So I've got this Compaq N115 notebook with a 20GB HDD and 256MB of RAM and want a lightweight distribution in order to make it usable. I'm following the install guide on Gentoo's site, the step-by-step one not the handbook, and when I get to writing the tables I get all sorts of errors-

The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
hda: task_no_data_intr: status=0x51 ( DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: task_no_data_intr: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }
hda: possibly failed opcode: 0xea
Syncing disks.
livecd ~ # hda: task_no_data_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: task_no_data_intr: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }
hda: possibly failed opcode: 0xea
hda: task_no_data_intr: status=0x51 ( DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: task_no_data_intr: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }
hda: possibly failed opcode: 0xea

Then I have to hit enter to get the root prompt back again. Any ideas on what the issue may be?

I would guess that the drive is on the way out, on occasion I have seen weirdness when trying to delete a windows partition and create a linux partition in the same action. ... did this have Windows on it before ? if so try deleting the partition, rebooting, then creating the linux partition.

hth

Nope, it had Debian on it but it was very sluggish so I wanted to try a lighter distribution and I wanted to re-learn everything I forgot when I migrated to OSX a few years back. Using apt and other package managers make it too easy and I feel I'm not really taking control of the system. I should be able to pick up another drive for it cheap enough.

should try using gparted to make the partitions, you can download the CD image from here "http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php" or use a ubuntu disk.

I tried a bunch of stuff, gparted, different boot tags, et al. Not sure what it could have been, however I did get Slackware 13.1 installed.