Unable to boot on USB key on Lenovo Thinkpad T440

[Erich Dollansky]

Hi,

On Fri, 24 Jan 2014 23:27:35 +0100
Kata Goto <black.katagoto at gmail.com> wrote:

> 2014/1/24 Michael Sierchio <kudzu at tenebras.com>
> 
> > On Fri, Jan 24, 2014 at 1:47 PM, Kata Goto
> > <black.katagoto at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Hello all,
> > >
> > > I recently (this week), recieved a Lenovo Thinkpad T440 and I
> > > want to install FreeBSD, so I have disabled the secure boot and
> > > force the legacy boot mode only.
> > > Then I have downloaded an USB image and write it via
> > >     $ dd if=FreeBSD-9.2-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img of=/dev/da0
> > > bs=64k
> > >
> > > (I also tried with 10.0-RELEASE)
> > > And my laptop refuses to boot on it, even if I force to boot on
> > > it (via <F12>).
> > > My USB key works well on other computers (they boot on it) and my
> > > laptop boots well on an Ubuntu USB key.
> > > I have also tried to boot on an external CD Drive, but nothing
> > > change :/
> >
> > It's my experience that not all USB sticks are bootable.  I tend to
> > use the low profile SanDisk models, which are.
> >
> > - M
> >
> 
> Thanks for your answer,
> 
> I have tried 5 different USB sticks and they don't work in my
> laptop but they work on other computers, if they were not bootable,
> they should not boot on other computers, should they?

my ThinkPad is also very picky about this. I never tried 10 from a
flash drive but only from CD which worked.

What OS is currently running on the machine?

In what stage does it stop?

I assume you see it as an option via F12 but then nothing happens when
you select it. True? 

Erich