[clug] sec: unclassified - Debian 3 halts (was: RH7.2 halts)

[Ellis, LCDR Peter]

Dear all,

On the P133 with 96MB and a 'pristine' 2.4G /hda and 12xCD-ROM (IDE) and
soundcard previously described last week.... 


After almost a week and then a weekend of effort, my score is:

+ [will install]
RH7.1 (APC magazine ?? cover CDs)
StarOffice 5.0 (from RH7.2 bought kit)
[but, I having got this running and thereby proved that Linux would GO on
this machine, I decided to try the Debian 3 CDs again, which blew it away.]

- [will not install]
RH7.2 (bought kit)
Debian 3.01 (APC Magazine July cover CDs)
e-smith (CD cut by member of this list)

Symptoms: 
(a)	says that some file is not there, but it is visible to me when I
look at the CD in a browser/explorer;
(b)	says that a file is corrupt (not always the same one, but some more
often than others)

I have been unable to get a shell out to a log file. :-( 

What I figure is that there is an issue with the CD-ROM drive itself. 
I intend to swap it out for a (very) slow-and-steady drive. 
(This came from a Canberra IT system / Netware tech who is also a Linux
user.)

I will have access to an older Debian (potato?) and the current one
(Woody/Sid?) from a local IT consultant later in the week. 

More suggestions on the approach I might take, please?

With thanks, and in anticipation of an installfest... :-)
Peter