Linux does not like my computer

[Myles Green]

On Sat, 20 May 2006 16:49:47 -0700
"Corey Burger" <corey.burger at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 5/20/06, Rob Bowers <ribowers at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > I am having grand troubles switching to Linux. I tried Fedora Core
> > 4 and 1, SuSE, and Ubuntu, none of which installed, despite several
> > attempts in each case.
> >
> >
> >
> > I eventually got Redhat 7.3 on, but after trying to add more
> > packages, I cannot login, for the screen flashes wildly, preventing
> > any action apart from ctrl-alt-del (which is what I have ended up
> > doing).
> >
> >
> >
> > I currently know very little other than Windows, including what lies
> > beneath. (This is changing).
> >
> >
> >
> > Ubuntu says:
> >
> > "Base system installation error
> >
> > The debootstrap program exited with an error (return value 1)"
> >
> >
> >
> > FC says:
> >
> > "There was an error installing cracklib-dicts-2.8.2-1"
> >
> > or
> >
> > "There was an error installing glibc-common-2.3.5-10"
> >
> >
> >
> > Recently I've been seeing
> >
> > "error: rpmdb: damaged header #164 retrieved -- skipping"
> >
> > "error: rpmdb: damaged header #202 retrieved -- skipping"
> >
> > followed by
> >
> > "free(): invalid pointer 0x1caa44!"
> >
> >
> >
> > And I have seen several other error messages that are now scribbles
> > on a wad of paper in my pocket, none of which make any sense to me
> > now.
> >
> >
> >
> > It is a Celeron CPU, 128M, 7G. I realise that this is a modest
> > machine, but it should work, right? I am not attempting to keep a
> > second OS.
> >
> >
> >
> > I have seached for such errors for answers on internet to no avail.
> > I hope someone can help. (Being without an operating system has
> > kept me from my work for far too long now).
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> >
> > Rob
> 
> That is quite a catalogue of errors you have there. I would recommend
> you download Ubuntu Dapper Beta one. After you download it, check the
> md5sum of the download. AFter you have burned it and booted into it,
> use the verify cd to check that your cd is good. Then try installing.
> 
> Corey
 
Based on the number of errors, I would also recommend that he run
Memtest for at least 12 hours, preferably as long as 24 hours, to make
sure that bad RAM is not causing these problems. FWIW, I have run into
situations where the RAM seemed OK after 3 or 4 hours (no errors) but a
longer run of ~18 hours turned up a long list of errors.

Warmest regards, Myles
-- 
Q:	Why do WASPs play golf ?
A:	So they can dress like pimps.