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ThinkPad T520 won't boot from USB

rated 0 times [ 3] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 8050 / 1 Year ago, wed, may 24, 2023, 2:44:57

This is cross-post from ubuntuforums.org but as I've received no responses there I'm hoping for better luck here.

Basically, I've installed the full version of Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS on a 32 GB SanDisk Extreme USB flash drive using both the 32- and 64-bit live CDs on my Lenovo ThinkPad T520. The installation completes successfully with no issues, and I can see the USB drive in my boot menu under "ubuntu", but when I select it and hit "Enter" the boot menu simply reloads.

It seems like, while the machine can clearly boot Ubuntu, there's something about using a USB flash drive that prevents it from working. I've found references to an issue with ThinkPads, but I'm not sure if it's relevant or how to implement the solution.

Additionally, I've run Boot-Repair to no avail (the results can be found here - sda is my internal HDD (Windows data drive), sdb is an mSATA SSD (Windows system drive), and sdc is the USB flash drive).

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

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3 Years ago

answered 1 Year ago diffeah · Accepted Answer

It turns out the issue was an incompatibility between my specific USB flash drive and the BIOS of my ThinkPad. I was able to boot from identical Ubuntu installations on other USB flash drives; however, my laptop refused to recognize my drive in the boot menu (the "ubuntu" item in the boot menu turned out to be some kind of phantom and disappeared after a BIOS reset). Just in case anyone ever tries to do something similar, at this time the Lenovo ThinkPad T520 BIOS doesn't recognize the SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0 flash drive for booting purposes; the drive works fine once the computer has booted into Windows. It is possible that this problem extended to other models in the ThinkPad line, see here. Hope this helps!