USB key -reset?

gordguide

Well, I would at this point try one of the UNIX/Linux formatters. See if you can find a live CD for your architecture (PPC or Intel), or find one that will run inside Darwin/X11. Usually fDisk; the PPC version is called pDisk.

If it's Intel, the latest Knoppix works fine.

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CubaMark

Ah, GG, you've led me down the garden path...

A full day of off-and-on messing with Knoppix finally led to a successful boot of the Live CD on my MacBook (hint: use boot command "koppix acpi=off pnpbios=off noapic noapm" or else it will hang). Unfortunately, the USB implementation is a bit off. I thought it had hung with my Logitech wheelmouse connected, but it did so also without. Funny fix: boot without it plugged in, then when it appears to hang, plug in the mouse and wait a minute. It eventually comes to life).

However - no keyboard response at all. The forums have several similar issues, though nobody with a MacBook and no solution offered.

This is a heckuva lot of work for the *possibility* of fixing my USB drive - but at least I'm learning a bit about Linux!

M.

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gordguide

Hmmm. Strange, it booted fine on my MacBook (2.0Ghz Core Duo White, 2Ghz RAM). The only thing that doesn't work is WiFi (doesn't recognize the built-in card). I just started up with the Option key, selected the CD, and it hung, so I did a hard restart and used the Option key again, and it's booted fine ever since. No mouse or KB connected, though (and I didn't try to see what would happen).

I used Knoppix v5.0.1 20-06-01 EN. Wouldn't have mentioned it if it didn't work for me. Oh, well.

__________________
"Being an artist doesn't take much, just everything you got. Which means, of course, that as the process is giving you life, it is also bringing you closer to death. But it's no big deal. They are one and the same and cannot be avoided or denied. So when I totally embrace this process, this life/death, and abandon myself to it, I transcend all this gibberish and hang out with the gods. It seems to me that that is worth the price of admission." —Hubert Selby, Jr.

CubaMark

Oh - hum.. Somehow I ended up with an older version of Knoppix (odd, as I went to the project's main download page). I may try it again this week.

In the meantime, I picked up a 1-gig USB drive (for about the same price that I paid for my 2-gig in Canada).

Thanks for the suggestions - will advise on future progress.

M

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gordguide

An important thing to remember when downloading software that has something to do with another OS; don't, under any circumstances, attempt to open or mount the ISO on your Mac Desktop. Leave it alone, burn a CD with it.

If you must, open a copy and poke around. Once you mount it, you can never expect a Linux OS CD burned from it to work again. Simply mounting it in OSX will change the checksum (and may add OSX files like .DS store, etc), causing installation or running from the live CD to fail.

__________________
"Being an artist doesn't take much, just everything you got. Which means, of course, that as the process is giving you life, it is also bringing you closer to death. But it's no big deal. They are one and the same and cannot be avoided or denied. So when I totally embrace this process, this life/death, and abandon myself to it, I transcend all this gibberish and hang out with the gods. It seems to me that that is worth the price of admission." —Hubert Selby, Jr.

CubaMark

Thanks for the tip, GG. I had in fact correctly burned the CD, but for some reason I ended up with Vers. 3.68 or something. Next time, I'll look more carefully.


M

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CubaMark

FIXED

Sometimes perseverence pays off...

Found this HP Drive Key Boot Utility (45 megs, Windows program). Hooked my "dead" USB stick to my roommate's old Windows machine, and I was able to reformat it on the first shot.

NOTE that although the utility is for HP-branded memory sticks, it apparently works with several kinds of USB flash drives. So - if you have a dead drive laying around, give it a shot!

Glad to get these 2 gigs of space back....

M

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martman

I was just going through this thread knowing I was going to send you to the HP formating tool. Looks like you got there before me.
Glad you got it.The HP formatting tool is a good tool for all flash memory devices when they mess up.

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kazlady

Have you tried moving the switch at the back end of the drive? It has read only capability and you might need to fix that

CubaMark

Kazlady, welcome to ehMac. Thanks for your input! If you'll refer to my first post, you'll note that the Read-only switch was included in my troubleshooting. And in my last post, the problem was resolved with the HP tool.

Cheers!
Mark.

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