Bois upgrade for UBS Boot option

I want to be able to run a USB operating system on this Presario CQ61 notebook. The Bios has no option for this. Is it possible to get a bios upgrade with this function?

Edit: Of course UBS in the title is supposed to be USB.

 

What booting options does the bios give you?

 

It gives me cd, floppy and network. The floppy and network are disabled by default. It's an Insyde bios.

 

Do you have an option in BIOS for something like "legacy USB", if so it usually needs enabling. Which model are you running?

 

Are you talking about changing the boot order to include USB? Some laptops don't have that option and the only way is to plug in a USB and interrupt the normal boot order every single time. I can't believe a CQ-61 doesn't have that option, it's from like 2008-2009 (brand new-refurb)

 

This bios sucks. it's a scaled down version of a bios. HP does that on purpose so you wont change settings they don't want you to change ( i understand) It does not give you a lot of options to make changes like a regular desktop,

Here's the info from SIW:

Property Value
BIOS Vendor Hewlett-Packard
Serial Number CNF013B89N
BIOS Version F.13
Firmware Version 66.21
BIOS Date 01/25/2010
BIOS Size 2048 KB
DMI Version 2.6
Characteristics - supports ISA
- supports PCI
- supports Plug-and-Play
- upgradeable (Flash) BIOS
- allows BIOS shadowing
- ESCD support is available
- supports booting from CD-ROM
- supports selectable boot
- supports INT 05 print-screen
- supports INT 09 and 8042 keyboard services
- supports INT 14 serial services
- supports INT 17 printer services
- supports ACPI
- supports legacy USB
- supports AGP
- Smart Battery supported
- BIOS Boot Specification supported
- Enable Targeted Content Distribution
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tsunade_Hime: Yes, I wanted to change the boot order. I cannot unplug the hard drive ( that i know of) I could try plugging in a usb to overide the loading process but i wanted to make sure it would work first before i went through all the work required to make a bootable usb with an operating system on it. ( i dont want to boot an os from a usb, i want to Run one from a USB)

 

I just had a quick look at BIOS F.21 for CQ61-227TX since you didn't provide your model number and both usb legacy and usb boot are enabled by default even though the boot options are...

Enable/Disable CDROM boot during boot time.
Enable/Disable floppy boot during boot time.
Enable/Disable internal network adapter boot during boot time.


Follow Tsunade_Hime's advice. Make sure you have a bootable USB device inserted (it doesn't need to have an OS to test) and try pressing F9 before BIOS posts.

 

Well what i have is a USB flash drive/stick - not a USB Hard drive. I don't have anything "bootable" to put on it - I guess i need to find something? If so, do you have any suggestions?

Then i can try it to see if it will boot.

 

Er.. O.k. it's morning. I slept on it and i'm not getting it. What else but an os will boot from a usb drive so I can test this.. granted The coffee hasn't kicked in yet but i feel i'm still missing something

BTW Geaux Saints!

 

You only need the USB device to be marked bootable to test your machine it doesn't need an OS although it might complain about not being able to load anything.

If you would like something a bit more real then google for "bootable usb" or maybe try Boot Multiple ISO from USB (MultiBoot USB) | USB Pen Drive Linux. If you select freedos as the bootable media to d/l it's quite small <2MB.

 

Well This Sucks.

I did get a working Ubuntu Netbook OS installed on my flash drive. I tested it with my desktop. On that system, I do not have options for booting from a USB - But I do have boot from Other Devices. To make it work in that machine i had to unplug all the hard drives. But it did work.

In the Laptop Under Boot Options there is no USB Boot BUT under Boot Order there IS - It is not selectable however. This leads me to believe it may still be possible to boot from USB because the bios is set up with that contingency installed.

I would disable the hard drive from Bios but there is no option for that. What am I to do, open the case and physically unplug the hard drive or is there another way to make this work?

(How can a bios Not have an option for selecting the hard drive as a boot device?)

 

You can boot from a floppy drive (or CD), then point to the usb from the floppy (or CD).

 

John Phoenix did you try pressing F9?

For getting into BIOS you press F10, instead of pressing F10 press F9 to get into the boot options.

 

I did not know about F9 - That's where they hide the boot option for the internal hard drive.

I hit F9 and the system had my USB drive listed under the hard drive. I rebooted and Ubuntu booted right up from the flash drive! YAY

Thank you SO MUCH !!!

I have really learned a lot today. Kudos to you!

Now if I can just get a copy of windows xp to work with the flash, I will have it all.

 

Strange that the BIOS didn't allow changing the order under the Boot Order Menu. Normally by using the down arrow to highlight the boot device your interested in, the F6 key can be used to move it up in the order and F5 down IIRC.

XP could be a little tricky. If you haven't already it might be worth taking a look at BartPE.