Fedora 8 download fails media check
 

I downloaded Fedora Core 8 twice and both disks failed the media check. Is that possible? The dvr drive is new, btw. Thanks in advance.

Hello abk4523

There are two places a download can fail before you come to install it. One in the download process itself and one in the burning.

If you mean your error occurs in the media check that occurs during installation then it could be in either of the two places.

This link:

http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/fedo...s/8/Live/i686/

will take you to a place where you can download a file called SHA1SUM for the fedora live cd's

and this link:

http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/fedo...dora/i386/iso/

to a similarly named file for the fedora dvd's.

If you download the relevant file into the directory where you downloaded the fedora iso file, cd into that folder and then issue the command (assuming you are doing this in Linux):

sha1sum -c SHA1SUM

It should give you a report on if the actual download has been corrupted.

Each SHA1SUM that you download has the capability to check more than one iso and will generate error messages for any of those iso's that you don't have. There should though be a message confirming a correct download if it is.

The burning process is also prone to error. Cheap no-name DVD's or CD's are particularly prone to errors. But the speed that the data needs to be burnt to disc usually dictates that it is wise to burn something as complex as an operating system at less that the full speed your system is capable of.

As a final point most burning software, if you look deeply enough, has the ability to verify what you have burned on the disc against the original iso.

If you follow those steps through it should show you at what stage in the process yours is failing.

Thanks for the reply, sorry it took so long to respond. I tried downloading the sha1sum routine, could only copy/paste. When I run it using the sha1sum -c SHA1SUM command, the prompt just sits there. I did have the file in the same folder as the iso. The file was named SHA1SUM in the folder. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

Hello abk4523

I think that if your SHA1SUM file was wrong that there would be error messages.

I've just tried it again on a fairly fast machine. To check one of the Live CD's took my machine some 25 seconds, checking a DVD is going to take correspondingly longer.

Could it just be a matter of waiting a bit?

You could probably check if the process is working like this.

Most SHA1SUM files have the data to check more than one image. If the first information in the file is for an iso file you haven't got then you get an error message.

On the assumption that your image is being checked against the first data in the file you wouldn't see a message, but if you reversed the position of the two entries you should get an error pretty quickly.

Incidentally, I've just checked the DVD image and it took about 80 seconds accompanied by fairly constant disk drive activity.

I've never considered the SHA1SUM files as anything other than text files by the way. The two I've been playing with have quite different structures.

Thanks for the reply. I want to make sure we are talking about the same files. What I downloaded was titled Fedora-8-i386-DVD.iso on the mirrors. I don't believe that is the rescue or live dvd, is that correct? I ran the sha1sum for the rescue dvd against the file, it failed (obviously?). Here is the error message:

sha1sum -c SHA1SUM
Fedora-8-i386-DVD.iso: OK
sha1sum: Fedora-8-i386-rescuecd.iso: No such file or directory
Fedora-8-i386-rescuecd.iso: FAILED open or read
sha1sum: WARNING: 1 of 2 listed files could not be read

Am I right in assuming there is a file missing? Is it the rescue cd? Will adding the rescuecd to the download fit on one dvd? I thought the dvd version of the download included all files. Thanks for the help, Happy holidays.

Hello abk4523

What you are seeing is quite normal.

The SHA1SUM file you are using contains information for checking both the DVD image and the Rescue CD should you have it.

The first part of your message:

says that the DVD image is OK.

The second part:

says that the rescue CD is not there to be checked.

You don't need the rescue CD to install - only as its name implies if there is a disaster.

So, your DVD image is correct, the next stage is to burn it to a DVD and tell the software you are burning it with, to check what is has burned onto disk against your iso file.

I can't tell you how to tell it to do that as it depends on the software you are using but it's sure to be there somewhere.

By the way, burning at a deliberately slower speed can sometimes avoid errors as can using good branded blank DVD's instead of white label ones.

Thanks for the help. I tried burning at the slowest speed possible, no help. I am using Maxell disks, not sure if that is the problem. I was burning using FC6 burner software gui (CDRoast?), can't find the verify routine. The drive is double layered, but the disks do not specifically say anything about layering, Could that be an issue?

Hello abk4523

Well, I use Maxell or TDK blanks so I'm pretty sure that's not the problem, and my drive is a dual layer and the disks aren't. Dual layer is just a capability of the drive, not something you have to match.

If you say you can't find a way to verfify burnt disks in CDRoast then I suggest that you have a try with the other Fedora burner K3b. If you use "Burn CD image" from the "Toools" menu you can't miss the box to enable you to verify.

Worth a try at least.

Thanks again for the help. I was using Nautilus earlier. Tried XCDRoast, changed the media size to 4.7g, but keep getting an error that the data is too large for the media. I use Gnome typically, will k3b work with it?

Hello abk4523

I'm a bit concerned that your software is reporting that the iso is too large for the media. The iso should be only 3.2GB in size.

As to K3b in Fedora, I think it will install OK. It certainly runs on any Gnome desktop I use though most of those have the full KDE installed as well.

If you haven't got KDE installed it will possibly want to pull in a whole load of dependencies, but if you have the bandwidth to let it, it certainly won't harm your existing installation.

Thanks for the reply. I installed k3b and tried it, the erase step failed. At the default write speed, the check failed at sector 39. At 2.5x (slowest) the computer froze. I rebooted and tried the media check on the disk, still failing. Any other suggestions?

Hello abk4523

You mention there that you are using DVD Rewritable disks.

I also assume that as you have Linux set up on this box that it is not the same one you are trying to install to?

Are you aware of the difference between various types of writeable media where ordinary, purchased music CD's reflect most light from the laser and then in decreasing order of reflectivity it goes CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R with DVD-RW reflecting the least light of all.

I have several drives that work with mass produced DVD's that will not read DVD-R let alone DVD-RW.

Could this be at the root of your problem?

Any chance you could try a DVD-R?

Thanks for the help. On a whim, I replaced the dvd drive and burned the disk to a dvd +rw. That worked. I was hoping to install Fedora 8 as a triple boot with Fedora 6 and Windows xp. I can't get the installation program to recognize the third drive, it is on a separate controller card, possibly recognized as a scsi or usb controller. I believe the controller is a Sil680. Will do more research.