Compaq 6200 booting to USB not working

[jskier]

I have several Compaq 6200 mini workstations that refuse to boot to USB. I'm trying to boot to a Linux thumb drive (which I've used for several months just fine on other machines). The OS is a legacy partition table with an MBR. I set the BIOS to boot to removable media and legacy USB hard drives (inlcuded EFI USB hard drive for kicks and grins), however it won't boot.

These machines do boot to CD-ROM, so I tried to boot Plop boot manage (a utility which allows booting USB from CD-ROM). The Plop boot manager does not even see the thumb drive as being plugged in (but does see the USB mouse and keyboard). I've tried a few front and back ports to no avail.

I've also tried a powered USB hub, in case power was an issue, still nothing. With or without the hub, the thumbdrive lights up, so it is getting some power.

Is there one or two specific ports I should be hitting for this to work? I have the latest BIOS as well. The drive is picked up in Windows just fine, so I'm confident this is a BIOS hardware problem.

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

Don't try to boot up via a USB 3.0 port.

I have experienced a very similar issue with different PCs but I have also been successful with other PCs using a Windows 7 installation CD.  You might be experiencing the same issue with Linux.

Try booting a Windows 7 installation CD. If you are in UEFI mode then insert the CD and then power cycle the PC and then see if the optical CD will boot all the way up.  The optical drive should have a UEFI designation in the boot device selection menu.

If you think you have correctly built the UEFI enabled Linux USB flash drive then insert the flash drive and then power cycle your PC (if you are in UEFI mode) and then try to boot the flash drive.  The flash drive should have a UEFI designation in the boot device menu.

If both of the above suggestions fail to work then you probably have a bios issue.

[jskier]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I do not have a USB 3 port built in (or a PCIe card for that matter), it's merely a USB 3 drive in most of the USB 2 slots I've tried so far. The boot loader is legacy MBR, I just tried UEFI since the BIOS does not appear to be working as it should anyway. 

CDROM booting is fine BTW, like I said, Plop boots off CD but won't actually see the USB drive. My guess is it is the BIOS, but the settings have been tweaked a few times on four different machiens to no avail.

Any BIOS updates that may fix this (I have the latest on all 4)? It appears to be a model specific wide problem. 

[jskier]

Doesn't work on a 6300 either, however it does recognize the the thumb drive in the BIOS (unlike the 6200). I can use USB 3 or USB 2 and it will show up in the BIOS. Plop boot doesn't work either on the 6300, it won't see the drive (USB 2 or 3- doesn't matter).

[tmcintosh · Accepted solution]

You need to go into the BIOS and restore it to factory default. This somehow causes the USB boot devices to kick back in.

The issue is mentioned at this support bulletin.

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay?javax.portlet.begCache...

[psgianni]

This is it! worked... THANKS!!

[debci]

just had the same issue, nothing was working but then i found that usb is listed on bios update so i tried to update bios to the latest and everything is working now