From owner-freebsd-questions  Mon Oct  6 10:44:09 1997
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-questions>
Received: (from root@localhost)
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id KAA14025
          for questions-outgoing; Mon, 6 Oct 1997 10:44:09 -0700 (PDT)
          (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions)
Received: from pooh.cdrom.com (pooh.cdrom.com [204.216.28.222])
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id KAA14018
          for <questions@freebsd.org>; Mon, 6 Oct 1997 10:44:05 -0700 (PDT)
          (envelope-from support@cdrom.com)
Received: from localhost (support@localhost) by pooh.cdrom.com (8.8.7/8.7.3) with SMTP id KAA07475 for <questions@freebsd.org>; Mon, 6 Oct 1997 10:43:23 -0700 (PDT)
Delivery-Date: Sun, 05 Oct 1997 19:53:32 -0700
X-Received: from mtigwc04.worldnet.att.net (mtigwc04.worldnet.att.net [204.127.131.33]) by pooh.cdrom.com (8.8.7/8.7.3) with ESMTP id TAA01171 for <support@cdrom.com>; Sun, 5 Oct 1997 19:53:31 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: from STAR ([12.65.192.78]) by mtigwc04.worldnet.att.net
          (post.office MTA v2.0 0613 ) with SMTP id AAA10835
          for <support@cdrom.com>; Mon, 6 Oct 1997 02:52:57 +0000
Message-ID: <34386FC4.57BC@worldnet.att.net>
Date: Sun, 05 Oct 1997 21:57:40 -0700
From: jwalker <j.c.walker@worldnet.att.net>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win95; U; 16bit)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: support@cdrom.com
Subject: FreeBSD 2.2.2
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
ReSent-Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 10:43:18 -0700 (PDT)
ReSent-From: Murray Stokely <support@cdrom.com>
ReSent-To: questions@freebsd.org
ReSent-Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.3.96.971006104318.7185M@pooh.cdrom.com>
Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
X-Loop: FreeBSD.org
Precedence: bulk

Gentlemen:
I am requesting support on installing the FreeBSD distribution from the
CD media.  I have spent untold hours over the last few weeks and nearing
the end of my patience.  I purchased my first copy from MicroCenter in
Houston and have since requested and received an additional copy of the
CD from Walnut Creek.


This is a list of the problems I am having when I attempt to install the
product:
   During the course of the install while copying the files from the CD
   onto the hard drive, I get screens full of the error:
      /stand/cpio: invalid header
      warning skipped XXXX bytes of junk
      no such file or directory

   Other times I get the message:
        mcd0 timeout read data
        retrying
   
   The errors finally terminate with:
       gunzip: stdin - invalid compressed data -- format violated
       /stand/cpio: premature end of file

The last error even occurs on files that have previously been copied
down to the hard drive.


As I stated previously, I am nearly the end of my patience and time.  In
a fit of rage, I 
broke original CD I purchased after I got that copy mixed up with the
replacement copy. (At 
the time I believed the problem was related to bad media.)  I now
believe the problem is
independent of the different CDs.

I am installing the FreeBSD onto a Western Digital Caviar 2540 hard
drive (515 MB) with a 20 MB DOS partition at the begining of the drive. 
I have attempted to use the entire disk to no avail.  I am installing
from a Mitsumi 2X CD player on IRQ 9, Address 340.  I have a 486-66
Intel CPU, NEC 1.44 floppy, and 24 MB RAM.  I am using a standard VGA
monitor with a Trident VGA card.  No network, no audio, just a plain
jane independent install.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.  I am not tied to installing
this FreeBSD, I just need a Unix machine.  Are the various incarnations
of Linux any easier to install?  Maybe I should be trying the Red Hat or
Slackware Linux systems instead of this stuff.

Thanks in advance for your assistance,
Jay Walker
j.c.walker@worldnet.att.net