USB thumb drive

[BoB]

If my USB thumb drive is connected to my XP when I turn on the computer,
the system won't start and I get a warning that 'Drive is not bootable.
Correctable in the BIOS? Haven't been into the BIOS yet as this is a new
XP.

Is the thumb drive supposed to be connected after the system is running
and the icon "Safely remove hardware" is visible in the tray? That is
the time when I remove it so is the wording just goofy like clicking
the Start button to shutdown?

Win98 boots up normally even if the thumb drive is connected. Both of
my systems can see and use the thumb drive OK, I'm just confused on
'when' to connect the thumb for XP

TIA

BoB

 

[Malke]

If my USB thumb drive is connected to my XP when I turn on the computer,
the system won't start and I get a warning that 'Drive is not bootable.
Correctable in the BIOS? Haven't been into the BIOS yet as this is a new
XP.

Is the thumb drive supposed to be connected after the system is running
and the icon "Safely remove hardware" is visible in the tray? That is
the time when I remove it so is the wording just goofy like clicking
the Start button to shutdown?

Win98 boots up normally even if the thumb drive is connected. Both of
my systems can see and use the thumb drive OK, I'm just confused on
'when' to connect the thumb for XP

Go into the BIOS and change the boot order to the hard drive first,
optical drive second, USB devices third. You should then be able to
leave the thumbdrive connected.


Malke

 

[BoB]

Go into the BIOS and change the boot order to the hard drive first,
optical drive second, USB devices third. You should then be able to
leave the thumbdrive connected.


Malke

Figured so. Taping F8 during boot will get me into the BIOS?

I can't leave it connected. I'm presently transferring files I've
collected over the years from my Win98SE machine to my new XP.
Therefore, I will be switching it between computers many times
as I get time to do file selection.

I'll change the BIOS eventually, but for now, is 'after XP boots',
the proper time to plug in the thumb drive? I'm concerned about
damaging it as I had a hard time locating a 98 compatible drive.

Thanks again,

BoB

 

[Elmo]

Figured so. Tapping F8 during boot will get me into the BIOS?

No, tapping F8 will get you to a boot menu that includes Safe Mode and
other options. The BIOS is entered by the Delete key, or another key
such as F1, Esc, Ctrl/S. Sometimes during startup the screen will state
"Press _ to enter setup", or a similar message.

I can't leave it connected. I'm presently transferring files I've
collected over the years from my Win98SE machine to my new XP.
Therefore, I will be switching it between computers many times
as I get time to do file selection.

I'll change the BIOS eventually, but for now, is 'after XP boots',
the proper time to plug in the thumb drive? I'm concerned about
damaging it as I had a hard time locating a 98 compatible drive.

USB devices can be inserted when the system is operating; that's one of
their features. You should use the "Safely Remove" icon in the tray
area to remove it though.

 

[M.I.5¾]

If my USB thumb drive is connected to my XP when I turn on the computer,
the system won't start and I get a warning that 'Drive is not bootable.
Correctable in the BIOS? Haven't been into the BIOS yet as this is a new
XP.

Is the thumb drive supposed to be connected after the system is running
and the icon "Safely remove hardware" is visible in the tray? That is
the time when I remove it so is the wording just goofy like clicking
the Start button to shutdown?

Win98 boots up normally even if the thumb drive is connected. Both of
my systems can see and use the thumb drive OK, I'm just confused on
'when' to connect the thumb for XP

There is a mis-feature in Windows XP that in some circumstances it will not
boot if there is a drive connected to the USB. This is also the case if no
boot information is preent on the drive. It seems to be system specific
rather than drive specific. IMHO, it is related to the BIOS's boot routine
ennumerating the USB ports to check if bootable media is present, but I have
never been able to prove it.

 

[M.I.5¾]

There is a mis-feature in Windows XP that in some circumstances it will
not boot if there is a drive connected to the USB. This is also the case
if no boot information is preent on the drive. It seems to be system
specific rather than drive specific. IMHO, it is related to the BIOS's
boot routine ennumerating the USB ports to check if bootable media is
present, but I have never been able to prove it.

I should have added, that if it is this scenario that is causing problems,
changing the boot order won't help.

 

[BoB]

No, tapping F8 will get you to a boot menu that includes Safe Mode and
other options. The BIOS is entered by the Delete key, or another key
such as F1, Esc, Ctrl/S. Sometimes during startup the screen will state
"Press _ to enter setup", or a similar message.


USB devices can be inserted when the system is operating; that's one of
their features. You should use the "Safely Remove" icon in the tray
area to remove it though.

Thanks Joe and M.I.5¾. Really appreciate the info and fast response.

BoB

 

[Lil' Dave]

If my USB thumb drive is connected to my XP when I turn on the computer,
the system won't start and I get a warning that 'Drive is not bootable.
Correctable in the BIOS? Haven't been into the BIOS yet as this is a new
XP.

Is the thumb drive supposed to be connected after the system is running
and the icon "Safely remove hardware" is visible in the tray? That is
the time when I remove it so is the wording just goofy like clicking
the Start button to shutdown?

Win98 boots up normally even if the thumb drive is connected. Both of
my systems can see and use the thumb drive OK, I'm just confused on
'when' to connect the thumb for XP

TIA

BoB

What works for me... I use 98SE/ME/XP Home. Same thumb drive, different
PCs. I plugin the thumb drive after any of the OSes are done booting. I
use the safely disconnect feature in windows before removing the thumb
drive. Then, I shutdown the PC.

For external drives with their own power source, same, except that I
physically turn on and physically turn off vice inserting and removing.
Dave

 

[M.I.5¾]

No, tapping F8 will get you to a boot menu that includes Safe Mode and
other options. The BIOS is entered by the Delete key, or another key such
as F1, Esc, Ctrl/S. Sometimes during startup the screen will state "Press
_ to enter setup", or a similar message.

Erm. Not necessarily. It is BIOS dependant. Some BIOSs are entered by
pressing F8. With these BIOSs, it is a question of pressing F8 at the right
time, or alternatively exiting the BIOS setup without changes.

 

[Onsokumaru]

Erm. Not necessarily. It is BIOS dependant. Some BIOSs are entered by
pressing F8. With these BIOSs, it is a question of pressing F8 at the
right time, or alternatively exiting the BIOS setup without changes.

My PC stalls when booting if a music player is connected, even though the
flash drive is not listed as a bootable device.
It seems the BIOS has trouble identifying the device. I think it is because
the music player supports DRM, and it even takes a while for windows to
recognize the device. I don't recall having the problem with a regular thumb
drive.

At the bottom of the BOOT screen you will see "Press <key> to enter setup"
message. Often it is DEL key, but can be others.
If you hit Pause/Break key fast enough you can halt the boot process.

Just wait till you see the XP load screen and it should be OK to plug in the
drive.

"Safely remove hardware" won't be visible unless you have another storage
device connected that can be removed.
Many motherboards support E-SATA, (removeable), drives, and if you have an
internal HDD connected to one of these the "Safely remove hardware" icon
will be there permanently.

 

[Dave Cohen]

Erm. Not necessarily. It is BIOS dependant. Some BIOSs are entered by
pressing F8. With these BIOSs, it is a question of pressing F8 at the right
time, or alternatively exiting the BIOS setup without changes.

Something else is going on here. Leaving the thumb drive in, the system
will attempt to boot from it but not finding a boot item should just
ignore same as it would if you had left a non bootable floppy or cd in
place. Some people feel this makes the system boot time a little longer
but in practice it's a negligible factor.

My system will not boot from a thumb drive. Winxp doesn't want to run
normally when I leave an early Sandisk inserted. Is ok with later
versions and other brands.
Dave Cohen

 

[M.I.5¾]

My PC stalls when booting if a music player is connected, even though the
flash drive is not listed as a bootable device.
It seems the BIOS has trouble identifying the device. I think it is
because the music player supports DRM, and it even takes a while for
windows to recognize the device. I don't recall having the problem with a
regular thumb drive.

This is a known issue (although credited to XP, I'm not so sure). It
doesn't happen all the time, but occasionally some USB device sems to
confuse the USB system during the boot process (the reason I don't think
it's XP is the boot process doesn'e get that far). It may be an issue with
the MBR which is not XP specific.

 

[M.I.5¾]

Something else is going on here. Leaving the thumb drive in, the system
will attempt to boot from it but not finding a boot item should just
ignore same as it would if you had left a non bootable floppy or cd in
place. Some people feel this makes the system boot time a little longer
but in practice it's a negligible factor.

My system will not boot from a thumb drive. Winxp doesn't want to run
normally when I leave an early Sandisk inserted. Is ok with later versions
and other brands.

The exact mechanism is a bit obscure. A friend of mine has an USB external
disk drive. His PC will not boot if it is left plugged in and switched on.
I have an identical model of drive, yet his PC boots fine when mine is
plugged in. My theory is (and it's purely that), is that the BIOS sees
something on the drive that it thinks might be a boot record, but can't work
out what to do with it.