I have spent many hours trying to boot from USB with my eee pc 901, but am not getting anywhere.

I used unetbootin on windows to create the USB bootable disk. I can get to the screen where it asks me to select whether to boot from the USB or SSD, but when I select USB, it starts counting down from 10, with something like "press escape to reboot". Whether I let it count down to zero, or press escape before it reaches zero, it just boots into Windows.

Can anyone help me? It's very frustrating.

Thanks!

OK, I just carried out the following steps:

• Downloaded Unetbootin for Windows
• Plugged in my 1.0GB USB to my PC
• Formatted my USB to FAT (not FAT32)
• Ran Unetbootin for Windows on XP Pro
• Specified my NBR3.0.1 ISO in Unetbootin
• Upon completion, unplugged USB from PC and plugged into my 901
• Powered up my 901, hitting ESC, and specified my USB drive from which to boot
• Allowed countdown to complete (on default) and then it booted into Eeebuntu

Not sure why you're having issue. What I do see is that booting into "Try" mode with a Unetbootin USB is slower than one created using the USB Startup Disk Creator.

So, do any of your steps above vary from mine?

That's exactly what I did, except for a 2GB USB. I tried both FAT16 and FAT32, without success.

In the end, I put eeebuntu on a flash drive, and booted from that.

I can't explain why the usb way worked for you and not for me. But at least it's working now. Thanks for taking the time to try and help me.

My problem almost exactly matches zugvogel's, and my steps are the same listed (except for product versions and my USB stick is 2GB).

My "countdown" doesn't end and go into Windows: instead, the countdown goes back up to 10, 9, etc., and counts down again; and repeats, indefinitely, down from 10 to zero and back again.

I don't understand when zugvogel says he used a flash drive instead of a USB stick: I thought they were the same. My stick is a 2GB Toshiba.

Can anyone more fully explain what worked for zugvogel? Thanks very much.

How are you formatting the USB Stick?
What brand is it?

I experienced the same problem. The only way I am able to get my Eee PC 901 to boot from a USB stick is to re-format the stick placing a new file system across the entire device before using unetbootin like this:

# mkfs.vfat -I /dev/sdd

Notice it is "/dev/sdd", not "/dev/sdd1". Finally, pick "/dev/sdd" as the target when using unetbootin.

Thanks - really appreciate the help!