List members,
I downloaded the FC6 installation images to my Windows XP machine and used Nero to burn them to CDs, but the media check kept failing. After some research, I found a reliable method for burning installation CDs that pass the media check.
1) Boot into Knoppix using the following boot options - knoppix 2 toram dma
2) Stop the automount service - /etc/init.d/autofs stop
3) Unmount the CD burner - umount /mnt/cdrom
4) Mount the drive containing the FC6 images - mount /dev/hda1
5) Change to the directory containing the FC6 images - cd /mnt/hda1/FC6/i386
6) Burn the images to CD - cdrecord -v -pad -dao speed=16 -eject dev=/dev/cdrom FC-6-i386-disc1.iso
Of course, any Linux distribution should work, but I just happened to have my Knoppix 4.0.2 CD handy. The important part is invoking cdrecord with the -pad and -dao options. In order to determine the right speed setting for your machine, you can use the -dummy option to perform test runs.
Good luck,
Matthew Roth InterMedia Marketing Solutions Software Engineer and Systems Developer
Matthew J. Roth wrote:
List members,
I downloaded the FC6 installation images to my Windows XP machine and used Nero to burn them to CDs, but the media check kept failing. After some research, I found a reliable method for burning installation CDs that pass the media check.
- Burn the images to CD
- cdrecord -v -pad
It's the -pad which makes all the difference. This works around a bug in the kernel which causes the mediacheck to fail.
You don't need to fix this when burning your cds though, when you boot off your install cd just start the install using:
linux nocddma
instead of just 'linux', and the mediacheck should work properly (whether your CDs were burned with or without padding).
Just as a thought - why is nocddma not made the default in the install kernel (ie the one used during install rather than the one which is actually installed). Are there any downsides to this? It would save a lot of these explanatory messages after every release...
Simon.
On Mon, 2006-11-06 at 13:39 +0000, Simon Andrews wrote:
Just as a thought - why is nocddma not made the default in the install kernel (ie the one used during install rather than the one which is actually installed). Are there any downsides to this?
Possibly that drive speed will be a lot slower. It's not much fun trying to do just a basic install that takes about two hours.
It would save a lot of these explanatory messages after every release...
DMA actually working would be more preferable. This problem has been around for quite some time.
Tim wrote:
On Mon, 2006-11-06 at 13:39 +0000, Simon Andrews wrote:
Just as a thought - why is nocddma not made the default in the install kernel (ie the one used during install rather than the one which is actually installed). Are there any downsides to this?
Possibly that drive speed will be a lot slower. It's not much fun trying to do just a basic install that takes about two hours.
It would save a lot of these explanatory messages after every release...
DMA actually working would be more preferable. This problem has been around for quite some time.
Indeed, and turning off DMA doesn't always fix the problem either. Alan Cox suggests just not bothering with the media check at all.
Paul.
Paul Howarth wrote:
... Indeed, and turning off DMA doesn't always fix the problem either. Alan Cox suggests just not bothering with the media check at all.
Except that the installer is not at all graceful about handling data problems during the actual installation process. More than once, I've gotten near the end of an install and had a read error (sometimes a flakey drive; sometimes a bad cd), at which point you are back exactly to square one. No manual re-tries, no re-tries from another drive, no skip the package and go on. At least if the media check succeeds, I've never had the install die later on.
On Mon, 2006-11-06 at 17:09 +0000, Anne Wilson wrote:
On Monday 06 November 2006 16:36, Paul Howarth wrote:
Indeed, and turning off DMA doesn't always fix the problem either. Alan Cox suggests just not bothering with the media check at all.
I don't see the need for it if the sha1sums have been checked. I always skip it.
Anne
Just because a cd passes the media check the first time you check it, doesn't mean it will pass it next time. a single finger print can blow an installation :(
erich
Anne Wilson wrote:
On Monday 06 November 2006 16:36, Paul Howarth wrote:
Indeed, and turning off DMA doesn't always fix the problem either. Alan Cox suggests just not bothering with the media check at all.
I don't see the need for it if the sha1sums have been checked. I always skip it.
That checks that you've downloaded the ISO images OK, but doesn't check that your media is burned correctly. Best way to do that is to grab the data back off the burned media, truncate the resulting file to the same length as the original ISO (not always necessary, depends on your hardware) and then run the sha1sum on that file.
Paul.
On Monday 06 November 2006 17:24, Erich Carlson wrote:
On Mon, 2006-11-06 at 17:09 +0000, Anne Wilson wrote:
On Monday 06 November 2006 16:36, Paul Howarth wrote:
Indeed, and turning off DMA doesn't always fix the problem either. Alan Cox suggests just not bothering with the media check at all.
I don't see the need for it if the sha1sums have been checked. I always skip it.
Anne
Just because a cd passes the media check the first time you check it, doesn't mean it will pass it next time. a single finger print can blow an installation :(
<tongue in cheek> You mean some people are not careful how they handle disks? </tongue in cheek>
Anne
On Monday 06 November 2006 17:42, Paul Howarth wrote:
Anne Wilson wrote:
On Monday 06 November 2006 16:36, Paul Howarth wrote:
Indeed, and turning off DMA doesn't always fix the problem either. Alan Cox suggests just not bothering with the media check at all.
I don't see the need for it if the sha1sums have been checked. I always skip it.
That checks that you've downloaded the ISO images OK, but doesn't check that your media is burned correctly. Best way to do that is to grab the data back off the burned media, truncate the resulting file to the same length as the original ISO (not always necessary, depends on your hardware) and then run the sha1sum on that file.
No need for that if you use k3b. I haven't tried it in FC6 yet, so can only speak up to FC4. D3b uses/used md5sum instead of sha1sum, but the principle is the same. It calculates the md5sum of the .iso file, burns the disk, then, assuming you have set 'verify' it calculates the md5sum of the disk. If they match you have a winner - and providing you use burnfree and don't burn too fast most times they will match.
Anne
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Anne Wilson -
Erich Carlson -
Joe Smith -
Matthew J. Roth -
Paul Howarth -
Simon Andrews -
Tim