ubuntu on pen drive help

genieguru · Jul 26, 2008, 10:31 AM

I recently downloaded Ubuntu 8.04.1-Hardy Heron and made a live cd
but since i didn't want to mess around with the partitions on my hard disk,i thought i'd install it on my pen drive(2gb kingston)

i took the method(s) from here
USB Ubuntu 8.04 Persistent install from Live CD | USB Pen Drive Linux
USB Ubuntu 8.04 Persistent install using Windows | USB Pen Drive Linux

but in both methods,i managed to get the files on the drive
but i couldn't get the computer to boot from the pen drive

USB drive just doesn't show up under "removable devices" in the bios

can anyone please help me out?
did i do something wrong?is it the drive's fault?or the computer's?
or maybe even the method of install??

EDIT:
I'm trying this out on my old laptop and my dad's old P4 computer
I haven't tried it on my system

Could it be a case of the motherboards in those systems not supporting "boot from USB"??

H3X4D3C1M4L · Jul 27, 2008, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by genieguru

Could it be a case of the motherboards in those systems not supporting "boot from USB"??

Exactly what I'd say. Cheap mobos from around the time those computers were in the mainstream can be plagued with that issue, and especially older laptops.