick. Google is your friend.

I'll leave that as an excersize for the OP.

Bill

Unknown

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Dec 1, 2007, 7:33:20 PM12/1/07

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Thanks guys, for all your help. I digged around lastnight and found
that I was able to make the USB drive as the main storage disk and was
able to boot off of the USB flash drive. Thanks again.