Unable to boot from usb, missing boot USB option for dv7-4173us?

[hpng]

I could not find an option to boot from USB on my

HP Pavilion dv7-4173us laptop BIOS.

How to I enable boot from USB port?

Thanks.

[Lil_Lisa27]

Hello hpng,

As your computer is not showing the option for booting from a USB device, I would first suggest restoring the BIOS to the default settings. I have included the document 'Configuring the Boot Order in the System BIOS'. Please click on the option for Reset the boot order to the default settings, and follow through the steps.

If you are still not able to see an option for USB device, I would suggest restoring the BIOS, and then try updating the BIOS again. I have included the document 'Restoring the BIOS', as it will walk you through the steps on how to restore back to the last know good BIOS version. Next you will need to update the BIOS. Again I have included the document 'Updating the BIOS', to help you find, download, and install the latest updates.

Please let me know if you are able to see the USB device boot option after the above steps.

Looking forward to your reply!

[hpng]

Thanks Lil' lisa.

Update to a new BIOS from HP online.

I think I saw the boot option now.

Will work on dual boot and also boot from USB (spinning) harddrive using Win 7 and Linux  next.

Is there any article on dual boot and / or boot from USB hard drive for hp laptop?

[Lil_Lisa27 · Accepted solution]

Hey hpng,

Glad to hear that the option is now available. When setting up a dual boot with Linux, I have very limited information on how to do this. The only thing that I would suggest, is to read over the document 'Frequently Asked Questions About Linux (FAQs)'. This has many of the frequently asked questions, but the main reason is, toward the bottom of the page you will see an option for Where can I find more information about Linux.

Depending on what version of Linux you want to install, I would suggest posting your question to that Linux community.

Hope this helps!

[hpng]

Hello Lil Lisa27:

May day, may day.....

Laptop: dv7-4173us, BIOS Version/Date Hewlett-Packard F.29, 2/25/2013

I am still not able to boot from USB drive.

When I got to into BIOS, and with F9, I got into this screen:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boot Manager

Notebook Hard Drive

Internal CD/DVD ROM Drive

Press F10 to BIOS setup Options screen. Esc to exit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looks like there is no option for boot from USB... but wait …. here is what I did step by step:

1. Press F10 to get me into “InSydeH20 Setup Utility”.

2. Press right arrow key to toolbar menu time System Configuration

3. In System Configuration, there is : “>Boot Option”

   [Explanation on right column said “Set boot order, device boot capability, and accessibility options.”]

4. I got into “>Boot Options” screen , and there is this choice: “>Boot Order”

5. I then got into “>Boot Order” screen

6. In “Boot Order” screen, I have these options setup and check multiple time. Also reboot multiple time with same order preserved:

   USB CD/DVD ROM Drive

   USB Diskette on key / USB Hard Disk

   Notebook Hard Drive

   Internal CD/DVD ROM Drive

   ! USB Floppy

   ! Network Adapter

I place the order such that USB devices comes first.

The right side (help column) of the above “Boot Order” screen said this:

“The boot capability will be disabled if the device is marked with an exclamation mark.”

meaning the last two options ( USB floppy and Network Adapter ) were disabled.

I do not know what “USB Diskette on key” is, do you?

I have a USB flash configured to boot Linux.

But the above BIOS order does not work like I expect it to, i.e. boot from USB flash drive.

And the enabled options: “USB CD/DVD ROM Drive” AND “USB Diskette on key / USB Hard Disk” do not show up in the “Boot Manager” screen ( see top of this posting ). Why, WHY?

How do I get the boot order enabled options show up in the Boot manager screen?

If I can do that , that would probably enable boot from USB drive.

Please advice.

]

[Lil_Lisa27]

Hey hpng,

I do apologize for the late reply to your question. I have taken a look into you question, and have come up with some ideas.

The first thing to note is that the exclamation point (!) to the left of a boot order item, means that the computer is not detecting any items that qualify for booting. Specifically you USB Floppy is only enabled when actually have a USB 3.5 floppy drive connected. The one that you should be focusing on is the USB Diskette on key/ USB Hard Disk, and put this at the top of the list. The next thing to consider, is that not all thumb drives are "bootable". Most modern ones are, but if you are using an older one, you may want to try a different USB drive to verify.

Can you please verify if you have an UEFI BIOS, if so you will need to disable Secure Boot before you will be able to boot to a Linux install USB drive.

Hope this helps! 🙂

[hpng]

I thought you can look up internal data at HP,a and check if my laptop has UEFI.

Answer :  NO.  My laptop was purchase in about late year 2011 ...

How do you check for UEFI?

SInce i have setup the BIOS to boot from USB harddrive, the main issue I have is that in Boot manager,

the boot from USB harddrive does not even show up.....

Here:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boot Manager

Notebook Hard Drive

Internal CD/DVD ROM Drive

Press F10 to BIOS setup Options screen. Esc to exit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

So the Boot Manager not recognizing I have setupto boot from USB

preceedes the "maybe your USB drive is not bootable" problem, right?

I also have a recent USB rotating harddrive I can install the Linux ISO files, but do not have time now.....

[Lil_Lisa27]

Hey hpng,

The next steps that can be tried, to see if the boot manager will show the USB drive, are listed below. (I was able to get the following steps to work on my notebook).

1. During start up of your notebook press f10 to enter into the BIOS

2. Arrow over to System Configuration

3. Arrow down to Boot Options, and press Enter

4. Arrow down to Secure Boot, and press Enter

5. Disable Secure Boot, note that your computer may ask you to confirm this change

6. Arrow up to Legacy Support, and enable this option

7. Now set USB Diskette on Key/USB Hard Drive as your first boot option

8. Save, and Exit from the BIOS

Now you will need to reboot your computer, and press f9 on start up to get into the Boot Manager. You should now see an option for your USB flash drive. Note, you may need to put in a confirmation number to change this boot order. When I changed the boot order on my notebook, I selected the USB flash drive, my computer showed me a 4 digit code that I did have to input.

Hope this helps! 🙂

[hpng]

Lisa:

You are trying, but may be reading from a  script ......

>>>  4. Arrow down to Secure Boot, and press Enter

The above step does not exist on my computer.

At step 4, all I see is Boot Order

Go back and see my previous reply to see the sequence of steps

I took to get to Boot order.

Can you find a dv7-4173us and walk it thru and see my problem?

I got a feeling I am talking to a third party Indian tech support reading from a script,

the HP India English version of the script.

Sorry,    ... but this "help" is a poor reflection of HP

[Lil_Lisa27]

Hello hpng,

Thank you for your response. I will let you know that this is not a means to speak to HP directly. This is a peer to peer community and is designed for users to help each other. Once I get the information requested, I may have better suggestions to help you.

Regardless, I am sorry to hear that the steps are not working. The steps that I have given you, I have tested on several different models of notebooks, and they have worked without issue.

As I have previously explained, not all thumb drives are "bootable" and it would help quite a bit to know more about your USB device:

1. How old is the thumb drive you are using?

2. Have you verified that you cannot boot from another USB flash drive, or have you only been trying the one?

Furthermore, not all versions of Linux are launchable from a USB flash drive. Have you verified that you do have the version of Linux that can be launched from either a USB flash drive, or CD? To add to that, what distro of Linux do you have on the USB drive?

Using Ubuntu as an example, it recommends a program called pendrivelinux.com to setup a bootable USB stick. I suspect something similar would be needed for yours as well.  You can take a look at the following document for Ubuntu 'How to create a bootable USB stick on Windows'.

Looking forward to your answers, the more information there is to work with, the better chance of solving this.