HELP ME PLEASE error 2 reading header: cpio: Bad magic

[Engineer]

I keep getting this error when attempmpting to install Linux (MDK 9.1, RH 9, Mandrake Network Firewall)

Code: Select all

error 2 reading header: cpio: Bad magic

I can't even format the drive, I have tried to low level format it with the Seagate Tools disk, no luck, it keeps telling me the drive is fine

anyone else run into this? I have also tried searching but to no avail, or maybe I was searching for the wrong thing.

Thanks

Dj

[Void Main]

Not enough information to compute. What kind of drive is it (ide/scsi/etc, make/model/etc)? Is it hooked up correctly (jumpered correctly, cables in place)? Is your BIOS configured properly (LBA, etc)? Has it been running fine and just started having problems with no hardware or BIOS changes? When do you get the error that you quoted? You didn't happen to install any sort of disk management software that plays with BIOS settings?

[Engineer]

No disk management software, IDE hard drive 10.2G Seagate (primary master) and I have also tried my 40G Western Digital same result, IDE HP cdwriter (Secondary master) and CD ROM (Secondary Slave), all jumpers checked double checked and checked again, LBA enabled,. I haven't had any problems with this drive before (except is it slightly older so it's not the most quiet), installed several distros including windows to it before no prior problems. Could it be my media? But 3 seperate distros? Thanks


Dj

[Void Main]

Are you saying you have successfully installed an OS with this exact configuration? What is on primary slave? If nothing is on the slave of your primary IDE then some drives/systems like to have the jumper set as "CS" rather than "Master". Or maybe put your your CD-ROM on primary slave and try and install from it. And sure it could be your media, did you run a media check? Also, might try adding "nodma" to your boot params just to see if that might be it, I doubt that's it though.

[Engineer]

No, not the same distro/config. I installed Windows 2000 Pro on this drive before along with Vector Linux. I have ran the media check before (when installed on my other box) and it worked fine. It doesn't have anything to do with a need for a specific architecture iso does it?

Dj

[Void Main]

Well, I guess that would depend what architecture you are trying to install on, I assumed x86. Again, when I asked about whether you had something else installed on this exact configuration I meant "hardware" configuration not software. That is, did you successfully install Windows 2000 on that machine with the drives installed as they are now? Can you install Win2k now with the hardware configured as it is?

[Engineer]

Yes I can install Windows again on this drive, it is the same computer with the exact same hardware (except trying the different hard drives to see if that was the problem). It is an AMD cpu I was just wondering if I needed different setup files for AMD vs Intel. Thanks for the replies I really appreciate it. Would knowing anything else about the hardware aid in diagnosis?

Dj

[Void Main]

AMD is x86 and the x86 distros is what you want with the possible exception of the brand new 64 bit chips. Are all of the CDs in question ones you burned, all using the same burner? How did you burn them? Have you tried installing from both of your CD drives? You might try some of these boot options:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linu ... topts.html

Can you list your hardware (chipset/motherboard)? Also, where *exactly* does this error pop up (what are the last good messages or what point in the installation process do they occur)?

[Engineer]

Yes all the CDs were burned at the same time using the same burner and I did md5 them before beginning. Turns out I had a bad stick of RAM, so now i'm stuck with 400mhz/256mb . Some of the nice people at www.justlinux.com helped me figure it out along with good old Google. Thanks again for you replies I appreciate it.

Dj

[Void Main]

Excellent. I figured if it was a RAM problem it would have showed up in Windows as well, but then how do you tell hardware crashes from just plain old normal Windows crashes? :)

[willaa]

Hi. I don't "speak" english very well (I am from Brasil ) but I will try "talk" with you. I have the same problem that you: I always find the erro message ["Error 2 reading header:cpio:bad magic"] when I try install Red Hat 9 in my computer (MSI K7N2 mobo, athlon XP 2700+, 1GB DDR-333, HD MaxTor 40GB ATA 133, GeForce 4 MMX). I found the following forum about this problem. There, they think that the error was at media CD or CD driver. I will try follow his recipes and I hope success. If you find news, please contact me. The same for me: if I find news, I will back.
I desire luck for you and for me.

Se you later.

http://forums.techguy.org/t141946/sb276 ... e3e0a.html