Hello,
I'm a Linux newbee and i'm trying out varios distributions.
I downloaded the SuSE 9.1 files via ftp and loaded the boot image to cd and burned all the other files on cd. when going through the installation i get stuck on the Yast "Installation Settings" and the error is on the "Software" Heading with the following message:
"Cannot read package data from installation media. media error?"
ERROR: No proposal.
any ideas how to work around this. for some reason it doesn't read the packages even though they are the CD and I can't browse to them either as I only have the Floppy and HD option when imorting.

Thanks.

Dude, this exact same thing happened to me, so maybe I can help. First, please describe the layout of your machine, specifically how your drive(s) are partitioned and where you have the source files stored. I ran into this problem when I was attempting to install Suse on drive A, but the files were on drive B. By moving the files to A, I was able to complete the installation.

Basically, what I think you will need to do is to copy the files to the same physical device that you will be installing Suse on, then boot off the CD, select Manual Installation, pre-load any modules you need/want (for me I needed to load up the 3Com NIC driver and the ext3 file system module), then begin the actual installation by choosing the Harddrive option. You will then be asked to specify where the files are -- be sure to choose the partition that contains the source files, not the partition that is the target for the actual Suse installation. After you tell it which partition holds the files, you then need to specify the directory. Enter it, and that should enable you to begin the actual installation. Good luck with it and welcome to LQ -- J.W.

I am having the same problem and I have tried every method recommended by many forums. I downloaded the entire suse 9.1 directory off of an FTP server at work since I have a really nice connection there and not so nice one at home. I first tried to install of a DVD+R, Suse said it could not mount it. Then I tried over samba. When that didn't work I setup an FTP server and pointed it to the suse 9.1 directory. Suse finds the directory just fine and starts the install. But then I get the package data error every time. This is with anonymous ftp and with a login. I then tried installing it off of a USB drive. Same package error. I then tried installing it off of an IDE drive. Same package error. Tried connecting to about a dozen different complete ftp and http mirrors as well and even though it connects well enough to login, it always fails as soon as it is getting ready to install. I would rather use the folder I downloaded, but any method that would get this installed will be welcome. I am completely out of ideas now.

This thead may have some additional ideas. Good luck with it, and I'd encourage to stick with it, personally I think Suse is a pretty nice distro. -- J.W.

I was having the same problem, getting the same error.

You can get around it by copying the suse files to your HTML directory on your webserver.

On my system, this directory is located at:

/var/www/html

After doing this, install by HTTP instead of FTP and it all works perfectly.

-Jason

I'm having the exact same problem and a CD install is my only option. Are there any other solutions keeping that in mind. I can't copy the files because the box is empty(no OS).

I saw somewhere that i could use:

dd if:/dev/cdrom of:/dev/null

to find out if the media is OK, but I don't see how that will help besides telling me to reburn a disc.

I can view the packages allright with windows. I really need a solution that will still allow me to do a CD install.



Plus, on a completely different subject. Does linux need a boot loader if it's the only OS in a box?

Welcome to LQ! The Suse CD's are bootable, so you should be able to put the first CD into the drive, then simply reboot your system, and that will kick off the installation process (make sure that your boot sequence in BIOS goes to the CD before the hard drive).

If all you have is the Suse 9.1 boot CD, and you want to perform an FTP installation, then this article does a great job of explaining the steps. Good luck with it -- J.W.

I'm sorry but you completely missed my question. My concern was similar to the person who started the thread.

During installation yast fails to recognize the packages that are definitely on the CD. I get a "Media Error". My only option is to install from the CD, I can't do a network/FTP or hard disk installation. Is there any way I can get Yast to recongnize the software packages on the CD?

I know that the packages are on the CD since I can view them in Windows.


As for the booting question, my curiosity was what would happen if I completed a sole linux installation (no other OSs) without a boot loader.

OK - so to repeat, you don't have a NIC, so the FTP option is out, and since the hard drive is new and no OS is present on it, you can't boot an existing system from it, leaving only the "install from CD" option. The problem though is that the system doesn't seem to recognize that the CD is in the drive, or it complains that the CD is defective. Either way, the CD is unusable, and the installation process cannot continue.

If that is correct, then I'd ask for the following details:

* What version of Suse are you trying to install, and is it the personal or professional version?
* Did you purchase the disk(s), or download them yourself?
* If it's the latter, where did you get the ISO image and did you run an MD5SUM on the it before you burned it?
* Prior to the installation, you have the option to manually load a variety of kernel modules - did you load the ones that your system would need?
* Can you describe in more detail the series of steps you have taken prior to getting the media error message, and in particular what was the last step that completed successfully prior to seeing that error. That will help zero in on the problem.
* Lastly, it would be helpful if you could identify the specific hardware components you are using - that may have some bearing on a particular kernel module that may need to be preloaded.

That being said, if these disks were purchased from a retailer, it may just be that you got a bum set, and should return them to the store for an exchange. Good luck with it -- J.W.

Version: Suse 9.1 Personal downloaded and burnt by myself from www.linuxiso.org.

I didn't run a md5sum.

I didn't load any other kernels. I let Yast handle all the detection and it detected all of my hardware.
There weren't many steps before the error, just language selection. My main concern is with Yast's inability to see the packages that I can see in Windows.

I'm going to reburn the image but before i do that could you tell me what i need to run a md5sum.

Check the README file on CD1, and the "ftp restrictions".

The FTP directory entered in Yast is a RELATIVE pass. So you might need to add a few ../.. before the pass to your CD1.
EG for me I had the exact same error msg, but entered
../pub/SLES9/CD1 instead of /pub/SLES9/CD1 and it was ok

OK - so you are trying to install the Suse 9.1 Personal edition, which is a single CD image that you downloaded from LinuxISO (which is a great site BTW). In order to verify the integrity of the downloaded image, it's advisable to run a checksum on it prior to burning. If the image file was corrupted in some way during the download, burning that corrupt file to a CD obviously will just result in a coaster.

Fortunately running a checksum is easy. Just open up a terminal session, go to the directory where you've downloaded the image file, then enter
where <filename> is the ISO file. The output will be a long string of letters and numbers, which should be compared to the MD5SUM value on the LinuxISO site. If they match, the file is intact. If the they don't, it's corrupted, and you'll need to d/l it again.

Also, you *must* burn that ISO file to the CD as a binary image file. You cannot just copy it. If you are using something like Nero to burn the CD, be certain that you choose the "burn image" option. Good luck -- J.W.