Yum annoyance: "[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum" over and over

[Andre Robatino]

  Recently, the error "[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum" 
often happens repeatedly while trying to download the file 
primary.sqlite.bz2 from different servers.  It's common for this to 
happen around a dozen times or more, which since the file is 3.8M can 
add up to 50M just to download metadata to find out whether there are 
updates.  For those on dialup, this is a major pain.  Why is this 
happening?  For example

[root at localhost ~]# yum update
Loading "installonlyn" plugin
Loading "presto" plugin
Loading "dellsysidplugin" plugin
Setting up Update Process
Setting up Presto
livna                     100% |=========================| 2.1 kB    
00:00    
dell-software             100% |=========================| 1.9 kB    
00:00    
adobe-linux               100% |=========================|  951 B    
00:00    
fwupdate                  100% |=========================|  951 B    
00:00    
updates                   100% |=========================|  383 B    
00:00    
dribble                   100% |=========================|  951 B    
00:00    
fedora                    100% |=========================| 2.1 kB    
00:00    
Reading Presto metadata in from local files
presto.xml.gz             100% |=========================|  95 kB    
00:00    
primary.xml.gz            100% |=========================| 6.2 kB    
00:00    
primary.xml.gz            100% |=========================| 1.0 kB    
00:00    
primary.xml.gz            100% |=========================|  30 kB    
00:00    
updates                   100% |=========================| 1.9 kB    
00:00    
primary.xml.gz            100% |=========================|  23 kB    
00:00    
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:11    
http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:11    
http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:11    
ftp://fedora.bu.edu/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:11    
ftp://fedora.bu.edu/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:11    
http://mirror.linux.duke.edu/pub/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:11    
ftp://ftp.cse.buffalo.edu/pub/Linux/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:31    
ftp://mirrors.imagi.net/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:11    
http://mirror.linux.duke.edu/pub/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:11    
http://mirror.stanford.edu/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:11    
http://limestone.uoregon.edu/ftp/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:11    
ftp://ftp.cse.buffalo.edu/pub/Linux/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2                                              3.8 MB 
00:11
ftp://mirror.nyi.net/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:11    
http://mirror.hiwaay.net/pub/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:11    
http://ftp.linux.ncsu.edu/pub/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2: 
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2        100% |=========================| 3.8 MB    
00:11    
No Packages marked for Update/Obsoletion
[root at localhost ~]#