Downloading openSUSE ISO
 

I've downloaded the DVD iso 4 times now, and each time the md5sum mismatches the md5sum listed on the website... and each ISO download md5sum is different. Two have been using KTorrent, one has been with Azureus, and one has been thru HTTP.

Does it usually take numerous attempts to get a good ISO? What are the risks if I attempt to burn the ISO even if the ISO does not match?

All thoughts and comments are welcomed.

Merry Christmas!

Why not download using a download manager such as kget, gwget or d4x? If you are downloading using torrents, are you using the official Suse torrent files? If so, then there is no good reason why the md5sums should be different.

I've used KGet as well with no luck. Every ISO I download is different! I read somewhere that bad memory could cause md5sum errors. Can someone provide more details on this? In the meantime, I'm going to try with a metalink. Let's see if this works.

Thanks

If your PC memory is somehow damaged it can cause data stored in it to be corrupted. Thus, if you download the iso it gets corrupted in your pc ram before it is written to the disc. To determine if that's the problem use memtest (free memory testing program). Burn it on a cd and run it for let's say one night (some memories can cause errors after few hours of work, when the begin to overheat).

I had no problem downloading the iso via ftp, got the correct md5.

Ok, I finally got a correct md5! I used the metalink method and it verified the md5sum when is was complete. So I guess it can take multiple attemts to get a correct, or non-corrupt, image.

killy9999, thanks for the quick info on bad pc memory possibly causing corrupt data downloads. I'm going to check my memory when I get a spare moment.

Thanks.

ok, but now I can't seem to burn a good DVD :-( I'm going to try again... this is becoming a pain...

The funny this is, when K3B checks the md5, it gets the wrong sum! I found that strange.

This really seems to be the hardware problem. Check your memory with memtest. If this will be ok than we'll worry what to do next.

I used BitTorrent on my Windows PC and the Checksum was good. 2 of the 5 disks that I made were bad though and had to be redone. 10.2 is now working great.

Yes, it appears I need to check my memory. When I manually rechecked the md5 sum it was different again. So even when I run md5sum on the same file I'm getting different results! Not good.

In the meantime however, I went ahead and did a ftp install using the mini ISO. That went smooth!

Several thoughts: first, it could be that you are using an unreliable mirror. Have you tried downloading from a different mirror (it's better to pick one that's geographically close to you rather than one that's distant).

That may not be necessary if you've got a valid ISO file, but if you are then having trouble burning it, the most likely causes could be that you are either burning too fast, or that you're using inferior blank disks. Burning at your drive's max speed (or close to it) increases the chance that the burn will fail. Personally, I always burn at a relatively slow speed (8X or maybe 16X) regardless of the advertised top speed of my drive. Similarly, be sure to use quality, name brand blanks. No-name "bargain" media often is a waste of money

J.W., I thought I had a good/valid ISO because I used metalinks with aria2 and when the download was completed it verified the md5sum as correct. In addition I ran md5sum again just to verify for myself: it returned a correct checksum. But the strange thing was KB3 gave the wrong md5sum checksum, but I burned it anyway ( at 2.5x ). However, the optical drive on the machine I was installing it on couldn't read it. So I ran md5sum again on the same ISO, and it was different! This really confused (annoyed might be a more accurate term) me. How can you run md5sum on the same file twice and get two different results. The only thing I can think of was that KB3 had to modify the file some how, I'm just not sure how.

killy9999 suggested I check my memory, and I did. It passed: no errors!

Anyway, so I'm going to try again, but I need to understand were the process is braking down, where can it go wrong:

1. A bad download.
2. A bad burn/write (can my Kb3 be corrupted somehow?).
3. A bad optical drive.
4. Bad media.

I will use arai2 again since it worked for me before, but this time I'm going to make a backup of the ISO before I give to Kb3, just in case. It might be tricky though deciding if it's the optical drive or the media. I'll note my findings.

Happy Holidays

I think you should try this mirror:
http://ftp-osl.osuosl.org/pub/opensu.../10.2/iso/dvd/

as it has worked well for me...

Enjoy!

ccin1492, I assume that you did continous test for over few hours? As I said some memories tend to overheat after many hours of extensive work. This can happen on Pentium IV machines sometimes (although it's very very rare). Anyway, if memory is really fine then it's really good to hear it.

K3b shouldn't alter image you are recording. This whole thing to still looks to me like some hardware problem (although I won't insist that I'm 100% right). I assume that your hd has no bad sectors, has it?

The only idea for me is that maybe you should just buy SuSE 10.2 from some computer magazine? In my coutry it cost about 10$, so it's not expensive.

killy9999, I ran the test for several hours like you suggested, so I think my memory is fine.

By the way, I did get 10.2 installed over the internet. So this is really just an exercise to prove to myself that I can burn a good DVD ISO, or that my pc's hardware is bad somehow.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and comments so far.

Ok, I confirmed the following:

* I can download a good DVD iso: md5sum checksum is correct.
* K3b also verified correct md5sum checksum.

I just need verify that my optical drive can perform a good burn.

How do I check the DVD for the correct md5sum?

When recording an image, k3b has option 'verify recorded data' (or something similar, I don't have english version). It will calculate md5sum of burned dvd and compare it to the original md5 of iso image calculated before recording.

Ok, I tried checking my DVD with the following command:

dd if=/dev/dvdrecorder bs=2048 count=169383 | md5sum

Are the numbers there correct? I'm not sure what numbers I should be using for the openSUSE iso.

Thanks.