[plug] frustrated.....plzz help !

[Craig Ringer]

> I got 'original' Redhat 8.0 CDs and tried to install it on my pretty old
> machine (P-II 350, 64 RAM..). But after the 'Media Check' it always 
> shows 'FAIL'.
> Someone told me the problem is either with the CDs or my CD-ROM drive 
> (Asus 50X). Then i went to my cousins house and checked on his PC with 
> Asus 52X drive.
> The media check showed success. I brought that NEW CD-drive along with 
> me and tried again on my PC. guess what.....FAIL !

Interesting. Perhaps your motherboard's ATA controller is going dodgy? 
I've seen it happen unfortunately. Oh, more likely - did you try 
swapping ATA cables? Perhaps it's the cable that's the problem.

Another possibility is that both your old and new CD-ROMs are cheap and 
crappy, where if your friend got a good one it might be better at 
handling CDs that are little dodgy.  I'm not familiar with Asus CD-ROMs 
(hell, I haven't used anything that wasn't a CD-writer or DVD-ROM in 
quite some time) so I don't know what they're like.

That error - is it always the same package that's causing a problem? If 
so, it's quite likely that there some blemish on the disk that your dive 
isn't dealing with for some reason. Try cleaning it with a lint-free 
cloth and a tiny bit of detergent to remove fingerprints etc.

Craig Ringer