Live Ventoy USB multiboot stuck at "Loading Hardware Specific Modules" on a Desktop [Solved]

[Plurix]

Hi, I'm no expert in Linux but I've been getting acquainted with a few flavors since a couple of years ago. One way accomplishing that is by setting a Ventoy multiboot USB flash drive.

Most often I've been playing with MX-Linux 19.3 KDE x64 with 16 GB Persistence dat file, and so far so good saving lots of data in the dat virtual storage for a couple of months until, I guess, I made a terrible mistake and started getting stuck at the message of the Subject above...

A few days ago the system was left on for a day or two, with an extra empty flash drive attached to another USB port, when I decided to set the system to Suspend mode in order to save a little in the electric bill and get the system back quicker and right where it was before going to Suspend mode. Prior to turning the system back on in the day after, I decided first to replace the extra flash drive by another one, as it was not yet being used by me after all...

As a matter of fact, the system does save all current status information in regards the hardware, software, RAM and so on when going to Suspend mode, quite different from when going to shut down, of course.

Besides, now I can not either boot any other Linux in the Ventoy flash drive, either using or not using the Persistence dat file. Even the boot order in the BIOS settings is changed intermittently for some reason beyond my reasoning.

The screen where the message is displayed is a blank one. Hitting Enter takes the cursor down like a new line (wrap). Alt-F2/F3... does not work either. Nothing can be done.

I'm writing this topic on a dual boot W7/Debian Buster, and using Dolphin I can browse the ISO and dat files in the Ventoy USB multi boot flash drive, but no any other files seen there.

I deeply appreciate if anybody knows how to address this and get the Ventoy flash drive usable again without losing any information stored in it.

Let me know of any other additional detail you might need to resolve this issue.

See dropbox link of the boot screen below:

Loading Hardware Specific Modules.

[JayM]

Did you know that Ventoy has a support forum? That would probably be a better place to ask for help. MX only supports the boot USB creation methods described in the user manual.

[agnivo007]

If I were you, then I'd have reinstalled ventoy latest version (force update switch) onto the usb and copy the MX ISO again (rewrite) and check.
Then comes posting in ventoy and mx forums.

[Plurix]

Did you know that Ventoy has a support forum? That would probably be a better place to ask for help. MX only supports the boot USB creation methods described in the user manual.

Thank you JayM! I think you have a good point, and I sure will do that. Although I think I had rather screwed up with MX-Linux booting process by replacing the extra flash drive... It was just working great before that mishap.

Will keep you posted while also waiting for other feedbacks as well.

[Plurix]

If I were you, then I'd have reinstalled ventoy latest version (force update switch) onto the usb and copy the MX ISO again (rewrite) and check.
Then comes posting in ventoy and mx forums.

Thank you Agni, yes you're right! I also thought doing that and a new Persistence dat file as well, as long as I could retrieve all the document files contained in the dat file beforehand.

About the MX ISO, I compared the one in the Ventoy flash drive with the original backed up in regards to its size and date and there's no difference. But the Persistence dat file has the date as the last time it was used. So my guess is all the information for booting and Suspend back on status are stored in the Persistence dat file?...

I know it is a challenge, but I also think it is a good one, and a great opportunity of learning out of it.

[dolphin_oracle]

its nice of them to provide support for their own persistence system and mx, but I have no idea how it works nor what to do if their persistence file gets full or corrupted. with the antix live system, you can remaster your persistence files back into a the main read only image and then make new persistence files.

if you want to use persistence features, you should use our live-usb-maker tool.

[baldyeti]

Thanks to the OP for bringing VENTOY to my attention, interesting tool (i had been using YUMI before, but it runs on windows only)

@Plurix I think it's only normal that once mounted with dolphin (or other) you only see files that belong to the "main" partition; the second "boot" one probably shouldn't be messed with. Can you edit the boot line and remove the "quiet" cheatcode, you should then at least see how far the boot process works ...(no idea about those "HW specific modules, though)

@dolphin_oracle their README provides the following link regarding the persistence mechanism. Not that users should expect support from the MX devs for any such non MX-sanctioned feature, of course.

[Plurix]

@dolphin_oracle thank you for your feedback. I have already posted at a Ventoy forum and still waiting for any fb from there. I do not want to remaster because, as I have already mentioned, don't want to lose the documents within it (no backups). Also I do not use MX's live-usb-maker tool because it is specific for MX only.

The beauty of Ventoy is it runs under any platform (be it Linux / Windows / MacOS) and it allows for multi boot and persistence. It was working great for me for almost half a year until I took the wrong action (Mea culpa) using MX Linux (The reason why I'm posting here, too).

@baldyeti thanks for your comments. You will love using MX Linux under Ventoy from the beginning, I'm sure. But I fear I have no clue how to edit the boot line to remove the "quiet" cheat code. The initial Ventoy screen shows a few Fn:options like Localboot, Tools, ExMenu I'm yet to give them a try, although I'm presuming it won't allow me to go to MX Linux boot area to edit anything...

Sure will let you know anything I learn about it...

Take a look at some shots here.

[Plurix]

FYI I just went to ventoy boot menu, entered grub shell but issued no commands at all except for the reboot to get out of it and all came back to normal, as usual. MX Linux with Persistence back to business with no data loss at all!

Issue presumably resolved for now.

Thanks for you all!

[JayM]

If this is solved to your satisfaction, could you please mark the topic as solved by clicking the button with a checkmark icon next to the post containing the solution? Instructions are here. This will make it easier for others when they search the forum looking for a solution to the same problem. Thanks.