USB Boot - bios trouble in Asus Laptop

[hyongx]

Hi tech forums,
I'm trying to get a version of linux to boot from usb on my Asus n82jq laptop.
Specifically I'm trying backtrack, which I put on a usb drive using unetboot. But anyway, the problem is in the bios. --

When I enter setup after the laptop powers on, I have two default boot options, the DVD drive and the HDD.
I can select - "Add new Boot option"
and "USB drive ...." is an option
However, the Bios says, please provide a boot path in the format:
"\path\filename.efi"
And I don't exactly know what to type, or what that means.
Thanks for your help or suggestion

 

[MindoverMaster]

That may not able to boot from a USB device, or the flash drive is not bootable. Which some aren't for some unknown reason. Can't you just use a Live CD?

 

[hyongx]

I am rather sure that the system CAN boot from a usb device, as the USB port is a BOOT option.

However, the Problem is that the USB Boot Option must be manually configured -
I have to specify some kind of "\path\filename.efi" , presumably which tells the bios which motherboard ports to access and what type of bootloader to look for.

Anyone who has useful information on how to make a USB boot work when it has to be manually configured on a Asus Bios would be much appreciated.

Also, I don't want to use a live CD because USB has several distinct advantages, one of which is the possibility of a persistent filesystem.

THanks,
hyongx

 

[carnageX]

What model is your laptop?

 

[hyongx]

Hi,
Thanks for your time. THe laptop is a 14" Asus N82JQ-A1

I have the manual for it, and it has one page about usb boot inthe bios, but doesnt say anything about changing boot options.

The Bios screen, when I select "Add New Boot Option", gives me three fields to fill out:
Add Option: This is a title of the option. example, P1: DVD-drive (and a bunch of numbers)
Choose option: 'USB FlashPMAP' is an option, so i believe this indicates built - in bios support for the USB Boot.
Designate path: says "designate path in the format: '\path\filename.efi' <----- I don't know what this means

Any help would be appreciated. THanks!!!

laptop Specs (if you dont want to follow clickthru) : Intel Core i7-720QM 1.6GHz Quad, 8.0GB ram, 1.0GB Nvidia Geforce GT 355M, 500GB 7200RPM HDD

 

[carnageX]

Well, just for laughs, I looked at my USB stick that has CloneZilla bootable (made with Unetbootin). And it has an EFI folder (your BIOS is askin for a filename with extension .efi). Inside that is a folder called boot, and inside that are 3 files: grub.cfg, bootia32.efi, and bootx64.efi

I would check out your flashdrive within Windows or whatever OS you're using, and see if you have a similar folder.

So for example, I'm guessing for my folder structure for your laptop would be something like:

\EFI\boot\bootia32.efi

or

\EFI\boot\bootx64.efi

Depending on if I wanted to boot in 32bit or 64bit.

Like I said, check out your folder structure for it, and see if there's something similar (since this is CloneZilla and not Backtrack, it may be different since CZ isn't a GUI *nix distro).

 

[hyongx]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've tried Backtrack, PuppyLinux, and Ubuntu for Boot from USB. However, none of these distros has a .efi file. They all have a file called "boot" but it doesn't have a discernible file extension. I have tried the boot with the path specified to the boot file, and adding an .EFI extension to the boot file, but this doesnt work...

But I found a blank DVD and burned Backtrack to a live DVD, which does boot. And I can use an extra usb drive to store files on. So i made progress on the backtrack project, but not on the usb boot project.

 

[carnageX]

Unhide your file extensions in Windows if you haven't already: Tools > Folder options > View > "Hide extensions for known file types"

This is the first computer I've ever seen that you had to specify the boot path. Did you check in all the directories? When I go home for lunch from work, I'll try and remember to take a look at my flash drive with backtrack on it.

 

[hyongx]

Carnage, Thanks for your help. Still no fix....

So update-
on my old computer, I got usb boot to work using Plop Boot and now I can boot to usb with this intermediate boot manager. But I don't want to do that on my new asus laptop, because I don't want to deal with a boot manager just to boot to my default OS (WhenDoze7).
None of Ubuntu, BT5, and PuppyLinux have an EFI file. I've posted up on several asus forums inquiring about how to USB boot with bios support to non-EFI OS environments, but haven't heard anything back. If I do figure it out I will post up here.