In case anyone else hits this strange and annoying issue…
Scenario: installer written to USB drive (several times, using different OS/tools…); BIOS finds USB drive as bootable, select it, first few icons light up, reaches disk one and drops out to debug with error “Can’t find boot partition”. USB drive with Haiku tested on another computer, works fine.
Switched to different USB socket on (2nd user, Lenovo “edu” laptop) - works fine. Assuming something a bit wrong with the other socket!
Thanks for sharing that.
A similar thing happened to me in the past while trying Haiku on someone else’s netbook.
I vaguely remember that it was able to reach the desktop and let you do things, but it acted strangely and even had spontaneous shutdowns.
It happened to be that the port in question had a bit of corrosion and booting from a different port did help.
Maybe a little warning paragraph could be added at the end of the intro of https://www.haiku-os.org/guides/installing/making_haiku_usb_stick/?
Something like:
“Be aware that, in some computers, not all of the USB ports are usable to boot from.
Either because it’s a limitation of the machine itself, a limitation of Haiku, or any other reasons like a failing port.
So it is advisable to try all of the USB ports in case something goes wrong in the booting process, and also worth trying in case of other erratic behavior even if the system is already able to boot correctly.”
Enhancement tiquet here:
https://dev.haiku-os.org/ticket/18323
If someone thinks of a better wording, please chime in.
“Don’t use this system on broken hardware because we can’t magically fix that”? Is that the kind of warning you’re after?
If you have a broken USB port, does it really need a warning from us?
If you have a case where the USB port is working fine in other OS but not in Haiku, or is working fine after booting but not for booting, this deserves specific tickets.
Well TBF in this particular care (a) the laptop was new to me (bought from a specialist reconditioned tech supplier) (b) the port was the one the USB stick was written via (in Windows 10 with Rufus) and (c) Haiku booted per se, just didn’t reach full running status.
So I had no reason to suspect the port was faulty, other than knowing that the particular (ThinkPad 13 20J1) was targeted at the school age education sector, and have supported tech in that sector and know what abuse the kit takes.
It is not specifically addressing putt1ck’s case, but more as a general advice.
This will be more aimed at a really novice users that starts to be brave enough to make it’s first steps at trying an alternative OS.
You know, the kind of user that still reads manuals and guides 
I still remember my frustration with things that nowadays seem simple, but that at the moment didn’t even crossed my mind.
Yeah, that… kind of things… 
In my defense I have to say that maybe I wasn’t even aware that the port was starting to fail?
Of course, we are not going to start littering the guides with things like “Make sure the computer is connected to a power outlet” and other insults to intelligence.
I don’t want to be accused of elitism, but maybe we don’t want to attract user from THAT level, at least yet?
If ever?
Maybe not the part about failing ports, but mentioning to try other usb ports could somehow help some people ? Unfortunately, there are some notebooks that will not boot from specific usb ports. Don´t know why, and it doesn´t matter, I will just try other port. But some people may not know this and keep insisting in the same port ( they could have a keyboard/mouse in the others, for example ) .
It does matter. Where are the bugreports so we can fix this?
But that is not a bug of the OS being booted. The machine will not boot from some of the usb ports, irrespective of the OS.
The same happens for Win10, Win7, etc.
It is something with the bios of the machines. Lenovo, Acer, HP, etc.
I have never seen that. But in that case, it should not be a warning in Haiku documentation, but in the machine documentation. So please take your complaints to the manufacturers 
As a senior sysadmin, tried all USB ports with several operating systems with no hassle. Please don’t blame the hardware when it’s more likely to have a software defect. Will keep trying to test haiku because I like the way it looks like. Maybe I’m not the guy to solve the problem, but I’m willing to help. Cheers.
In a short trial and error effort, found somehthing else to blame on. Same hardware, same USB ports. Booting with Ventoy fails. Same ISO works when burned on its own. Anyway, few steps ahead I got stuck by an apparently non-supported trackpad. Not a rare box, it’s a Lenovo laptop. Thanks anyway.
Ahoy,
Ventoy is a known stuff that does not work with Haiku. If you searched for Ventoy on the forum you should have known.
it does not work as Ventoy loads the images … not because of Haiku. Ventoy developer prepared mostly for Linux distros booting stuff - this way those works.
As if the Ventoy would prepared to Haiku booting mechanism, then Haiku images should also booted well with it. Me also experienced the erratic behaviour of Ventoy this year when I did an experiment with it.
About touchpad - htere’s a lot forum posts about that as well, just as tickets too.
I can say that some new laptops built with new touchpad hardware which not interfaced with PS/2 or USB connected device, but I2C. So this is a driver problem (or management type - had not searched / found device on I2C ?) issue .
Just as Haiku has a driver (or do discovering such devices on I2C generally) for I2C interfaced touchpad(s?), then your touchpad will work. Until then you can use a USB tuchpad or mouse instead.
Shame on me I should have dedicated more time to the available docs. I apologize. Just was distro hopping for fast ways to have a computer up and running. It’s part of a research driven to help novice users go away from windoze. I understand that may not be your goal. Grateful for your patient answers.
Well I didn’t want to lecture you :j
I just pinpointed you could have all the answers by searching / reading the posts here before you try out or write it to us.
I apologize if it seemed like so, I would lecturing you, it was not intended at all.
I understand a bit if you are in a hurry, I hope you can help out others - with learning about Haiku and its usage.
If you are searching for a windows programm in my experience Rufus has been reliable and working great (no matter the OS in question) since it supports copying 1:1 to the drive.
