Could not find kernel image

I made several attempts to get a bootable stick. 2 of the tries ended up in a state as described above.

I get a "boot:" prompt, pressing enter shows an error message about vesamenu.c32 not found.

I see that file file was copied to the syslinux folder on the stick. I also ran the ubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso file in a virtual machine where it succeeded the disk check and also booted flawlessly.

----

# df -h
/dev/sdh1 2.0G 699M 1.3G 36% /media/disk

# fdisk -l /dev/sdh
Disk /dev/sdh: 2063 MB, 2063597056 bytes
226 heads, 38 sectors/track, 469 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8588 * 512 = 4397056 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000709e3

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdh1 * 1 470 2015231 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(250, 225, 38) logical=(469, 70, 31)

# ls /media/disk
autorun.inf install pics README.diskdefines umenu.exe
casper ldlinux.sys pool syslinux wubi.exe
dists md5sum.txt preseed syslinux.cfg

I have had similar problems installing to a 8 GB Kingston Traveller.
Usb-creator would not install to it out of the wrapper.
Nor after reformatting to fat 32 in gparted and Windows or after letting U-C
format from unallocated space.
What worked was using UNetbootin to install 8.10, deleting the files, then
using U-C.
I created a couple ext3 partitions and labeled them casper-rw and home-rw.
It's been my primary Ubuntu machine for almost a month.

On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 5:02 PM, Bryan Quigley <email address hidden> wrote:

> *** This bug is a duplicate of bug 276822 ***
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/276822
>
> ** This bug has been marked a duplicate of bug 276822
> busybox with (initramfs)
>
> --
> Could not find kernel image
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/295025
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug (via bug 276822).
>
> Status in "usb-creator" source package in Ubuntu: New
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: usb-creator
>
> hi
>
> first thanks for the tool.
>
> I have try to make a usb boot stick from a 8.10 ubuntu system (i386 HP
> laptop) using a 8.10 i386 iso
> and creating a 1gb casper-rw
> on a 8gb sandisk cruzer micro usb stick (stick is new out of the box) if i
> boot it i became the
> "could not find kernel image" error i search with google but i dont find a
> working solution to fix it.
>
> thanks for your help
>
> update
>
> fdisk :
>
> disk /dev/sdb: 8086 MByte, 8086617600 Byte
> 255 Heads, 63 Sectors / cycles , 983 Zylinder
> Einheiten = Zylinder von 16065 × 512 = 8225280 Bytes
> Disk identifier: 0x000d41d9
>
> Gerät boot. begin End Blocks Id System
> /dev/sdb1 * 1 976 7839698 b W95 FAT32
>
>