On 5/28/26 2:07 PM, Ralf Mardorf wrote:

Hi,

On Thu, 2026-05-28 at 19:04 +0200, Philippe Delavalade wrote:

...

The drive with my usual distro can boot.

the drive with you usual distro isn't a thumbdrive, right?

If so, enable "POST" if it isn't already enable, maybe you get a beep code. IIRC I had to disable "Fast Startup" on my current machine to get "POST" working. "Fast Startup" might also have impact on other things. You might want to disable that anyway.

Regards, Ralf

Like Ralf, I've also had various quirks with the Arch install media over the years. Same thumb drive works fine for boot/install on some boxes, others is just fails. Rarely it has been an issue with the Arch image (none I can recall in the past 10-12+ years) There are various posts in the list archives on the same topic. For most of these occurrences, its end up being a BIOS setting. The "Fast Startup" and "OS Type" settings are prime candidates. On other BIOS there are setting that determines how the USB port is initialized USB 2.0 compatible/USB3 and which driver is used. Some BIOS even treat front-facing USB ports (front of case) separate from those that are part of the back-plane of the motherboard. Just hunt around and refer to the motherboard/BIOS documentation (granted many or poorly written and offer little explanation). I usually just end up keeping a scratch pad and write down what combinations I try when I'm working through a stubborn setup. Bottom line, if the USB stick works fine in one box, it should work fine in another once the right settings are ticked. In the early ehci/xhci USB2.0/3.0 changeover days, there were some issues that could result in a USB thumb-drive working on one box, but not in another. I haven't seen that type issue on more than a decade, so chances are better it's simply a BIOS setting issue. Copy down any error output to the screen (pencil/paper) -- that may help further diagnose the issue. Good luck! -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.