DVD ISO is Wrong Size

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Rob_Bechard_0_6205 : 16/05/08 07:26 AM : Incident created -   I have tried to download the 2008.1 spring dvd iso from several mirrors. Each time the download is only 353 mb. The ftp and http directory listing lists the iso file as the proper size but windows only detects and downloads it as 353 mb. When I mount the ISO as a separate drive within windows it appears as the proper size. After burning the dvd iso the data on the dvd is again only 353 mb. When trying to install from the dvd I get a strange box in the upper left hand corner of the screen giving a bunch of data error messages in hex. If I use the arrow keys I can (sometimes) choose the install option. It then loads the linux kernal, gets to 100% and then the screen goes blank. Nothing else happens.
JoesCat2_9743 : 19/05/08 11:36 AM : Reply received -   The errors you describe above indicates you are working with an incomplete and corrupted image, so the images you are burning are no more useful than shiny coffee cup coasters. The problem is all related to your windows operating system. 1) 1st, you may want to ensure you have enough hard drive space before you begin. If you do not have enough hard drive space, there is no point in trying. Make sure you have enough hard drive space. 2) Which version of windows are you using and which file format? If you are running an older version of Windows such as Win98 or ME, note that FAT32 files can only be 2GB in size and therefore impossible to attempt holding a 4.7GB DVD image. In this case, you would be limited to a CD image. Are you running a relatively recent version of windows which allows for files as large as 4.7GB in size? 3) To reduce the chance of problems, I have used ftp websites in the past instead of http sites. A CD appears to work okay with either ftp or http, but I have encountered occasional problems with some http sites. 4) I have had some experiences of some websites dropping the connection while using a windows computer which turned-out okay with a linux machine. It wasn't consistent but may be worth noting. Would you mind listing the websites which gave you access problems for the websites you tried? We could try some other websites afterwards which may have better luck. Another thing you may want to try is to run a webbrowser at the same time as you are doing an ftp download. Some ISPs think that if you are not actively using a webbrowser every 10 minutes, then you're not active and therefore drop the internet connection themselves. You may want to go to random websites every 10 minutes while you are downloading and take a look at your FTP download at the same time to see if it stops. 5) After you download an image (it should be over 4G in size), your burner software should have a checksum test you can try on the image before burning yet another coffee coaster. See if your DVD burner software has an MD5 checksum test. You could compare the MD5 checksum against the MD5 value located on the website. The MD5 checksum is a tiny text file of approximately 400bytes that you can read using NOTEPAD which is a default text editor on windows. 6) If you still have problems downloading an image, we could tackle this problem using an alternate FTP program.
Rob_Bechard_0_6205 : 02/06/08 04:03 AM : More info requested -   thank you for your help... I used an ftp program and was able to download the correct size of iso image. Afterwards I verified the downloaded image with the checksum file. However, whenever I try to boot from the dvd after burning it I get a blank screen after the linux kernal loads. The blue percentage bar reached 100%, then the screen goes blank, and nothing else happens. Any ideas? Thank you again Rob :-)
JoesCat2_9743 : 02/06/08 05:31 AM : More info requested -   Glad to hear you can correctly download a large DVD file now. When you boot from the DVD, you are only running a small program which gives a few choices. This isn't mandriva linux yet. When you saw that blue percentage bar loading, that was this initial program attempting to load the real mandriva linux using some known or guessed defaults but looks like one or more defaults may be bad guesses. Try reboot the DVD again so you come back to the initial screen again. If you look at the bottom of the screen, you may note you can press "F3" for other options. You can try changing the screen resolution to begin with since the default perhaps wasn't a good choice. F3 has the screen resolution and it probably picked with a guess of 1024x768 or some other large value. Perhaps you can try a smaller screen resolution for install. Try a smaller resolution in this order 800x600, 640x480, last but not least, "Text". See if you note anything scrolling on the screen after the blue bar reached 100% this time or if anything else happens. If you have a slightly older computer or not-quite-standard computer, F6 will have a few kernel options, I would try the one labelled noapic (no automated power control stuff) If that doesn't help, you may have a more complicated problem. If you are still having problems at this point, it is perhaps a good idea to mention which brand and model of computer you have right now so I have a good idea of the next possible choice of plan. Points of interest are also, how much RAM (you can use the MEMTEST to see how much RAM), CPU speed, is the harddrive IDE or SATA? and how big?
Rob_Bechard_0_6205 : 02/06/08 07:56 AM : More info requested -   Thankyou for your quick response. When I choose any of the options at the bottom of the screen nothing happens. At the top left hand corner of my screen (after the dvd loads) I have a 2 part box which I have never seen before. In the left hand corner there are 4 lines and they all have hex values in them. On the right side of this box their are also hex values. On the top of the left box it says "data" on the top of the right box it says "program". At the very bottom of both of these boxes I see error and then an "e" right beside it. Right below this error I see "IP 376". If I choose any of the "F" options the hex value in the first line reduces each time I choose an option until in gets down to zero. Then I get nothing on the screen except "boot:". If I choose alto or alt1 then vmlinuz loads and then the screen goes blank again. Almost as though it has been turned off. My computer details are below: MSI system board (PM800 via chipset)with pentium 4 2ghz socket 775 processor. 1Gb pc400 ram 40gb western digital ata ide udma5 hard drive 256 mb nvidia 6200 video card dell w2300 lcd tv monitor. Connected to pc with digital connection (current resolution 1280 X 768) I am currently using windows xp professional formated with ntfs. I would like to dump it completely though. Thank you again for your help :-)
JoesCat2_9743 : 02/06/08 09:19 PM : More info requested -   The 2nd paragraph mentioning a box is a bit of a puzzle since I have not seen such a box so I'm not sure what to say of it. I'm not sure what you are looking at??? The "IP 376" suggests to me that it is probably a reference to a hardrive due to the 376 being a heritage IDE drive default address. For you to be mentioning about entering values and then alt0 (zero not o) and alt1 suggests you are getting a little further (good sign maybe) but there is something still missing. You mention "the vmlinuz loads" this is the actual mandriva kernel getting loaded into memory, but the blank screen once again indicates something missing. Reading your computer specs you appear okay for RAM and CPU speed. I would not worry about the monitor since it looks okay as well. The graphics card is more important to know what it is but you say it is an nvidia 6200 and doing a quick search on google suggests that it is likely okay on mandriva so I won't suspect the video card as a problem. The harddrive "udma5" to me suggests a possible problem so it may be worth looking at further. Searching for harddrive and udma5 led to several items. This mentioned to set your BIOS to no plug-n-play, it is a good suggestion, so I'll suggest you turn it off in your BIOS. http://mandrivausers.org/lofiversion/index.php/t42687.html Additionally, if you can update your BIOS to the latest version, it may fix some problem(s). When it comes to updates, many manufacturers appear to have windows drivers so I suggest you reduce the size of your XP and not remove it entirely. I'll point you to this page so that if you don't get Mandriva working, you can still try a couple other distros and still retain your XP for miscellaneous stuff: http://expert.mandriva.com/question/103543 doing a search, this URL also appeared due to reference to udma5. It probably might not help much except you mentioned that your initial box with IP 376, so if you see any numbers or similarities I'll guess we may be on the right track (as a harddrive problem): http://expert.mandriva.com/question/23369 This URL suggests "insmod=ide-generic". I think this may be worth an easy try just to see if you can get to the next install screen (after the 100% blue bar) which has a white bar graph. If it works, then you may want to concentrate on installing as udma2 since the same page suggests the BIOS may start as udma2 and windows bumps it to udma5. If you have a BIOS setting for udma2 or imitate IDE, I'd probably try those as well. http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/test-hard-drive-performance-360225/ Looking at the DVDrom install disk, there appears no logical location to enter such a value such as "insmod=ide-generic" so I'm hoping it is an available option in the mystery box you mentioned or it may be an option on the smaller CD free one but not the DVD (unusual) (other options to try would be "acpi=off" and "splash=verbose"). Searching for 2008 in bugzilla shows some (maybe bad) news, your MSI motherboard may be included as a possible problem, however reading through the bug, someone mentions used a generic IDE type harddrive showing success where SATA type harddrives did not work. https://qa.mandriva.com/show_bug.cgi?id=39842 I suggest reading through it, and if the harddrive you have is SATA, you may want to try an IDE harddrive which may have more success (if you have one). You may want to add your name in the CC group to this bugzilla to watch for some solution (since you may have a computer worth testing a solution on in future). --------------------------- This mentioned the "One Live CD" has better hardware detection so you might want to hold this as a possible option and it may also have the option of adding kernel options such as "insmod=ide-generic" (I don't know): http://forum.mandriva.com/viewtopic.php?t=80436 I give you a long list of things to try (above), but looks like I may not be able to help much beyond this unless one of the possible solutions above bring-up another clue, sorry about that. If you have no success, you may want to add your problem to bugzilla https://qa.mandriva.com/index.cgi so that the real experts have a go at it.