Total noob here. I installed 9.2, went to the Mandrake site and found this:

"Error scenario: When trying to install security updates during installation, after having used multiple CD-ROMs, the security updates are impossible to add.
Why: A bug prevents importing the pubkey file containing the GPG signature of the security updates packages.
Solution: Format a floppy disk with a DOS filesystem (in Linux, you can use the command "mkdosfs /dev/fd0"). Copy patch.pl to the floppy disk. Remove the floppy and reboot using the Mandrake Linux 9.2 CD1 to do a CD-ROM installation. During boot, press F1 at the splash screen, then place your floppy disk that contains patch.pl in the floppy drive. At the prompt, type "patch", then follow the installation as usual."

Wanting to do security updates, I decided to add the PATCH.PL file to the installation floppy I had created in windows while using the installation CD. Surely that floppy was a DOS-formatted floppy. No joy - got error msg stating no write access. After wondering how this OS could ever hope to compete if the standard installation couldn't even set up the floppy correctly I tried logging on as root. No joy. Went back to windows and tried to copy the patch file on the floppy from there. No joy. Concluded that the installation floppy is abnormal in some strange way.

Then I tried to follow the instructions. Tried mkdosfs command. No joy - got "mkdosfs: command not found" even though I can "man mkdosfs". Tried it as root. No joy. (No error msg but no response from the device at all.) Found a floppy formatted previously in windows, and succeeded in getting the PATCH.PL file on it, at least there was activity on the drive and no error msg. Booted from the installation floppy (no CD-ROM boot capability on this box), pressed F1 at the splash screen, inserted the other floppy, and entered "patch". No joy - got the msg "Could not find kernal image: vmlinuz". Copied the vmlinuz file from the installation floppy to the second floppy, discovered that, in Linux, the PATCH.PL file is not visible on the floppy (???) but the vmlinuz file is visible (WITH hidden files showing). In Windows both files show up. Rebooted and tried again with the same result - "Could not find kernal image: vmlinuz". Gave up on the patch entirely.

Tried to run Mandrake Update thinking I could just go get specific updates (such as the kernal update to avoid the RSYNC problem). Mandrake Update wanted to get the mirror list but "couldn't connect" (even though I can surf the web). Mandrake Update suggested I run Software Media Manager. I did and added a medium, a Security Updates type. The Choose Mirror button did not work (could not connect) so I gave a URL of a mirror from the Mandrake site list. No joy - got "retrieve of source hdlist failed". Also tried an HTTP Server type of medium with the same results.

At linuxtoday.com, in a discussion of the rsync vulnerability in Mandrake, they gave this instruction to obtain the GPG public key of the Mandrake Linux Security Team by executing:

'gpg --recv-keys --keyserver DubyaDubyaDubyaDotMandrakesecure.net 0x22458A98' (substituting you-know-what for the junk this forum insists I use to avoid a real URL ????????) which I did as Root from a Konsole. This seemed to work. This should overcome the original problem of not being able to get the GPG signature. Rebooted. Still cannot get the mirrors list from Mandrake Update or add any medium from the Software Media Manager.

Can someone please throw me a clue? Do I need a proxy setting? (I am behind a router/firewall but I didn't need a proxy setting for Konqueror.)

So far I have wasted many hours and have achieved nothing. Once I get over this problem I can go on to really useful things like figuring out why the Sound Blaster Live does not work, why music CDs are not recognized, how I install something useful such as Mozilla, why printing takes 10 times longer than in Windows, etc. (What if I wanted to get actual work done?)

Help me, please? Thanks in advance.

GnuNOOB - for sure!

I know this sounds like a bad fix (because it is), have you tried installing Mandrake using just 1 CD-ROM? It could also be a good time to go through the installation packages and install things like the multamedia packages (Totem, XINE, XMMS, etc), and other fun things. Oh, the default sound level for Mandrake is off, so you will have to open the volume control and change that.

As, for you not being able to reach a mirror for the updates, sometimes they go down. Best I can suggest is keep trying them (keep choosing a different mirror) until you find one that will talk to you.

Hope that helps.

Oddball79,

Sorry but I am not really interested in doing the entire installation manually.

The problem is not that particular mirror sites are not working, but rather that my installation does not seem to know how to get the list of sites nor how to get to any of them.

Thanks anyway.
-GnuNoob

I used FTP to d/l the kernel update. Did it twice from different sites actually, then compared the two files to make sure they were identical (so as not to have to deal with the security key). Double clicked the RPM in Konqueror, ignored the signature warning, and was using the 21mdk kernel a few minutes later.

Only thing I found odd was it added a LILO entry for the new kernel and changed the default initrd.img link to point to the same kernel... kind of redundant. I guess if I ugrade the kernel again the new entry will have some use, but would have made more sense to add an entry for the old 10mdk kernel instead IMHO... or better yet, not rewrite the MBR at all.

http://www.mandrakesecure.net/en/ftp.php

Thank you, Crito!!!

This is exactly what I needed to know. I installed the kernal patch and now updates work correctly.

Just to spell this out for total NOOBs like me:

1. Go to the URL Crito gave.
2. Click on one of the mirror sites.
3. Browse to the directory 9.2/RPMS
4. Download the file "kernel-2.4.22.21mdk-1-1mdk.i586.rpm"
5. Run Konqueror and double-click the file "kernel-2.4.22.21mdk-1-1mdk.i586.rpm"

Not sure if I needed to do this but then I installed the GPG public key of the Mandrake Linux Security Team by:
6. Start Konsole
7. enter "su" to become the root user
8. enter "gpg --recv-keys --keyserver www.mandrakesecure.net 0x22458A98"

9. Reboot
10. Run the Software Media Manager, add a medium for security updates, List Mirrors
...

I also have the extra LILO entry. In addition, my boot process is now less graphical with all text exposed. I'm hoping that that problem will be resolved by one of the many updates I will now install.

Thanks again, Crito.

- GnuNoob