When I boot from my cd-rom all seems to go well until is gets to the point where it says starting /sbin/"something" and then I hear the cd-rom drive spin down.

Anyways up pops the initial part of setup where I choose language and keyboard layout and then it asks me for installation media. When i select local cd-rom it tells me it is unable to find the install software even though it is on the cd-rom i've booted off. When I then try to open the cd-rom drive the drive will not open. Can anyone help me with this?

Also, tried with creating boot floppy, but same problem

Warren

(Running Compaq Presario 900)

Your problem seems to indicate a media error. Run a media-check on the CD's before installing. There is an option for running a media check on the CDs before installing. Check the help screen during booting from the CD. I don't use redhat but i think you type " #linux mediacheck " or something on the boot screen.

You can't eject the CD because it is mounted. Press ctrl-alt-del to soft boot and then the CD should be unmounted automatically. Otherwise try aborting the install. Last option is a hard boot.

The media check does exactly the same thing. One thing I've noticed is if I press alt+f3 it displays the background messages and it displays numerous lines saying "Trying to mount /dev/hdc3". I think the amount of times coresponds to how many times I've pressed retry but can't be sure. Is there any kernel arguments worth using?

Sorry just a bit more to add. When I alt+F4 it brings up a dialog which says quite a few times a few errors about trying to mount the cd drive, one in particular says error code 0x20 (STATUS: DEVICE FAILED) or something along those lines. It's leading me to think the problem is with the drive and not the media. Any ideas?

In case you are familiar with the partition nomenclature in linux systems, try to figure out which partition is trying to be mounted. Please specify the exact point where the installation fails. I mean what all stuff works properly. Can you get to the disc druid?
Try doing "linux expert" at the prompt. I still think that there is an error in the media. try burning the first disc again. In case you have a distro like knoppix, try booting off it to see if there is any hardware problems.
Any BIOS settings need a tweak?
I am quite sure there is a media problem. "Device failed" can also mean that it could not read the CDROM. Could u please post a few more verbose error messages?