[Luna] trackzero not found

[Andrew Roazen]

Anne wrote:
> I am trying to install redhat 7.2 on a computer I
> just got from NAU surplus.  It's one that didn't have
> any operating system installed, so I'm making it
> fully linux.  It has a 20 gb hard drive.  The problem
> is, when I tell it to install the software, it's
> taking forever.  Last night I let it run over 12
> hours before finally turning it off.  I'm trying
> again this morning, and this time I had the presence
> of mind to cntl-alt-F4 and look at what it is doing.
> It's getting a lot of errors.  Over and over again,
> it repeats
> driveready seekcomplete error
> drivestatuserror trackzero not found
> There are a lot of lines with 'lost interrupt', but
> every once in a while I will see a reset:success in
> there.
>
> 1) How long should it take to reformat and partition
> a 20 gig hard drive?
> 2) Are all these errors normal, or is this a sign of
> a hard drive that is so bad it should be replaced?
>
>   
Anne:
I've got at least one 20 or 40gig IDE hard drive which ought to work on 
that box (campus surplus Dells are nearly all IDE rather than ATA). I'd 
be happy to swap it with you and let you check. There are a handful of 
boot utilty CDs out there which contain manufacturer-specific utilities 
for error checking HDs.

A 20Gb HD should take about five minutes to reformat ext3