Just installed Arch 0.7.1 from a base disc that I got from a friend after a little hiatus from linux. I got everything installed fine, but when I tried to install packages I keep getting an error saying that...
load_pkg: missing package info file in [file name]

I got this error for any package I tried to install. Any Ideas??
thanks

Try pacman -Syu to update the database and also upgrade all files in your system.
I think your problem is that pacman's dtatabase on your pc has older files than those on the repo now. So a pacman -Sy also ought to do the trck buy updating the database
Then try something small like pacman -S xpenguins

I would like to do that, but I also don't have an internet connection. I am in an apartment style building where I have internet, but only wireless. I have to get the packages installed to make that work. The packages that I had I had to download on my windows machine and put them on a cd. Since I don't have very much time put into this, would I be better off just doing a reinstall with 0.7.2?

I decided to just install 0.7.2. I originally got the same error, but then I was able to upgrade packages off the cd. I was unable to sync to the cd as described in the FAQ in the install guide. I got the common synced but not the extras and it wouldnt install packages because of that. So I had to manually install all the packages I wanted and their dependencies according to what I was told I needed. Any one have an idea as to how I could get the extras to sync off the cd??

Installing everything one at a time was a very strenuous project so I decided to scrap that and try to get my wireless card going and not have to worry about any of this mess, so who knows you may see me again when I am ready to throw this laptop out the window .

Ok...so hopefully someone is still looking at this and is willing to help me out...
Here is my current dilemma:
I am trying to install my wireless adapter (Intel Pro 2200BG). I downloaded the firmware package that I needed from and tried to install it via pacman. I got the same error message about the info file being missing that I stated above. Every package that I have downloaded has had this error.
All would not seem lost, because I have the installation procedure for doing it manually (from http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/). Everything went swimmingly until I needed a more current version of Hotplug than was installed. So I tried to upgrade this via pacman and I was told that it conflicts with udev and udev is required for initscripts so i can't install the upgrade that I need to install this adapter.
Does anyone have any ideas???
Great thanks for any help

I see you got your answer in a different forum
I use archlinux also and love it, but am on OpenBSD right now.
Enjoy the distro

I would not use hotplug, as it's deprecated. I think it doesn't even work anymore, even if you tried to enable it in rc.conf, it´ll just show failure messages when booting and during shutdown.
And have you tried forcing the installation like this?
Hope that helps. By the way, it *really* helps to have a working normal network connection when installing Arch, but I guess you already know that by now ;-)

Thanks for everyones help. I figured it out with the help of some folks on another forum. They pointed out that I was trying to install things that weren't package builds.
Anyway, now I am off on the adventure of getting my wireless to work! WHOOHOO!