mandriva problems finding dvdrom only when it needs for installation from dvd
 

howdy. i hope this is the right part of forum. if it's not, mods feel free to move it where you think it belongs. now to the topic.
i used to test mandriva on virtual machine for the past few months and today i decided to give some of ntfs space to the real thing (not just the virtual machine test). but the problem does not lie here.

i installed free mandriva 2006 from dvd i downloaded from their website. installation went fine and all. i'm having some problems installing software coz..
you see, there are bunch of goodies and drivers not installed but are still on the dvd. and i.. also have the cd component in my computer.
to get things straight:
both cd and dvd component read everything well (mounted or what's the actual word?) but when i try to install other software from mandriva dvd, it asks me to insert the dvd in and the doors of cd(!) open. so.. how can i tell computer that my dvd is already there and it should read from other component?

this is annoying coz i'd also like to set up my adsl connection but i can't do that since it wants to install some drivers that are on dvd that can't be read from cdrom component that mandriva tries to tell me i should use.

does this make any sense? if it doesn't.. i'm willing to try again.

ummm and yes. i had the cdrom (cdrw) for about 18months and dvdrom (dvdrw) for about 6 months which could mean cd is master and dvd is slave.. i think. i hope this problem of mine can be fixed without opening the box and switching cables and stuff :/

thanks for the help.. if i get any.

m.

This can possibly be resolved without even rebooting. First, you need to look to see what the dvd drive is mapped to, and the cd drive is mapped to by typing in a shell window "ls -l /dev/dvd" and "ls -l /dev/cdrom".
You should see something like this:
[gruemaster@razman azureus]$ ls -l /dev/dvd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Apr 24 23:24 /dev/dvd -> hdc
[gruemaster@razman azureus]$ ls -l /dev/cdrom
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Apr 24 23:24 /dev/cdrom -> hdd

Now, to determine if these are correct (using my example above), type "eject /dev/hdc" The dvd drive tray should eject. If not, there is a bigger problem requiring a repost. Try the same for the cd drive "eject /dev/hdd".

Once that test is good to go, you can edit the urpmi config file in /etc/urpmi/urpmi.cfg to make sure each list is pointing to the correct drive. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what to change without looking at your list directly (type "cat /etc/urpmi/urpmi.cfg" and post the output. It should be fairly easy to figure out.

Another option is to completely forgo the cd's and dvd's, and configure your system to get what it needs from the internet. just go to easyurpmi.zarb.org and follow the simple procedure to configure your system. Then, any package you need will be downloaded, some of which will have newer versions or bug fixes.

thanks.
it turns out that both "ls -l /dev/dvd" and "ls -l /dev/cdrom" give me the "-> hdd" feedback. is that normal? or is THAT the problem and i need to fix this?

later, i tried with "eject /dev/hdd" and dvdrom opened. and then i tried with "eject /dev/hdc" and, yes, cdrom opened. so am i right to assume that some of the problem lies in the fact that after "ls -l /dev/cdrom" checking i should get the "/dev/cdrom -> hdc" answer and not "dev/cdrom -> hdd"?

the urpmi.cfg says:
"Installation\ Free\ DVD\ cdrom1 removable:/mnt/cdrom/media/main {
hdlist: hdlistInstallation Free DVD (cdrom1).cz
key-ids: (numbers)
removable: /dev/hdc
static
update
with_hdList: ../.. ../media/media_info/hdList1.cz"
maybe i can try and change from "../dev/hdc" to "..dev/hdd" (afterall, dvdrom opened on "../dev/hdd" command) right after i'll figure out how to get permission to write to this file.

that internet option sounds tempting but.. i can't set adsl right becoz there are still some drivers on dvd that want to be installed during the adsl setup from, you guessed, cdrom. that's why i find this problem a bit annoying :]

thanks for the help so far.

m.

That would work. Make sure /dev/hdd is the only entry in urpmi.cfg, and all of your installation needs will go through the dvd drive only.

To change this, you need to become root. The easiest way is to type "su" and it will prompt you for root's password.

thanks very much, though the problem is not solved yet.
it took me hours searching for "how to log in as administrator" since nothing happened under "su" and it hit me that i should look for root log in. found topics about it and followed the suggestion to
su
(password)
konqueror
.. it was then i could manipulate the .cfg file.


it's like that:

i changed ../dev/hdc in ../dev/hdd and nothing happened.
then i also changed "cdrom1" into "cdrom2" since in konqueror dvdrom is read as cdrom2. nothing happened. i also found out that before i changed anything i could easily see the list of packages i could install since under "update media" (software packages installation) it said "mandriva dvd cdrom1". after first change. there would be nothing under "update media" and no packages list would show up.

i changed all back to what it was. no change. sill nothing under "update media" and no packages list.

eject /dev/hdc ejects cd and ../hdd ejects dvd, like it used to and using ls -l.. command there are still both signed as hdd.. which still puzzles me a lot.

(during this time, i rebooted quite often.)


so, any ideas on what to look for next? thanks for your time :]

ok this is what happened:

i reinstalled the system. the urpmi.cfg file seemed a little bit different. hell wit hit. i was exeprimenting to find out the right combination that would open my dvdrom and NOT cdrom. i managed that.

now here's the other problem. it finds the dvdrom, dvd is inside and when ready to install the package, it throws dvd out just to ask me to put in the same dvd. i do that and after it's mounted, it throws it out again. it's funny, i don't get it why it doesn't read the dvd it is supposed to read. and yes, it is the right dvd. i haven't found any topics on that, if anyone else did, please let me know.
thanks in advance.

It sounds like your urpmi database is getting corrupted somehow. I'd recommend just setting up urpmi from easyurpmi.zarb.org. That way you can download and install what you need. The other thing you could try is to try resetting urpmi with the Software Media Manager (menu->System->Configuration->Packaging->Software Media Manager).

First, disable all the other media. Then, select "Add Custom", check "Removable Device" and enter the mount point to the dvd drive (make sure there is a distro dvd in the drive).

This will rewrite your urpmi.cfg file, and might be easier (I've gotten used to the console window and vi editor - sorry).

thanks a lot. it seems to be working now.

i entered software media manager but instead of "adding custom", i chose to edit previous (cdrom1) function (and turn it into cdrom2). so far, i've managed to install things from dvd and i hope it's going to work in the near future.

until further notice, i'm done with this thread.

thank you for your time again.

m.