USB stick booting on xps 1330

Hi all! I'm trying to boot Linux off a usb memory stick ( www.pendrivelinux.com) on my XPS M1330, but every boot attempt hangs up with a "USB device read error." I've updated the BIOS to boot from USB devices first, but no dice. I've tried both persistent Ubuntu 7.1 and bootable Pendrivelinux installations, but neither works. Before I did any of this, I also ran the USB bootability test on the website (but the 1330 failed it). So is there something more that needs to be done to make a 1330 boot from USB?

 

Please search before posting:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=178339

 

You might try to use DSL or Puppy linux live CD to install them on your USB stick. They have this option (in fact, puppy has several different options) inside the distro.
If any of them will boot from your stick, you can proceed further with bigger distros.

Note, that you need a reasonable fast USB stick (not less than 20MB/s read) to have good booting times from the stick.

 

That would've been a great suggestion if the bios hadn't changed at least twice since the thread you point to. A more productive and helpful answer (if you know for a fact) would've been: "No; ever since the A06 bios update, the 1330 is incapable of booting from usb." Or: "The thread I refer to says that bios A06 wasn't able to boot from usb, but it appears to have been resolved with update A0x." So do you know if bios updates A07 and A09 still don't allow usb booting?

Don't take my tone the wrong way, but I get just as irritated with people who jump on the "Use Search" answer to questions for which pertinent variables may have changed over time, as you might when you think someone's just asking the same old question

 

So, I guess the part about enabling USB emulation in the BIOS to enable USB booting is not relevant in the latest BIOS releases, as stated in post #8 in that thread?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2566856&postcount=8

 

No idea about the latest bios updates; that's why I asked if you knew. USB emulation is enabled by default, even in A06, so it's not relevant there. The poster in the link you refer to had turned it off, which he seems to suggest was the source of his problem until he re-enabled it. The last poster on that thread, however, seems to have the same issue, and we must presume they hadn't messed with the usb emulation setting. I too can't boot, and usb emulation is enabled (as it came from Dell), so I wouldn't exactly jump on that thread as the definitive answer. Something to check, but I don't think it settles the issue....

 

If you haven't already flashed to the latest BIOS, do it and see if you can boot. If not, then flash back to 05. You should contact Dell about the USB boot issue if the latest revision doesn't fix it.

 

Well...

So I had BIOS A06 when I originally had the "unable to boot from usb stick" problem. Updated to A09...no change. Reverted back to A05...no change. Again, USB emulation enabled and USB device first on the list for boot order in every case. Weird; so much for bootable Linux on a stick!