RH 4.2 crc problems

[Dan Gutchess <dgutches cs bu edu>]

Hello,

I haven't been able to reach tech support and I'm getting frustrated.  If
you have any ideas about this please let me know.  Sorry this is a bit long...

Using a single Maxtor 8.4G (DiamondMax, Ultra-DMA but in normal PIO mode)
drive in my Pentium 200.  (Triton II/HX chipset) Usually I try to make /
partition 8G and a 100MB swap partition.  Have tried other layouts
including just one 400MB partition.  Have tried setting the disk in BIOS to
LBA, NORMAL, and LARGE.

I am certain this is NOT a hardware problem.  I have used this disk under
NT and DOS without problems.  I've been using this machine for a long time
without a problem.  To be sure, I finally installed Redhat 3.0.3 (Infomagic
CD) on this drive and everything worked perfectly.

The install starts off well, but then runs into problems which change from
time to time.  However, it usually makes it through the install and claims
that it was successful.  I'll describe some of the problems, but there may
have been others I can't remember.

1. While installing packages, various packages cause an  error like:
"Execution of script failed" this happens on different packages from
install to install.

2. Also while installing packages, another error comes up from time to
time: "Error installing package: filename: no such file or directory"

2a. Parts of the install are sometimes skipped altogether. Including: mouse
configuration, X configuration.

3. Different parts of the install fail w/ a useless error message.  These
can be setting of timezone, LILO installation, etc.  A screen comes up that
says that the action failed, and allows retry, go back, or goto menu.  If I
try different combinations sometimes I get through the install and reboot.

4. When I next boot the machine I get the LILO prompt, type "linux" (it's
the only thing on the drive), and a number of different things can happen.
Often it says "unknown compression" or similar.  Another common message is
crc error.  Once or twice it started booting, but it seems the kernel is
damaged.  

Then I thought maybe the boot floppy that came in the box was damaged and
so it was installing a messed kernel.  So I used rawrite to make a new boot
floppy according to manual instructions and the same exact problem persists.

I see no physical defects on the CD, but I wonder if there is something
wrong with it.  It all sounds typical of a hardware problem, but this
distribution of Linux is the only one that thinks so.

Thanks
Dan

--
Dan Gutchess
dgutches cs bu edu