IOError 5?!?!? (or the return of 'PLEASE HELP!!!')

[Norberto Quintanar]

When I first entered the world of Linux it was through Red Hat.  I
had a problem similar to yours.  Since YDL is a variant of Red Hat
maybe the RH fix will work for you.  Here's some steps to take:


To fix the problem, boot off the CD, then, at the boot prompt type 
linux ide=nodma 

This disables DMA access while installing. 

If this helps your installation woes, you are still going to run into
DMA problems, best bet is to disable it permanently.

Depending on how the CDROM drive has been physically connected to
your system, add one of these lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit: 
/sbin/hdparm -d0 /dev/hdb   # Add this if your CDROM is on primary
slave
/sbin/hdparm -d0 /dev/hdc   # Add this is your CDROM is on secondary
master
/sbin/hdparm -d0 /dev/hdd   # Add this if your CDROM is on secondary
slave

If you are unsure about the CDROM device id, the "dmesg" output will
have it: 
~# dmesg|grep CD
hdc: ATAPI 48X CDROM, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
hdc: ATAPI 48X CD-ROM drive, 128kB Cache, 
     UDMA(33) Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.12

In my example, CDROM drive is /dev/hdc. 

What happens when you disable DMA for the CDROM drive. And still have
problems accessing files. Everything is too slow and the hardisk
light remains on for a looong time that's because your harddisk also
cannot handle DMA. 
To disable DMA for a hard drive, add this line to 

/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit. 

/sbin/hdparm -d0 /dev/hda 

This should cure most DMA related problems. 

Of course there are alot of reasons for DMA problems.  Some of the
more common reasons for DMA problems are: 

Bad or loose IDE connectors. Replacing or securing them usually
solves the problem.

Broken IDE chipset. This is something which cannot be cured without a
hardware change. There are many motherboards shipped with broken
controllers which cause data corruption if DMA is enabled. 

Some drive/controller combinations will work with DMA but not UDMA. 
Especially true if your Seagate is a new SATA model.  You can test
this out by playing around with "hdparm" settings.  BUT highly
unlikely because your 6gb HD has problems too, more than likely your
CD-rom/ hard drive are having problems communicating because of DMA. 
Hope this helps!!




=====
--Norberto Quintanar 

"You belong to something bigger. From birth. And your life is spent rediscovering the underlying principles, through various players -- coaches, mentors, teachers, spouses, kids. It's in your genes. Your responsibility. Destiny. Is all on you.  Lead, follow, or get out of the way."  
--Norberto Quintanar

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