On Tuesday 15 March 2016 22:20:42 David Christensen wrote: > On 03/15/2016 11:59 AM, Lisi Reisz wrote: > > My husband's computer died today. > > First: > > 1. Back up everything on all of the drives in the old computer. > > 2. Take an image of the system drive in the old computer. > > 3. Copy the above to another device and put the copy off-site. > > > What is the make and model of the computer? > > > What failed? > > > What do you need to do tonight? E.g. what software do you need? What > version? Do you have data files created with a particular version that > you need to open? > > > We rushed out and got another, cheap, > > temporary one while his main one is being repaired. I said that I could > > get it up and running quickly. Famous last words. > > What is the make and model of the new computer? > > > I downloaded the most recent Jessie Net-install + firmware, didn't > > checksum it because of the enormous problems I have getting the checksums > > (could we not please, please just have a hyperlink? I am not the only > > partially sighted person in the world). Yes, risk. But this is > > temporary, and no-one has been yowling about corrupt files on the Debian > > website. > > What image file did you download (please provide URL)? > > > Please verify the checksum of the file you downloaded. > > > I started the installation, and just after partitioning and the beginning > > of files downloading got the following message: > > > > Warning: file:///cdrom/pool/main/g/gnupg/gnupg_1.4.18-7_amd64.deb was > > corrupt > > Did you put the image file onto an optical disc or a USB flash drive? > What make and model? > > > Please verify the checksum of the burned media. > > > So I aborted the installation and went back to my 8.02 disk which I have > > used before. > > > > It did exactly the same. Got past partitioning (rather too fast???) and > > started to install the software, then stopped with the same warning. > > If you put the image on an optical disc, perhaps your optical drive is > having problems (?). > > > I then tried 8.0.0. Double checked the md5sum. > > Good. > > > The firmware was too old. > > Firmware for what device? Is the device required for what you need to > do tonight? > > > So I broke open a new USB external optical drive, used the 8.0.2 and EFI > > (which I had been avoiding) and tried again. I hit the same problem at > > the same point. So this time I said "continue". File after file was > > said to be corrupt, but it appeared to be complaining that the files it > > was *downloading* were corrupt. > > One failure can cause a domino effect, even if the later stuff is > otherwise okay. > > > Help!! Am I reduced to using Ubuntu (<ouch>), or has anyone got any > > constructive ideas? > > Your idea, below, is valid. > > > Another idea is to pull the HDD(s)/SSD(s) in the broken computer and put > them into the new computer. > > > As I wrote that I thought of DVD1. I have never used it. Perhaps I > > should?? > > Transient errors with FOSS project infrastructure servers are all too > common. A corollary to Murphy's Law, the likelihood of a failure is > directly proportional to the urgency of the need. ;-) > > > If you want to use netinst ISO's, you need a local package caching > server with at least one valid package for all needed packages. I've > used approx in the past, and it seemed to work. I hope it rejects/ > isolates downloaded packages with bad checksums and/or signatures, but I > have not confirmed this. > > > Downloading installer images and/or supplemental images to obtain all > the packages you need is another way to protect against mirror server > failures, and the only way I know of to install onto air-walled machines > (burn to optical disc, as USB keys can be rooted). If you select a > mirror during installation and the mirror is having issues, you can > exit, pull the Ethernet cable, start over, select no mirror, and the > installer will be forced to only use the packages on the installation > and/or supplemental media. > > > I don't know if you need software that is only available on Jessie. I > tried Jessie (8.2) a while back, and found it had issues. I currently > run Wheezy with Xfce, and install from this image: > > > http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/archive/7.9.0/amd64/iso-cd/debian-7.9.0-a >md64-xfce-CD-1.iso > > Or, to conserve bandwidth: > > > http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/archive/7.9.0/amd64/jigdo-cd/debian-7.9.0 >-amd64-xfce-CD-1.jigdo > > On 03/15/2016 12:06 PM, Lisi Reisz wrote: > > I tried another two and the second one the error message changed to > > "Couldn't download package". > > > > Is there a problem on the Debian site? Or with whatever mirror it is > > helping itself to?? > > It is possible that the Debian mirrors are having issues, and/or the > caching servers between you and the Debian mirrors. I don't know how to > check. > > On 03/15/2016 12:37 PM, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote: > > I'm not sure that there's a problem with all the Debian mirrors: > > retry the downloads - instead of usingftp.uk.debian.org change it, > > perhaps toftp.de.debian.org to check. > > Good idea. > > On 03/15/2016 01:22 PM, Lisi Reisz wrote: > > In the meantime I had downloaded the CD1, burnt it and tried with > > that - and had the same problem, > > Further clues that something is wrong with the Debian servers and/or the > caching servers between you and the Debian servers. > > > and still trying to do a net install, > > although on every occasion I had told it to re-partition and format. > > Once you partition a disk correctly, you shouldn't need to partition it > again. That said, partitioning (correctly) won't hurt. > > > Even if I use existing partitions, I usually erase dm-crypt containers > and format the file system. > > > So I am trying to use Gparted on Knoppix to wipe the disk thoroughly > > and I'll try in order (with a good Gparted wipe in between) Net > > install 8.02, CD1 8.03, net install 8.0.0 for a minimum install. > > If you're using MBR partition tables, you only need to wipe the first > megabyte of the system drive. If you're using GPT, I believe you should > also wipe the last megabyte. (The Wheezy installer seems to use MBR; I > haven't experimented with switching my motherboard to UEFI and seeing if > I can get GPT with Wheezy and/or Jessie.) > > > Then, if I am still remotely, vaguely sane, I'll report back. > > I find that taking good notes helps preserve my sanity when I'm under > pressure. Capturing console sessions with cut/paste or 'script' is > ideal, as it eliminates typographic errors. And, good notes become even > more valuable latter. > > On 03/15/2016 01:50 PM, doug wrote: > > While you have GParted running, why not make the partitions you want > > using that, and format them to ext4. > > On Wheezy, I use: > > 1. ext4 for /boot -- GRUB doesn't seem to understand btrfs. > > 2. btrfs for everything else -- to detect bit rot. > > > David
Thank you, David. It is now running so well that I am fussing over the desktop background image! Crisis over for now. But I shall study this in some detail in the morning (it is after midnight here and I still have to get an urgent grocery order in) for future reference! Lisi
