Hi,
I just got a new 1Tb Buffalo JustStore USB HDD and installed Puppy on it for kicks. Unfortunately this hard drive has a power-saving feature that shuts it down when the computer shuts down.
I installed Puppy from the live-CD using the universal installer and chose USB Hard Drive. When I boot up the computer and press F11 to choose a device to boot from, the hard drive isn't there because it's still waking up. I use defaults and get to the Windows boot menu, where I have a 15-sec timeout to choose between XP and 7 RC. I wait for the drive to boot and then press ESC to cancel and restart. This time, the hard drive shows up in the boot menu and I can boot Puppy, if I'm lucky.
just before "loading drivers needed to access disk drives", the drive shuts down and then a second later spins up again. It seems as if it's completely a matter of luck if it spins up fast enough or not. 2 times out of 3 I get "pup_431.sfs not found, dropping to initramfs" or something like that. Once every 3 times on average, Puppy boots nicely.
At initramfs, I'm clueless. I used to drop to initramfs with Mint 7 on a portable USB HDD that didn't have a power-off function. The problem then was that it wasn't loading the drivers for usbstorage and I had to edit a file and run some sort of updateinitramfs command.
I see three ways of solving this problem...
a) implement a 5-second sleep after the drive shuts down
b) enter a command in initramfs to retry
c) disable the signal that shuts down the drive (could disabling ACPI in BIOS do this?)
I'd prefer a) or b). I just don't know how. Help?
Buffalo USB HDD auto-poweroff causing boot problems
Re: USB HDD auto-poweroff
Hi, As a temporary work around, use the 'pause' button on the keyboard. This works to pause the BIOS pre-boot sequence, when you have just rebooted or powered on the computer, wait till your drive has spun up, then press spacebar to continue executing the BIOS pre-boot, then do your F11 to select your boot device and you'll hopefully see your usb drive.Zeppis wrote:When I boot up the computer and press F11 to choose a device to boot from, the hard drive isn't there because it's still waking up.
Jesse
Some BIOSes give you the choice of abbreviated (fast) or elaborate (slow) POST. If yours will let you choose, and you are currently using the fast POST, perhaps switching to the elaborate POST will give the USB HDD time to get up to speed.
I don't think it's a good idea to let the HDD run continuously when the computer is off. That would use up the HDD's lifetime for nothing.
I don't think it's a good idea to let the HDD run continuously when the computer is off. That would use up the HDD's lifetime for nothing.
thanks for the answers, guys. I guess the trick with the "Pause" button just might work, gonna have to try it.
That still doesn't get rid of the other problem. At "loading drivers to access disk drives" it still shuts down the drive, then restarts it. I had it working for many times in a row, but guess what it had completely lost my network card! And the module that got loaded with a live Puppy wasn't even on the list of modules to load.
I reinstalled and network worked fine again. Booted fine, too (what with having to go the windows boot menu and restart). Then after a weekend away it again says "pup-430.sfs not found". Got it on the 6th try this time. It asked me all the things it does at first boot. Don't know why it couldn't just remember them. Had to connect to the network again, too, as if it was booting live. Like it could find the pup-430 file but not the saved settings which are saved on the partition?
I feel like giving up. This HDD just isn't designed to hold an operating system. I'm putting Puppy back on my LaCie Mobile Disk. It never failed me.
That still doesn't get rid of the other problem. At "loading drivers to access disk drives" it still shuts down the drive, then restarts it. I had it working for many times in a row, but guess what it had completely lost my network card! And the module that got loaded with a live Puppy wasn't even on the list of modules to load.
I reinstalled and network worked fine again. Booted fine, too (what with having to go the windows boot menu and restart). Then after a weekend away it again says "pup-430.sfs not found". Got it on the 6th try this time. It asked me all the things it does at first boot. Don't know why it couldn't just remember them. Had to connect to the network again, too, as if it was booting live. Like it could find the pup-430 file but not the saved settings which are saved on the partition?
I feel like giving up. This HDD just isn't designed to hold an operating system. I'm putting Puppy back on my LaCie Mobile Disk. It never failed me.
Hi Zeppis,Zeppis wrote:I feel like giving up. This HDD just isn't designed to hold an operating system. I'm putting Puppy back on my LaCie Mobile Disk. It never failed me.
Yes I think you are right. Its really not designed to be a boot device.
The reason that it gets switched off isn't quite intentional, but it does have to happen for any operating system. The reason being is that at boot time the usb drivers are in the bios, so that the OS kernel can be loaded, when the OS kernel (any) is loaded and takes over, the bios drivers are deleted, this switchs off your drive, watch an optical mouse to see the sensor light go out to see it happen. Then the kernel installs its own usb drivers and doing this brings power back to the usb dvices. But your drive takes ages to come online, which is rather unfortunate.
If your drive is advertised as being bootable, you should go get your money back, because it really isn't designed to be able to work with how pc computers work these days.
Jesse