help::: fedora 8 x86_32 install fails due to "file conflicts"
 

Please help ASAP. I'm sure many others *must* be having this problem, though
strangely my google searches produce few if any other equivalent messages.

After I have selected all the packages I want, it goes away for many minutes
(like fedora says to expect), apparently accessing DVD and somewhere on internet.
But several times now, after a long time (10 ~ 30 minutes), fedora (or anaconda)
displays a dialog that says:

----------------------------
error running transaction
----------------------------
There was an error running your transaction, for the following reason: file conflicts

----------------------------

The only button on this dialog is "reboot".

This is extremely annoying! It takes a long, long, long time to select all the
packages I want/need (and/or think I might want/need someday). I have wasted
about two day now on fedora 8. I need to get this working.

What kind of software has ZERO ability to blow off the current installation/package,
and move on to the rest? To find some kind of inconsistency (of its own, not mine)
and just lock up completely and require reboot --- is, well, extremely amateur.
I find it difficult to believe this is the state of the art after all these years!

I was getting the same problem a couple days ago on an install of x86_64 fedora 8,
and decided to solve my problem by backing off - into the x86_32 version. -NOT-

Now above, I said "it isn't my inconsistency". I'm sure some wise ass will say that
I should know all the possible connections and commonalities and version-issues for
all 43 thousand (or so) packages and package-pieces --- and therefore it IS me
asking for two or three packages that are (in some way) "inconsistent". Sorry, but
I don't buy that line of thinking for one nanosecond. Yes, even though I am 99%
certain such a claim is probably [essentially] true.

I am also ~impressed~ with fedora/anaconda for printing nothing to identify which
package or file it is working with when it found the "conflict". That really helps me
figure out what to do next --- you betcha!

A couple other unrelated observations (for others who may repeat the previous
"mistakes" I made when trying to install fedora 8). I wasted a good part of one day
getting "hung system" much earlier on in the process. After reading about 1 million
messages on the internet, looking for the exact right one, I found nothing helpful
(meaning, nothing that worked). I did finally figure it out though - at least to a
vague degree of precision. For lack of any other idea, I removed the very generic
dual serial port card from the PCI slot --- and presto chango, the install "worked".
Well, "worked" as in --- got lots further (to the point I am now). So anyone with
any kind of [not-necessary-to-install-or-boot-up] PCI device, REMOVE IT until you
get fedora installed and working! Then put it back in and try to configure it.

Well, does anyone out there have an idea (or better yet, a solution)?
Or hey, anyone just understand what the yonk is going on - [and why]?

-----

Here is one more piece of non-information I learned a short time later:

I unplugged the data-cable from the SATAII drive that fedora_8_x86_32 was trying
to install to, and plugged it into a different SATAII drive that I knew had a
working fedora_8_x86_64 on it (working cuz it has virtually no packages added).
Then I plugged the second SATAII cable into the drive that was trying install to,
and booted the system (into the minimalist 64-bit version). Interestingly, it put
icons for / and /boot on the second (non-boot) drive on the desktop. That's nice,
though I have no idea why it did so. Anyway, the near-useless bit of information
I want to convey is this. The install.log (and some other similar name file) on
the 64-bit boot drive had hundreds/thousands of lines of messages in it. However,
these same files on the 32-bit drive that was trying to install and froze up were
shown as 0 bytes. Now, I'm betting these files had thousands of lines of text in
them when the install process froze due to "file conflicts" --- but the fact the
installer never closed these files (and the crash-out-procedure did not either)
somehow leaves these files looking like they have no contents. The other alternative
that comes to mind is --- everything that got added to those files (as well as the
information in the directory for those files) was still cached in RAM. So as far
as the disk was concerned, the 100KB that was written to those files had never
changed a single bit on the disk drive. Well, there ya go. Not [very] useful,
but there it is anyway (just in case it helps somebody out there who is very wise).

Sounds like you're trying to actually "upgrade" from a previous fedora installation? Or is it a fresh install of Fedora 8? I just recently had some similar issues upgrading my Fedora 7 to 8, so if that's your case read on...

Here's what I did to eventually get past all of it...

As a side note, sorry to hear about your frustrations surrounding Fedora. I happen to love those kinds of problems, but that's just the IT side of me.

K, Click here and start with number 1.

Using yum you can see what files are actually conflicting and remove them manually.

You can also see a common list of packages that need to be removed and added manually here.

Some other packages that I had to manually remove (though I believe they were from livna repositories) were kdegames and xine.

If you are using livna repositories (not sure why you wouldn't be) then be sure and upgrade those too before typing #yum upgrade

Hope all this helps. Keep us posted.

nope - original install
 

Unfortunately, this happens during my original install of fedora 8 x86. This happens when I try to install either the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version. In both cases, if I select a very small set of packages to install, it [usually] works. But this leads to another huge problem! I cannot add/remove software once installation is complete - because it doesn't mount my DVD! Once Linux is running I can put CDs into the drive and Linux does mount them - and I can browse the files on CD. However, Linux does NOT mount the Linux installation DVD !!! Yes, I made sure the preferences are set to automatically mount media. And like I said, CDs are automatically mounted and appear inside the /media directory.

This is why I want to install many packages --- during installation process. Because fedora won't let me install them later. Damn turkey!

Your advice looks good to me, except I need to return to it later - after I get the basics resolved - including "why can fedora automount CDs, but not its own installation DVD"? And for that matter, why does it insist I insert "install CD #1" when I try add/remove software? Especially since the install DVD is a DVD, not a CD (and not #1 of many).

:-(

!help! will be much appreciated.

Same problem here - DVD won't automount...
 

Same thing happened to me on a fresh install (The upgrade from Core 6 wasn't pretty - how can an UPGRADE not take into account that /dev/hda is now going to change to /dev/sda)? Then MAKE THE CHANGE FOR ME!! It took me an hour to find that one on Google...)

I have a system with both a CD writer and a DVD-ROM (read only)

Install wouldn't see the DVD it just installed itself from when it came time to add / modify software. My entire update after initial install has been from the web repositories, and I've deleted the "DVD repository" from "pirut" so I don't get error messages.

So, my system is up and running now - The big pain in the ass is that it STILL cant mount the DVD. CDs in the HP CD Writer WILL automount the device is (/dev/sr1)

The DVD is listed by 'lshal' as /dev/sr0

Does ANYONE have a solution?

Thank You
Mike M.

(Oh, and I'm not a total newb - My current system started out life as RH7, and I've "upgraded" to all the Fedoras from v1 through v6. Core 8 is the ONLY one to give me a massive headache. - even after a fresh install)