can't boot a Mint Cin 17.1 live Sandisk Ultra Fit 3.0 32GB

Hi,

I am having a similar issue with booting Linux on SanDisk Ultra Fit 32 GB. In January, I first bought a single such USB drive and I have installed Linux on it like on usual disk. I could boot it without issues, the product code of that drive was BM141 0 24848V.

However, two weeks after that, I bought a set of 15 such drives, but the product code was BM141 2 24848V this time. I can’t boot Linux - during the boot procedure it essentially hangs as it’s not able to find the USB drive and I get stuck with the “initramfs” prompt. However, I have discovered a workaround: simply unplug the drive, wait 2 seconds and replug it into the computer. Now type “exit” and press ENTER. The system should continue booting.

I have just bought another such USB drive, with yet another product number (this time from a different reseller): BM150 2 24846D. This one also has the same booting issue. I need these drives for a workshop, so I have 3 more weeks to either make it work or simply buy something else. I’d hate to do this as these really look sexy and are very fast.

Regards,

Nejc

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I don’t know what you’re using to put Linux on your USB drives but Easy2Boot is a good tool for doing that.  And unlike many older tools used it is current and maintained.  It also supports putting multiple systems on a drive.  Check it out. 

I’m having the same problem. In my case, I’m not creating a live USB, rather, I’m installing Min Cin on the onto the Sandisk  Ultra Fit 3.0 32GB from the live CD.  I install the bootloader on the USB drive as well.  When I boot the laptop, I select the USB drive.  The same error happens at this point, and the procedure to unplug drive and “exit” works, but this is a terrible work-around.  Also, I have no problems with the exact same setup with other USB 3.0 32 GB drives.  My drive is BM141124848V / SDCZ43.  I’m really disappointed in the drive because I bought it specifically for booting Mint independent of Windows.

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I should add that the same problem happens with Fedora and trying to boot from a Sandisk  Ultra Fit 3.0 32GB.

Update: I tried to format the USB drive in Windows 3 times, FAT, exFAT and NTFS (full format).  Every time, the format fails about 1/3 of the way through.  I’m using a USB 3.0 hub out in the open, with plenty of airflow.  When I pulled out the drive, I was almost burned by temperature of the metal USB connector.  There is definately a systematic problem with these drives, and this has nothing to do with Linux.

When I pulled out the drive, I was almost burned by temperature of the metal USB connector.  There is definately a systematic problem with these drives, and this has nothing to do with Linux.

I agree.  USB connectors do not get that warm.  Return it.

http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5232/~/return-material-authorization-(rma)-process

Just bought a SDCZ48-032G from Best Buy today to run Mint 17.1.

Exactly the same problem, but for me the workaround doesn’t work. 

  • Chris

In my prior posts, I noted I had the same boot problem, and couldn’t full-format the drive.  Also the drive was extremely hot.  Same problem with 2 drives.  I just exchanged the drives for 2 new ones.  I still have the same problem booting Mint from an Ultra Fit – which is very disappointing.  The overheating and full-format problems (in Windows) apparently have been fixed in new versions of this device, at least.

Two weeks ago I returned the SanDisk Ultra Fit 32Gb, product code BM150124846D because it would not boot Linux.
Yesterday, I received from SanDisk                            product code BM150224846D
It won’t boot Linux either, no matter what method I use to write the ISO to the disk.
However, no boot problem at all using a PNY 8GB 2.0.
So, the Ultra Fit may be a great drive for storage, just don’t get one to boot an OS.

Thanks,
daBrewer 

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I have received the following feedback from SanDisk:


Dear Nejc,

We understand that you cannot use your Ultra Fit drives as bootable devices. We would like to inform you that we atSanDisk have not tested our flash drive as a bootable device. SanDisk does not provide any utility or instructions to make the flash drives bootable.

So in that case we cannot assist you further with this issue.


Very disappointed.

For my own info nejko did you try the Easy2Boot app to put your Mint on the drive?

daBrewer & nejko, on this Easy2Boot link of tested systems:  http://www.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/list-of-tested-payload-files/

"49. Linux Mint   14 Nadia linuxmint-14.1-cinnamon-dvd-32bit.iso "

If the app didn’t work for your version of Mint contact Steve Si, the creator of Easy2Boot, and he will help you.

Yes, I have have made the SanDisk Ultra Fit 3.0 32GB stick a U2B drive.

I copied the Linux Mint Cinnamon 17.1 ISO to the U2B Main Menu.

When I boot the SanDisk USB stick, the U2B Main Menu opens.

I select   “linuxmint-17.1-cinnamon-32bit(1)”

I get the “LM” symbol on the screen.

Then  “(intramfs) Unable to find a medium containing a live file system” 

Same as all other tried methods of booting Linux from a SanDisk Ultra Fit.

However, a PNY 2.0 8GB drive boots without fail.

In my previous post I typed U2B instead of E2B (Easy2Boot)

Sorry!

I’ve been having the same problem ever since April 15, when I bought a Sandisk Cruzer Ultra USB 3.0 32GB to which I dd-ed the image of my 16GB SanDisk Cruzer Glide.

I contacted tech support and after arguing with the rep, who was barely knowledgeable regarding anything IT related, I got transferred and the rep came back and said that his supervisor had approved an RMA. I asked if I could just get a reference number for the case, so I could try to debug the problem, and if I wasn’t successful, I’d RMA the drive.

The problem is exactly the same as yours :

/init: line 7: can't open /dev/sr0: No medium found

and then, after a while :

(initramfs)Unable to find a medium containing a live file system.

I did extensive debugging : I enabled early kernel debug/printk messages, maximum loglevel, “set -vx” in init and /scripts/casper in a custom initrd.lz and sent everything over to a another machine running “netcat -u -l 6666” with the netconsole directive properly configured on the problem flash drive.

I looked at casper.log but I couldn’t trace down the problem, even with “set -vx” enabled and debugging echos inserted into critical places. The netconsole output did show the possible cause though :

[21.546102] usb 2-1.2: device descriptor read/64, error -110 [26.733116] usb 2-1.2: device descriptor read/64, error -71 [26.909409] usb 2-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci [26.993284] usb 2-1.2: device descriptor read/64, error -71 [27.181399] usb 2-1.2: device descriptor read/64, error -71 [27.357527] usb 2-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci-pci [27.773693] usb 2-1.2: device not accepting address 5, error -71 [27.845809] usb 2-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci-pci [28.262016] usb 2-1.2: device not accepting address 6, error -71 [28.262219] hub 2-1:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 2

So Linux is trying to enumerate the drive but fails, therefore it fails to mount the fat32/vfat partition which contains the filesystem.squashfs and hence “Unable to find a medium containing a live file system.”

I tried this on four different machines, with different hardware.

As a last resort I wanted to rule out the possibility that my byte-by-byte copy from the previous drive had somehow screwed up the new drive’s bootup process, so I wiped the disk and performed a fresh install of Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon 64-bit using Unetbootin – same result, on all 4 different machines.

Today I RMA-ed the drive. I own dozens of flash sticks and I have never had a problem with any of them booting Linux. If SanDisk produces devices that somehow deviate from the official USB spec, then I’d strongly recommend anyone looking to boot Linux off of a USB flash drive select another manufacturer. We’ll see – In my RMA I said I wanted a drive with the same specs but with its firmware updated so as to support booting Linux.

Regards,

jdb2 

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Impressive debugging jdb2

IMO Rather than hardware issues possible problem areas include USB 3.0 drivers for Unetbootin and Cinnamon, 64-bit drivers for Unetbootin and Cinnamon and Unetbootin and Mint 17.1 Cinnamon 64-bit themselves. 

Try using a different boot utility, see if that helps.  I like Easy2Boot.  Try using Cinnamon 17.1 32-bit version. 

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@ed_p wrote:

Impressive debugging jdb2

 

IMO Rather than hardware issues possible problem areas include USB 3.0 drivers for Unetbootin and Cinnamon, 64-bit drivers for Unetbootin and Cinnamon and Unetbootin and Mint 17.1 Cinnamon 64-bit themselves. 

 

Try using a different boot utility, see if that helps.  I like Easy2Boot.  Try using Cinnamon 17.1 32-bit version. 

You’re welcome :slight_smile:

In “hardware issues,”  I didn’t mean to say that the drive is defective per se, but that it is somehow incompatible with the Linux boot process, due to a deviation from the USB 3.0 spec – I have several other USB 3.0 drives which boot this version of Mint just fine.

To this end, I plugged the drive into two systems which were only USB 2.0 capable. I got the same results. I tried enabling and disabling all combination s of “BIOS EHCI Handoff,” “BIOS XHCI Handoff,” “Legacy USB emulation” and “Legacy floppy drive emulation,” all with the same results. Then I tried to boot the drive in a system with native USB 3.0 ports which was configured to use UEFI. This time I got a Grub boot prompt, but the end result was the same : “unable to find live file system” . I then disabled and enabled all combinations of the aforementioned settings, with no success. So, I turned UEFI off – no success. I then disabled USB 3.0 in the BIOS and told it to emulate a USB 2.0 controller – still no success.

I could grab the latest upstream mainline kernel source for Linux Mint 17.1 64-bit, configure the kernel with USB 3.0 support turned off  ( #CONFIG_USB_XHCI_HCD ), compile said kernel, and remaster a new Mint live DVD. But, I’ve already wiped the drive I’m RMA-ing and I intend to return it soon, so there’s no point in going through the trouble with this particular drive. If the replacement has the same problems, I’ll do the above.

Regards,

jdb2

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Thanks for the pointers Jdb, now it makes a whole lot of sense.

@sauberlime wrote:

Thanks for the pointers Jdb, now it makes a whole lot of sense.

I have an autism spectrum disorder ( Asperger’s ), so I may be way off on this, but do I detect a hint of sarcasm or facetiousness? :stuck_out_tongue: I know I went out on a technical tangent. :wink:

Regards,

jdb2

jdb2 , when you get your new drive be sure to clone it.  And do a hex display of the first block.  The first block will either appear as a MBR or a BPB (Bios Parameter Block) of a “superfloppy”.