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Re: error 2 reading header: cpio: Bad magic

Gibson, Danny wrote:
Hey Rick,

That was it. I was using 650MB disks, not 700MB. Installed great. Thanks for the help.

No problem, Danny.

I've posted this info to the list before, but for any newbies to the
list, here's how CDs are written:

CDs are written in a spiral pattern just like an old vinyl record.
It is written in the opposite direction, however. Unlike a record, the
pattern starts at the center and works out towards the edge. As you get
towards the edge, the media gets a bit wonky (the coating isn't as
uniform, you have more flutter as the edge has a faster linear motion than the center, etc.). Each disk must start with a 20MB "lead in" bit
(like the blank space at the beginning of a record) and a 20MB "lead
out" bit (like the blank space at the center of the record). There is a
20MB intersession gap between sessions, as well (the blank space between
cuts on a record).

All Red Hat/Fedora images since, oh, 7.1, are pretty full 650MB images.
Since the image is 650MB (and there's a 20MB lead in and 20MB lead out),
you really fill ALL of the media.  650MB media takes into account the
lead in/out bit (it's really capable of 700MB), but as I said, the
very edge of ANY CD is full of land mines.  A 650MB disc MAY work, but I
wouldn't rely on it.  700MB media is actually capable of 750MB.  Just
buy 700MB/80 minute CD-Rs and you'll be fine.  In fact, I threw away
all of my old, unburned 650MB media (well, actually we converted them
into Christmas tree ornaments one year

-----Original Message-----
From: redhat-install-list-bounces redhat com [mailto:redhat-install-list-bounces redhat com] On Behalf Of Rick Stevens
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 11:20 AM
To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux
Subject: Re: error 2 reading header: cpio: Bad magic

Gibson, Danny wrote:
> Yes, when I view the CD in my Windows box the following is displayed. > The files definitively appear to be there. I can browse the CD into
> each sub-directory. This box will load Win98, NT4.0, XP and Mandrake
> 8.2 with no problem. I would think if there was a hardware problem the
> other OS's shouldn't install. Do you think it is possible that the iso
> image itself may have an issue?

Sure.  You said that the MD5 checksum of the ISO image was correct,
right?  You can run the MD5 checksum on the burned disk as well:

md5sum /dev/cdrom

Do NOT run the checksum on the mount point (/mnt/cdrom)--do it to the
raw device.

Things to consider:

1. Don't burn at the highest speed your drive can do (you're already
doing that).

2. Make sure you use 700MB media--not 650MB media.  The ISOs completely
fill a 650MB media and the outer edge of CD-ROM media is not reliable.
Use 700MB CDRs.

3. Use only name-brand media (I use TDK or Maxell mostly).

4. Check the checksum of the burned media as shown above.

5. You can try turning off DMA operations on the CD-ROM drive during the
installation.  Assuming your CD-ROM is the primary device on the
secondary controller (or device /dev/hdc):

boot: linux hdc=nodma

Is there a reason you're using RH9?  It reached end of life almost a
year ago and only the Fedora Legacy project supports it now.  The latest
"free" Red Hat Linux is Fedora Core 3.  FC3 should work with the 384MB
of RAM you have, although the odds are the system will do some
swapping.  I'd get the thing up to 512MB if possible.

>
> D:\>dir /s
> Volume in drive D is Red Hat Linux_i3
> Volume Serial Number is 5DA7-B491
>
> *.* I didn't display them all here...
>
> Total Files Listed:
> 655 File(s) 675,566,545 bytes
> 48 Dir(s) 0 bytes free
>
> Danny
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: redhat-install-list-bounces redhat com
> [mailto:redhat-install-list-bounces redhat com] On Behalf Of Rick Stevens
> Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 8:04 PM
> To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux
> Subject: Re: error 2 reading header: cpio: Bad magic
>
> Gibson, Danny wrote:
> > Howdy Ya,
> >
> >
> >
> > I just finished a long download of the RedHat 9 iso files from
> > ftp.redhat.com <ftp://ftp.redhat.com/> and created my installation
> > disk. I also used the MD5 checksum after the download and they verified
> > OK. The problem I am encountering is that once the install starts I
> > encounter the following error and the install craters:
> >
> >
> >
> > *error 2 reading header: **cpio**: Bad **magic** *
> >
> >
> >
> > The hardware is as follows:
> >
> >
> >
> > *Pentium III 550MHz*
> >
> > *384 MB RAM*
> >
> > *Intel i440BX chipset*
> >
> > *Primary IDE controller - 20G IDE Hard Drive - No partitions defined*
> >
> > *Secondary IDE controller - Toshiba CD-ROM drive*
> >
> >
> >
> > I have tried burning new CD/ROM disk at the slowest speed but incur the
> > same exact error.
> >
> > I have Mandrake 8.2 install CD/ROM that will install with no problem on
> > this same machine.
> >
> > I am at a lost as to what the issue might be and what to try next in an
> > attempt to get this installed.
> >
> > Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Are you certain you burned the CDs correctly? By that, I mean, if you
> put the CDs into live machine and look at them, do you see a bunch of
> files or just one. If you see only one, you burned the CDs wrong.
>
> ISO images are images of entire CDs and must be burned that way. In
> your CD burning software, make sure you select the input as "ISO image".
> Some instructions are at:
>
> http://www.rhil.net/docs/faq.html#making_cds
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens vitalstream com -
> - VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com -
> - -
> - What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free? -
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens vitalstream com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-     Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.     -
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--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens vitalstream com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-   UNIX is actually quite user friendly.  The problem is that it's  -
-              just very picky of who its friends are!               -
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