Bug#680650: USB install method fails on wheezy alpha1

[Antoine Beaupré <anarcat@debian.org>]

Package: debian-installer
Version: 20120508
Severity: important

I have tried the install method described here with the Debian Wheezy alpha1 d-i:

http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/apas02.html#howto-getting-images-usb

I have performed the following steps:

 1. download the following files:

    http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/boot.img.gz
    http://napoleon.acc.umu.se/cdimage/wheezy_di_alpha1/i386/iso-cd/debian-wheezy-DI-a1-i386-netinst.iso
    http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/initrd.gz
    http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/vmlinuz

 2. uncompress the .img.gz file and dd it into a USB key:

    gunzip debian-700alpha1-i386-boot.img.gz
    sudo dd if=debian-700alpha1-i386-boot.img of=/dev/sdb1

 3. mount the partition and copy the .iso and "vmlinuz" in place (I
    didn't copy the initrd.gz because it's already on the image)

 4. unmount the partition

 5. mark the /dev/sdb1 partition bootable with "cfdisk"

 6. try boot the USB key on a Thinkpad x120e, using the builtin BIOS boot selection tool

Expected result: booting in the marvelous debian installer

Actual result: the Thinkpad BIOS brings be baaack to the boot menu, as if the USB wasn't bootable.

I will try the method described here as a workaround:

http://joeyh.name/blog/entry/Debian_USB_install_from_hybrid_iso/

If it works, I suggest the documentation be updated to advise users to
use the .isos instead of the hd-media files.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 3.2.0-2-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=fr_CA.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=fr_CA.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) (ignored: LC_ALL set to fr_CA.UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash