Hi,

I'm new to Linux and wanted to test mandrake.

I downloaded the iso's, burnt them with no problem. I want to do the install on a clean machine (no other OS). I booted from the cd and everythinks works fine until I get to the real install. I select the packages that I want, select yes on the question about the servers and then trouble begins.

He saids "error reading packages" for everythink. If I keep answering Yes eventually he asks me the second cd-rom. The same happens. So the problem is not the cd (because I also burned a new one).

On the mandrake site I found a patch (patch.pl) that I had to put on a DOS formatted floppy, boot from cd, press F1, and then type patch. The installations starts and the same problems comes again.

Did I do something wrong with the installation of the patch ? I tryed to type ''linux patch" also, but in both cases he doesn't read from the floppy. In my opinion I doing something wrong because if he doesn't read from the floppy why do I need the patch ?

Hope you can help me.

Thx in advance

Additional info : Pentium 3 1,2 Ghz ; VGA : SIS 630 ; HD : Maxtor 37 GB ; Mem : 256 Mb

did you check the md5sum of the isos?

yes I did and the check turns out fine. No errors.

This might sound like a stupid question but are the cd's your burning are able to be burnt faster than your burner can burn? This is a problem with older burners. They will burn faster than the disk can burn. Al-thou I've run into this problem myself. First system gave me the same exact error packages can't be loaded or take 1 1/2 hrs to load(P4-2.6) and then on a second machine with the same cd's take 22min(Athlon1.4G) with no problems at all. It could also be a dirty lens on the cd reader.

Could be, but I went out and bought the "Mandrake Linux PowerPack 9.1". Because it has a user manual and 7 cd's. When I try to install it with the official cd's I get the same problem. Maybe somethink wrong with the hardware ?

I will also post the question at mandrake support and if I get the answer I'll post it.

How old is your reader. A friend of mine replaces his cd reads about every six to 9 months do to a very bad smoking habit. His cd players would start skipping after awhile. Cleaning them didn't seam to work either.

about a year. I'll change the cd-rom and see if there are any changes

Thx courtrrb. I bought a new cd reader and mandrake installed with no problem at all.