Mount failed: Invalid argument

[Douglas Dreistadt <mobius@ii-okinawa.ne.jp>]

I'm trying to install Debian from CD on a
700mhz AMD system with 500mb RAM.
Right now I am stuck in the middle of
installation. I have made it as far as disk
formatting, but cannot "mount"(?) the root
partition.
When I try to mount dev/hda1 as the root file
system, I get a [Mount failed: Invalid argument]
error, and cannot proceed beyond that point. That
error doesn't make sense to me, since I am using
the installation system setup menus, not the
command line, and cannot add any arguments.

I am working with a 80gb Seagate hard disk. I
created 3 primary partitions:

  5gb for the boot partition
  1gb for the swap partition
  75gb for everything else

I succeeded in creating the partitions,
initializing all 3 partitions, and activating the
swap partition. Next, it says I have to "mount" a
partition as the root, and I have tried numerous
times, but always get the [invalid argument]
error.

Can anyone out there give me some pointers?

--
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^^  Douglas Dreistadt                 ^^
^^  dreistad@okiu.ac.jp               ^^
^^                                    ^^
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