Problem installing RedHat 7.2

[Andrew Collins <andrewrcollins yahoo com>]

RedHat Users

I want to install RedHat 7.2 from CDROM on my PowerSpec 7805.

  http://www.powerspec.com/systems/archives/system_archive.phtml?selection=7805

Unlike the above system specifications my computer doesn't have a
Samsung drive. It has a similar-sized Western Digital hard drive:

  http://www.wdc.com/products/legacy/Legacy.asp?r=2&Model=WD100EB

Specifically it has a "WDC WD100EB 00BHF0" hard drive. I have
confirmed this with a utility I downloaded from Western Digital,
"Data Lifeguard Tools":

  http://support.wdc.com/download/dlgless137.asp

When the installer gets to the "Disk Partitioning Setup" stage
I get the following error message regardless of the partitioning
option I choose (automatic, manually w/ Disk Druid, or manually
w/ fdisk):

  "The partition table on device hda was unreadable. To create a
  new partition it must be initialized, causing the loss of ALL
  DATA on this drive.

  Would you like to initilaize this drive?"

Regardless of how I answer this question ("Yes" or "No") I get
the following fatal error message:

  "An error has occurred - no valid device was found on which to
  create a new filesystem. Please check your hardware for the
  cause of this problem."

Minor successful steps I have taken so far:

  I have successfully installed Windows 98 on this computer twice
  after having the RedHat 7.2 installer attempt to initialize the
  hard drive (which just clears the partition table).
  
  I have sucessfully used Western Digital's DLG tools to zero
  fill (low-level format), generate a valid FAT32 partition,
  and format the hard drive (put a Windows 98 system on it).

I have repeatedly booted the system in "linux rescue" mode and
attempted to verify, create, and repair the partition table using
fdisk. Every such attempt has failed. fdisk reports the following
every single time:

  sh-2.05# fdisk /dev/hda
  Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or ODF
disklabel
  Building a new DOS disklabel. Changes will remain in memory only,
  until you decide to write them. After that, of course, the previous
  content won't be recoverable.


  The number of cyclinders for this disk is set to 1216.
  There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
  and could in certain setups cause problems with:
  1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
  2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
     (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

  Command (m for help):

I even tried to install RedHat 8.0. But, at the same phase of
the install, I got the exact same error message and behavior.

I have made attempts to vary the following BIOS settings,
and command line arguments to booting linux:

  Ultra ATA 33/66/100 hard drive settings
  
    I've used each setting. Verifying that it did not somehow
    render the hard drive unusable/inaccessible by Windows 98.

  Hard drive geometry parameters
    
    I've used "AUTO" and "USER". I have not tried any specific
    "TYPE" settings other than these, though.

  idebus=xx
  
    I have tried "linux idebus=66" and "idebus=100", but not
    "idebus=33" because the boot log suggests that this is the
    default used already

I have exhausted all options that I know of. I have tried some
possibilities that I found hints about from extensive searches
of online fora related to Linux, RedHat and this notorious
"unreadable partition table" error which seems to afflict many
laptop hard drives and most RedHat versions.

I would appreciate any help. Thanks!



=====
Andrew Collins - andrewrcollins yahoo com
http://profiles.yahoo.com/andrewrcollins/