Repeated fatal errors on installation
 

I am attempting to install Slackware 10.0 on a Toshiba Satellite 1735 laptop. I currently have Fedora Core 1 on it now, but it is a little too resource-heavy, so I decided to try Slack. I am a real newbie to linux, I've only been playing with it for a couple of weeks now. I downloaded the Slack ISOs and checked them with md5sum before I burned them. All of the files and folders seemed to be there, but when I try to install the packages, I get

there was a fatal error attempting to install /var/log.mount/slackware/a/etc-5.1-noarch-9.tgz. The package may be corrupt, the installation media may be bad, or something else has caused the package to be unable to be read without error. You may hit enter to continue if you wish, but if this is an important required package then your installation may not work as-is.

I've already tried re-burning the CD twice, and I keep getting the same result. Any advice? The burner I'm using is pretty good, and I haven't ever had two coasters in a row.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, I just want to know if there is anything else I can try before I waste two more CDs.

Ya, don't be a freeloader.......buy the CD set from the Slackware website and support Pat V. and his efforts...............geeze

Have you tried using a different brand of CD's if you are sure that the md5sums are right.

Patrick Volkerding wants Slackware to be free, or else he wouldn't give access to the ISO file free of charge, now would he? Don't criticize people for taking advantage of this. I, for one, do not have a lot of money.

see if you can copy and untar that file from the cd

I agree that supporting a distro run by just a small amount or even one person helps pays the bills but Patrick does offer Slackware for free download to use, experiment, contribute and so on. No one is obligated to buy it but even then, most want to try it before donating. So making comments like these with a sarcastic attitude does not help the actual question the thread starter is asking. Either help with real answers or ignore and move on.

Have you tried comparing the md5sum of the whole CD to the one for the iso file? If your CD burning program does not verify written data for you, then you may need to verify it yourself. md5sum is one way to do it. I used to do a simple:

md5sum /dev/cdrom

This worked for me, but I have been told that there are some bugs that can create md5sum errors. Instead, you may want to try this:

isoinfo -d -i /dev/cdrom

Look for "logical block size" and "volume size". Respectively, these tell you how many blocks are part of the image, and how many of them there are. Then:

dd if=/dev/cdrom bs=BLOCK count=VOLUME | md5sum

I've also been told that you sometimes need to add "conv=noerror,notrunc" to the dd part of the command, though I don't understand why.

If the md5sum checks correctly, then you will need to ask yourself "what is wrong with my hardware that keeps it from reading the file?" If it comes back bad, then burn from another machine (not likely, I think, but possible).