Can't get installed sparky to boot from SD or USB stick

[alphilmac]

Hi all,

I have created a live usb stick with 64bit sparky 4.4 kde that boots fine on an HP atom machine (32bit UEFI). I decided to install it on a 64GB SD that I can use either as a second drive on this machine or as a usb stick (through an adaptor). The problem is that the so installed is ignored/unrecognized as bootable (either as SD or as a stick). I do have created an EFI fat32 partition, so that should not be the problem. I suspect the problem is with grub/mbr?! Now I am in my fourth trial. This time, I have not installed grub during the installation process. So the questions are (a) how should I install it from the live stick to the SD, and (b) where should I install it in order for the SD (or adapted usb stic) to be really bootable.

Thank you in adavance for any advise.

Cheers

[paxmark1]

I did use a SD card on an atom, on the computer was only 8 gb of storage.    4 years on Crucnch Bang (#!)  It was fun. 

So -  Did you take your working usb stick with Sparky live, start it up on the atom computer and then install Sparky onto the SD card?  If so, good. 

Is the SD card bootable. 

If you go into your bios when you first start the computer - Is the SD card listed as an option to boot into. 

In your bios, how is the install listed; as legacy or regular, ir etc.

HOWEVER, this sounds like an Intel Baytrail.  They can be very difficult to install Debian and also most other versions of Linux onto.  It is a crippled UEFI with the 32 bit uefi causing problems with the 64 bit OS.  I would suggest if that is the case to start with looking at the BunsenLabs forum and also the Debian forum to see who has succeeded and with what.  I have seen a few instances of people trying to install Debian onto Intel Baytrail in #debian and #debian-next on irc, and I do not recall many success stories, but I do believe it has been done. 

But then again, myabe someone here can give you a success story.

And for those with less powerful cpu's  please not KDE.  I am running lxqt on an atom with sparky, lxde and xfce are also good candidates for atoms. 

[paxmark1]

If it is Baytrail you might get some good hints here.

https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Asus/T100TA

For looking for your HP (or any other problematic install on weird hardware
https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/

BTW is this one of those machines with no ethernet jack? 

[alphilmac]

I did use a SD card on an atom, on the computer was only 8 gb of storage.    4 years on Crucnch Bang (#!)  It was fun. 

Yes, I had it running on a 16GB EEEPC (side by side with Mandriva)!

So -  Did you take your working usb stick with Sparky live, start it up on the atom computer and then install Sparky onto the SD card?  If so, good. 

Yes, that is what is frustrating. The live USB stick runs smoothly! Then I asked it to install on the SD, and it does so, copying the right files into the EFI directory.

Is the SD card bootable. 

If you go into your bios when you first start the computer - Is the SD card listed as an option to boot into. 

I have this SD to USB stick adaptor. If I try to boot the machine with this in place (instead of the live USB stick) it is not detected as bootable by the BIOS.

In your bios, how is the install listed; as legacy or regular, ir etc.

I have no possibility to switch to legacy! It is an UEFI only BIOS. But that has not been a problem with the live USB stick that I created using unebootin. You can change the boot sequence.

Aha! I suppose that you suggest that the problem is that the SD card itself does not render to be bootable. I did not thought of that. I assumed that I do something erroneous during installation.

HOWEVER, this sounds like an Intel Baytrail.  They can be very difficult to install Debian and also most other versions of Linux onto.  It is a crippled UEFI with the 32 bit uefi causing problems with the 64 bit OS.  I would suggest if that is the case to start with looking at the BunsenLabs forum and also the Debian forum to see who has succeeded and with what.  I have seen a few instances of people trying to install Debian onto Intel Baytrail in #debian and #debian-next on irc, and I do not recall many success stories, but I do believe it has been done. 

But then again, myabe someone here can give you a success story.

Yes, it is. But there is no problem to run the live! OK, I am missing a few drivers (RTL for one) but that can be fixed once installed properly.

And for those with less powerful cpu's  please not KDE.  I am running lxqt on an atom with sparky, lxde and xfce are also good candidates for atoms.

I know that, but I am used to KDE apps from the very beginning of it and I am now too old to change habits. Moreover, the live KDE version does really run very very (surprisingly?) nice! Actually, with several apps running I see no hick-ups or delays! In any case, the processor is a 4-core 64bit cherry trail.

Thank you for your suggestions! Appreciated a lot!
 

[alphilmac]

If it is Baytrail you might get some good hints here.

https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Asus/T100TA

For looking for your HP (or any other problematic install on weird hardware
https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/

BTW is this one of those machines with no ethernet jack?

Thank you, I will check the sites. But as I said in another post, the live runs great! I suppose the problem can be with the medium on which I tried to install. I will try again on a different medium, and I will report the results. Thank you for your suggestions.

Yes, unfortunately it is a machine with only one USB port and no ethernet jack! I have ordered an ethernet2usb adaptor from China which is supposed to support Linux :-)