usb-creator created bootable USB sticks generate "Invalid or Damaged bootable partition" and refuses to boot

[W. Prins]

There was a question about this on questions and answer, but I can confirm this behaviour (still) exists on at least some hardware configurations (IMHO buggy), notably
1) An HP Laptop of a friend (I dont have the model number handy but can get it)
2) The Dell MIni 9.

Steps to reproduce:
1.) Boot Ubuntu 8.10 or install usb-creator on 8.04
2.) Run usb-creator, and create a bootable USB stick with the 8.10 desktop image ISO (I've tested using 8GB and 16GB sticks from play.com) I used the non-persistent option (lose all changes on boot.)
3.) Attempt to boot from the stick on e.g. the Dell Mini 9 using option "USB Storage" This results in the message "Invalid or Damaged Bootable Partition error"

The workaround mentioned in the question/answer involves BIOS jiggery pokery (selecting the USB drive as the first bootable hard disk) which arguably should not be neccesary. I have an older 4GB bootable USB stick which has 8.10 which does boot. I cant remember how I created that one, but I think it was via a manual process. So whether the problem has something to do with the size of the stick or with the method to create is unclear. I'll try to do more testing and add details I can clarify them.

[korvins (katarata)]

I am having the same exact problem with a new dell XPS M1330.

On my thinkpad R61 (where I created the usb bootable disk from ubuntu 8.10) works fine but on the new dell "Invalid or Damaged Bootable Partition error" appears. I have tested several options but I still could not make it work.

[korvins (katarata)]

Hi,

I could make it work.

Following what is described in:
http://www.ankurb.info/2008/11/19/solving-ubuntu-usb-disk-install-error/

I checked lba (logical block addressing) flag in the usb using partition editor. It did not work the first time, I guess it is because I did not have unmounted? Anyhow I formated the drive to ext3 and using the usb-creator asked me to format it again. I did it and it worked.

I suppose that lba flag is needed for that.

Thanks.

[Craig Peterein (k-launchpad-peterein-org)]

I was getting "Invalid or damaged Bootable partition", but setting the lba flag didn't help. I found a post in the forums saying to run (sudo) install-mbr /dev/sdX. This worked for me.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6663731&postcount=11

This bug seems to be related to Bug #277903 and Bug #273477.

Bug #273477 is fixed in the next version of usb-creator.