Lenny CD installer bug, 2 releases in a row
 

I have tried to install Lenny using only the 1st CD image using the Jan 28th and Feb. 11th snapshots. Each time, the installer goes through most of the install, including partitioning, setting up the root and 1st user passwords, then it asks for the Debian Lenny binary CD #1. ...the problem is that it is already in the drive, and is what it has been using for the entire installation so far.

Further, the installer only gives the option of "continue". It doesn't detect that the CD is already/still in the drive, doesn't report an error, just returns the same request to put that CD in the drive. Another problem... the installer has the drive locked and so I can't eject CD #1 anyway. Because of the loop, there is nothing I can do but power off the PC.

This is not a hardware or bad burn issue. I have lots of other distros that run and install fine on my hardware.

The Lenny installer discs can be buggy. I think that it's easier to burn a cd of the latest Etch netinstall cd (r2 is the latest), install only the "Standard base" choice from the tasksel menu, finish the installation, reboot, immediately change the sources to Lenny and then dist-upgrade. Then install the rest of your system in Lenny.

@ Telemachos: Do you mean the *.iso images are "buggy"? The Lenny installer discs (CDs) can't be physically buggy themselves unless the burning process was faulty.

I also just started downloading the February 11 release of the first Lenny installer CD image. Now, I am worried if it is the image itself that has the problem. :(

He's sayin' that the Debian Installer and other things related to installing Debian are often broken in both testing and unstable. Most folks do as Telemachos suggested, and I'm one of them.

Just use an Etch media to install, uncheck all the tasks except for Standard, and you'll have Debian installed. Change your sources to lenny and dist-upgrade, reboot, if you didn't use the DVD then install the linux-image-2.6-(whatever your architecture is), reboot, I purge the older Kernel here and reboot again, and then install away with whatever you're planning. That's worked for me everytime. I've never actually needed to leave Debian but I get antsy to try other distro's every so often. That's how I reinstall Lenny whenever I come back to my senses.

If uncertain about how to change your sources from the terminal without the KDE/Gnome editors, it's really easy. Consult the forums.debian.net how-to area for some nice how-to's on installing Debian. That's better than my typing just that bit of info out.

As Dahveed3 said, I didn't mean that the .iso was corrupt or anything. I meant that the installer (as a piece of software) may not be ready for prime time yet. As I understand it, the Testing installers vary a lot from week to week - some just won't work on some hardware. Rather than puzzle all that out, it is much easier to install using the Etch installer (which is rock solid) and then upgrade from there.

I got it.
I have downloaded the Feb 11 release of the first two Lenny CD images. (I had to reinstall my XP. I also somehow messed my Lenny system :o.) I already had a January release of the first CD, but I thought a latest one would require less amount of upgrade downloads.
Let me see what luck awaits me.

They are buggy at the moment, yes. I had a pb using them on another machine. The install process stopped at "installed dhpc3". And stayed there. The above procedure might give better results.

PS: I sure agree that installing Etch and upgrading to Lenny could be much easier. (Is that really so? I heard such upgrades often uninstall some programs or creates problems for them to work.) However, my Internet connection speed is already much too slow for downloading 100MB-or-so of upgrades than that huge 500MB-or-over of downloads.
So, I rather opt for the Lenny installers.

Hello everyone! My installation was absolutely perfect. :D
So, does that mean my installer version was not "buggy"?

Sometimes they work. :)

If everything works fine, awesome! Note that if you install only the Standard task you shouldn't have much to upgrade at first.

If you then want to install the desktops and software however, that will be big. You could get a hold of a friend's computer who has broadband and download the 3 Lenny DVD's. Burn them and add them with apt-cdrom add. Comment out the network connections in /etc/apt/sources.list, and install all your stuff from the DVD's.

After that you should comment out or remove the DVD lines and create the proper lines for lenny on a mirror. Then do your daily aptitude update, aptitude full-upgrade and you will be downloading only the new updates and since you'll be recent they shouldn't be large downloads.

Lot's of different ways to go. Be happy you got Lenny installed from the Lenny media since many (myself included) haven't been able to successfully do that. They must be making a lot of headway in the Debian Installer and the Lenny base system things lately because for a long time much of it wasn't installable. They were able to be upgraded to Lenny versions once installed, but not installable from the installation media.

Have fun with Debian! :)