USB Device - Boot Issue

Barryng · May 27, 2006

If a USB memory stick is inserted into a USB port, my computer will not boot. I am using an Abit IC7-Max3 mobo. The bios is set up to only look at the floppy and hard drive as boot devices. Also, the USB memory stick is formatted so it is empty.

Is this normal behavior? My goal is to use the HP USB boot utility to make a USB memory stick bootable. I cannot do this if the bios locks up as soon as it starts. Simply removing the USB memory stick causes the bios to resume the normal boot process. Plugging it back in immediately brings everything back to all stop. I tried two USB memory sticks (different manufactures & sizes) and both behave similarly.

Any suggestions or insight into this would be appreciated.

Cheator · May 27, 2006

what about other usb ports?

Hughhefner · May 27, 2006

Not familiar with that exact bios but.....

1. Check the boot priority i.e. floppy (1) hard drive (2) Disable (3)

2. If you have a setting that says something like Boot other devices (NO)

3. Sometimes I've seen the floppy drive under Removable drives which includes USB , so if the bios has list for removable drives, check it to make sure the USB is turned off

I had the same issue with an Epox socket A board

Barryng · May 28, 2006

The boot priority is Floppy then Hard Drive. The third boot priority and "boot other device" are both disabled. The problem occurs no matter which of three front panel USB ports the device is plugged into.

Hughhefner · May 28, 2006

Have you checked abit's website for a bios update? It will usually list all the fixes since the last bios release.

Barryng · May 28, 2006

Good suggestion but I am running the latest bios (18) available for the IC7-Max3. Thanks

redduc900 · May 28, 2006

Are you sure the memory stick is USB 2.0 compatible, as the two onboard USB hubs are 2.0 correct? And you want to make the memory stick bootable to what... Linux?

Barryng · May 28, 2006

The USB ports are USB 2.0 compatible. At least one of the USB memory sticks I tried (SanDisk Cruzer 1 Mb) is 2.0 compatible.

As long as I plug them in after the machine has booted, they work fine so I do not think this problem is due to a USB compatibility issue. They only cause the machine to freeze during the early boot phase when the bios is checking and reporting on the hardware configuration. Pulling the stick out causes the boot process to resume without issue.

My goal is to be able to boot into MS-DOS or Free-DOS from a USB memory stick. The time has come to retire the mostly unused floppy drive and never used zip drive. However, I still need to boot into DOS to run Ghost and the every so often hardware bios upgrades.

redduc900 · May 28, 2006

Just for the heck of it, before plugging in the memory stick enter the BIOS and add "USB-ZIP" as either the second or third boot device (a boot order similar to Floppy - HDD - USB-ZIP)... while in the BIOS insert the pen drive, hit F10 and exit. Regardless of which procedure you use, I think USB-ZIP needs to be listed as a boot device... and "Boot Other Device" may possibly need to be set to "Enabled".

Barryng · May 29, 2006

redduc900, I tried various combinations as you suggested without success. I suspect the IC7-Max3 is just not compatible with a USB memory stick until Windows load. Even in the bios set up dialogs, the USB memory device acts as a stop/go switch if it is plugged in. Thanks for all the help.

shadowdr · May 29, 2006

Have you tried setting ESCD to yes? It is usually set to no by default.

habbajabba · May 29, 2006

mine has the same prob. if I forget, I stare at a blank screen until I pull it out. Then again it stopped recognizing that stupid slow 5gb usb drive too.

ghettocomp · May 29, 2006

I always make sure that the ESCD is enabled, and there is on most bios
settings an option to enable USB in DOS. It is usually somewhere in an
advanced settings location. I Enable everything having to do with USB.

USB Device - Boot Issue

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