Batocera won't boot from USB device

Francois

Hi!
I'm trying to install Batocera on a USB device but am running into a major problem. The system simply refuses to boot.
I used etcher to burn the image for 64 bit computers on a USB hard drive, I reboot with the boot from USB option preferred in the BIOS and all I get is a blinking cursor. I tried putting it on a USB stick (32gb). Same problem. I tried burning the 32 bit version the same way. Same problem.
To check if the issue was with the computer, I used a stick with Puppy Linux installed on it and it boots no problem...
So what could be the problem?
The computer is an HP with an Intel Core2 Duo. I have plenty of ram and currently run Windows 10...

Any help is really welcome.

GameCast

Francois usb imcompatibilitie . i have 2 usb one from 8 gb and another one 16 gb . on 8gb usb wont boot and boot direct windows intead batocera , on 16 gb usb runs like a hell..

test this dont need reflash usb and you can use the usb for storage the iso and boot from there . on video i explain to do on diskC but you are able to use another disk .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-PvCTdv03k&t=1s

Francois

Only thing is I don't want to dual boot using GRUB...
All I want is to plug the drive in and make it run on boot.

Dragu

It could be an uefi problem, but must not. You can always try alternate bootloader http://zclub.eu/Efi.zip, unpack and override files in efi/boot, operation also possible under windows for this files. Some uefi x86 just dont want to boot with the provided files. The symptom is a not flashing cursor on a black screen. I promise nothing, but perhaps as it helped me.

Francois

OK. I've been struggling with this for 2 days.
I've tried everything! I've even managed to mess-up my computer with GRUB (Lucky me for backups).
But today I tried something different. Converting the IMG file to an ISO so I can use the Universal USB Installer to move the files to a drive. But to my surprise no converter worked. So I tried looking at the file with IMGBurn to manually extract the boot loader. The program tells me that the IMG file is corrupt...
I tried with batocera-5.20-x86_64-20190118.img and batocera-5.20-x86-20190117.img but got the same problems.
So I'm concluding that there is probably a problem with the distribution files, something that the people who do a network install or an upgrade don't see...

Does anybody know how to manually build a boot sector? I can extract the files but not that part.

Francois

I think I might have found the problem!
Etcher doesn't set the partition as active or boot, so the computer probably won't do anything with it.
I found the solution on a French Recallbox forum...
I've just tried it. I'll reboot and keep anyone posted.

Francois

well... that was a very short trip...
I did try something that puzzles me though. I tried the drive on an old netbook I have and the boot sequence worked. So that means that the image is good after all.
But why won't it boot on my PC?

Anybody got an answer to that?
I tried disabling quickboot... didn't do anything.

Dragu

Francois
Did you tested what I proposed you here before 3days ago ?

Francois

Yeah, I tried replacing the efi files but it didn't do anything...
I really don't know what to make of that since it's the first time I encounter an issue like that with Linux.
I've got Lubuntu running on my netbook, I had a FreeSCO server for a long time. I've booted Kali from a stick with this machine. But this is something I've never seen before.

Dragu

Francois
I begin to think that your problem is not coming from the bootloader, but from your graphic chip.
This should be a gma 4500 ? It seems that some people was already having problems in Debian with this drivers.
So you could as a test try to install Debian on a stick and look if it works. I didnt yet looked into the package, may be that a driver swap in Batocera can make your netbook work. It should be i965_dri.so. Could it be that i965_drv_video.so is missing for this chip ?

Francois

I've got an integrated Intel Q45/Q43 Express Chipset on this computer. But that could be the problem.
Though I'd expect the first few seconds of the boot to just use a generic text only mode.
I'll have to check this out.
In the meantime last night before going to bed I dug out of a closet my previous computer. This one is a 2GHz Athlon 64 with an old Nvidia video card. Maybe I could use this instead and just use it as a dedicated gaming machine...
Possibly would be simpler in the end.

Dragu

Francois
What versions of Batocera you tried out? Some people seem to have problems with 5.20 concerning graphics, so may be 5.19 is worth a try.
The problem for all this gaming software, with Raspberry, Odroid and so on, you had a unique hardware base, but the diversity of PC's is just enormous and for this reason creates easier problems. And here you have Linux drivers for PC that change with every kernel version.

Francois

I've tried downgrading it all the way to 5.19 and then to 5.11 with no different results.
When you've grown up on a Commodore 64, you always wonder why PC's make things so difficult sometimes.

zhidd

i have the same problem before with my SFF HP DC7900 (E8400). The solution is to use plop (boot manager)

Francois

Haven't used PLOP in an eternity!
Last time I used it was on a computer that didn't have the boot from CD option... that is a long time ago.

johnny

I had the same problem with a computer, so I used plop manager and it works. Now, everytime I want to start batocera in this computer I have to use plop, but it is easy and quick.

sergiodobrasil

Hi all,
i got the same issue than you.
I have an HP 6000 Pro as main Linux PC.
I tried to install Batocera on a HP dc7900. I've burned the img with etcher on USB Stick but not enable to boot on it.
I tested the USB stick on Laptop Lenovo, and old EEpc with success.
I tried to with Lakka & Recalbox and i got the same issue.
I updated the Bios to version 1.27 Rev. A. and the ME Firmware to 2.2.20.1039 Rev. B.
Still the issue, and i got a flashback from my windows years when i was trying to boot an a specifique disque, on windows we need to mark the Partition Bootable.
So in Xubuntu, with gnome-disk-utility i set the partition bootable.
And i tried with the USB Rear panel, seems for me that the USB Front Panel do not work very well.

Next Step, try to install on SSD.

regards,

hilo

hi everyone,
i have the same issue ,i buy a dell optiplex 380 intel celeron q9550 quad,4gb ram ,250 gb hdd, i tried to make usb stick with batocera and dont boot,the stick 16gb kingston fa 32 batocera 64 bit dont boot
16gb kingston ntfs batocera 64 bit dont boot
16gb kingston fat32 batocera 32 bit dont boot
64gb kingston fat32 batocera 64 bit dont boot
64gb kingston ntfs batocera 64 bit dont boot
i download batocera with winrar unpack and with balena etcher flash to usb,on the boot menu i tried
usb first boot
usb first boot and all others disabled
i dont find secur boot options only when its start in the left up corner apear "batocera.linux" and then black screen
ps. sorry for my poor english

joinski

hilo

did you try the current beta of 5.21 or the 5.20 version?

GameCast

that is a isue from your pc and not from batocera or pendrives. you need config security boot to disable and fastboot to disable on bios . if you have a GSM option on your bios activate it or deactivate it that depends if is activ or inactiv-.