Install fails during installation of rpmdb-redhat-4-0.20060803

[Rick Stevens]

On Tue, 2006-10-03 at 19:12 -0700, John Powell wrote:
> John Powell wrote:
> 
> > John Powell wrote:
> >
> >> Rick,
> >>
> >> Thanks for the responce. Here are the answers to your questions...
> >>
> >> These drives are PATA and are setup in a non RAID configuration... 
> >> just standard IDE (master/slave on the IDE bus 1).
> >>
> >> I have tried several attempts using the boot options you specifed...
> >> ide=nodma
> >> noapic
> >> ide=nodma + noapic
> >>
> >> All install paths lead to the same error at the same point during the 
> >> install.
> >>
> >> I have also tried swapping out hardware... attempted a single IDE 
> >> 80gig Barracuda drive, swapped out two different cdrom readers
> >>
> >> The end result being I still get the same error. Pretty odd eh? I 
> >> have never ever had such a hard time installing a linux distro 
> >> before. Redhat 9 went on smooth as can be with the originally 
> >> specified config. Ubuntu, Mandrake also had a smooth installation. 
> >> Fedora Core 5 actually hangs during the install however when 
> >> switching bettween CD's or during some seemingly random RPM (was 
> >> never the same one during the 5 attempts that I made and usually 
> >> occurred on the first install disc).
> >>
> >> So all of this and I am still left in the dark. Any further ideas?
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> John
> >>
> > So I just did something I should have done a while ago but thought was 
> > uneccessary since I performed a media check on all install discs.
> >
> > Accessing the install console on Terminal F2 I attempted to install 
> > the rpm manually and got the following error...
> >
> > "error: /mnt/source/RedHat/RPMS/rpmdb-redhat-4-0.20060803.i386.rpm: V3 
> > DSA signature: BAD, key ID db42a60e..."
> >
> > Isn't this exactley what the media check is looking at when verifying 
> > the contents of the installation disc? Why would media check pass in 
> > this case?
> >
> > I am going to try once again to burn another CD and attempt the same 
> > steps. Who knows... maybe I will get lucky.
> >
> > Regards,
> > John
> >
> No luck. The new cd I burned yielded the same results.

IIRC, CD #2 is the fullest (largest ISO image).  So, there's two things
to ensure:

1. Make sure you're using name-brand 700MB media--NOT 650MB media.
I tend towards TDK media.  You need a uniform media from the center to
the edge.  650MB and "bargain basement" media doesn't have reliable
stuff out at the edge.

2. Burn it at less than maximum speed.  CDs are written starting at the
center of the disk and working out towards the edge in a long spiral
data track (like an old LP record, but backwards). The faster you spin
the CD (the higher the write speed), the more "flutter" occurs out at
the edge and some drives simply don't write well out there.

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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-  Perseverance:  When you're too damned stubborn to say "I quit!"   -
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