When I try to load SW and initial operation is to partition the HD but I get the message:

"Warning - unable to zero /dev/hda"

and I am not able to proceed.

What is this telling me and what can I do?

fgnoser - which software are you trying to load? And I have moved this to Linux-Software as you are more likely to get the best answers to this question there.

The SW is Linux 7.2

Should add that it is RedHat Linux 7.2

Red Hat 7.2 is quite old and the disk partitoning system on there will also be old. Could I suggest that you try Fedora - it's much newer but is still Red Hat. Alternatively, boot with something like Knoppix (a live disk) and then use someting like QTParted which comes already installed to partition your disk.

Thanks for the response. A little more information......
Basically what is being loaded is a "Ghosted" if I may use the word, cds (2) from a system that has Linux 7.2 plus other SW to duplicate the system on additional pcs. It has worked just fine on many (30+) other pcs but for this one pc for some reason it does not load and gives the message "Warning - unable to zero /dev/hda"
which is what I am trying to understand what the message means so I can look further. If I try to load the Linux 7.2 only it seems to load just fine. I have used my cds to load other pcs just fine.