Bug#278753: filesystem corrupts during package install
UPDATE -- I think I have it resolved now.
The ubuntu folks encouraged me to try their installer, and when it failed in the
same way as the stock Debian one they suggested it might be a DMA problem.
On their advice, when the installer got to the partitioner, I switched to a
virtual terminal and turned off DMA on hda by typing this command:
echo "using_dma:0" > /proc/ide/hda/settings
And then I was able to make it through the install process. The packages
installed and GRUB installed without errors. The system would not boot but the
filesystem was not corrupted.
SO I replaced the IDE cables with nice 80-conductor ones, checked again to be
sure the BIOS settings were appropriate for the drives, and so far I have been
able to run the ubuntu installer just fine.
I will try the Debian installer again but I'm assuming this was just a hardware
problem...
Is there any way to test for DMA problems in the installer? This apparently only
occurs in newer kernels (anything newer than 2.4.18) so I'm presuming it's
pushing the hardware much closer to its limits.
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