Howto: USB Restore

Here's how to create an USB restore boot stick, which will restore your eee to the default installation.

in Windows

Load the DVD that came with the eee and run the AsusSetup.exe program. (This is usually located at D:\Software\BootTool). You can do this on a separate PC (it will complain about drivers just ignore it).

NOTE: Some people have reported that 1GB USB stick will NOT work as described in the paragraph below. Although Asus printed manual is not entirely clear on this point, the correct and safe reading seems to be that you need at least 2GB USB stick to perform this procedure. If unsure or unwilling to experiment use a 2GB USB stick!

NOTE2: It is possible that using a USB1.1 stick will also not work because some files are not copied over. Specifically, the file user_start.dat is not copied over even though the software issues no warnings or errors. It is extremely important to verify that all the files have been copied over. If user_start.dat is not copied over, the restore seems to work but will issue the following errors at the end:

NOTE 3: After creating this bootable USB, you may like to use it for other purposes but realize that its size is changed. You have to format it in Asus Linux USB Flash utility again (the second option in the list) to return it back.

Scanning user partition, please wait...
fsck 1.40-WIP (14-Nov-2006)
e2fsck 1.40-WIP (14-Nov-2006)
fsck.ext3: No such device or address while trying to open /dev/sda2.  Possibly non-existent or swap device?
tune2fs 1.40-WIP (14-Nov-2006)
/sbin/tune2fs: No such device or address while trying to open /dev/sda2.  Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock

NOTE3:If the previously mentioned user_start.dat file is not listed on the drive, that file can be copied from the Support CD and placed into the root directory of the flash drive.

The software expects a USB disk of at least 1.3 GB, though it does work with 1 GB. It may not work with some USB sticks which have a hardware blocksize of 2048 bytes, but does work if blocksize is 512 bytes. Testing with a 1.06 GB stick, the software formatted it with one partition of 1.3 GB. After writing the files, Windows XP listed 876MB used = 919,240,704 bytes, so fortunately nothing is actually written to the non-existent last 0.3 GB. Take care if you try adding files to the stick. You will see some warnings in the “dmesg” log if you try to read it under Linux. Using the setup.exe program to restore the stick put it back to its correct size but set the partition type to 4, “FAT16 <32M”.

Here is the directory of files created (your drive letter may be different):

 Volume in drive J is EEEPC-701
 Volume Serial Number is 46A7-5741

 Directory of J:\

07/24/2007  04:20 PM    <DIR>          boot
10/19/2007  06:18 AM                 6 blockcount.dat
10/19/2007  06:18 AM                 0 2007.10.19_13.01.bld
10/19/2007  06:18 AM       915,883,450 P701L.gz
10/19/2007  06:18 AM                 4 user_start.dat
               4 File(s)    915,883,460 bytes

 Directory of J:\boot

07/25/2007  09:59 AM    <DIR>          .
07/25/2007  09:59 AM    <DIR>          ..
06/21/2007  06:49 PM         1,295,992 vmlinuz
08/28/2007  04:33 PM         1,611,979 initrd.gz
09/14/2007  10:55 AM    <DIR>          grub
               2 File(s)      2,907,971 bytes

 Directory of J:\boot\grub

07/25/2007  09:59 AM    <DIR>          .
07/25/2007  09:59 AM    <DIR>          ..
06/19/2007  09:52 AM             7,520 e2fs_stage1_5
05/23/2007  11:59 AM                66 device.map
06/19/2007  09:52 AM             7,392 fat_stage1_5
09/14/2007  10:54 AM               300 menu.lst
06/19/2007  09:52 AM               512 stage1
06/19/2007  09:52 AM           106,888 stage2
               6 File(s)        122,678 bytes

     Total Files Listed:
              12 File(s)    918,914,109 bytes
               6 Dir(s)     482,410,496 bytes free

After the USB stick is created, place it into Eee PC and boot. Type <Esc> at the initial boot screen which states you can press F2 to run setup or Tab, to allow selection of boot device. Select the USB. You should see:-

Uncompressing Linux... Ok, booting the kernel.
Waiting 15 sec for USB subsystem...
Trying disk sdb...
Trying disk sdc...
Found EEEPC-701 image on Flash Disk       [/dev/sdc]...

Ready to image ASUS Eee PC 701 using build 2007.10.19_13.01.
Enter "yes" to continue, anything else to reboot.

in Linux

First mount the DVD provided with Asus Eee PC. Paths of files and directories will vary depending on your system. In my system the DVD is mounted at /media/ASUS_701/.

Following files are needed from the DVD to successfully create usable restore USB stick within Linux:

/media/ASUS_701/Software/BootTool/BootTool/usb.img
/media/ASUS_701/P701L.gz
/media/ASUS_701/2007.10.07_04.33.bld
/media/ASUS_701/blockcount.dat
/media/ASUS_701/ver.tag
/media/ASUS_701/user_start.dat

NOTE: This will ERASE all content from your USB stick: BACK UP your files, if necessary! Copy content of usb boot image in to your usb stick device (for example /dev/sdb). Make sure that the USB stick is UNmounted before attemting to do following.

dd if=/media/ASUS_701/Software/BootTool/BootTool/usb.img of=/dev/yourUSBstick

Replug your USB stick and mount it in place of your choise and copy important files from the DVD as follows. You should also notice a directory called “boot” on the stick. After all files have been copied in to the USB stick, unmount it and now you should have USB restore stick ready to use.

mount /dev/yourUSBstick /media/EEEPC-701/
cd /media/ASUS_701/
cp -v P701L.gz 2007.10.07_04.33.bld blockcount.dat ver.tag user_start.dat /media/EEEPC-701/
umount /media/EEEPC-701/

Note: Your dvd might contain a different build instead of 2007.10.07_04.33 (mine had 2007.12.07_16.05).

Have fun! You should also read the restoring procedure in Windows section for more information.