Subject: "Error in archive format" for boot1440_2.0.5-1.bin

From: Luca Maranzano <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 11:24:53 +0200 (MET DST)

Hi all,

I'm installing Debian 1.1 on a P90 with a NCR53c810 SCSI controller,
so I grabbed the special kernel 'boot1440_2.0.5-1.bin' which supports
this cotroller. The installation process proceeds fine until the
"Install the Operating System Kernel" step. When I insert the
boot floppy after a while I get the message:

Error in archive format.

I'm sure the floppy is good (I've tryed 2 different floppies 
formatted with fdformat) and the file boot1440_2.0.5-1.bin has
been downloaded from ftp.debian.org. So my guess is that the
original file is somehow corrupted.

I've tryed to insert the "standard" boot disk and it has been read
correctly, but there is an incompatibility between the version of the
kernel of the 2 boot disks so I can't load the module for the
ethernet card to continue the installation via NFS.

Anyone has experienced similar problems? 

Thanks in advance for any answer.

Regards,
Luca.

---

From: "Christopher R. Hertel" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 09:16:16 -0500

Luca,

Yes, I've got a similar problem.

Try this:
  In your systems BIOS setup, disable the internal cache, then try the
  installation again.
  If that fails, try turning off the external cache, too.

This has worked for some.  From what I've read (and havn't had time to
test), once the system is installed on your hard drive you should be
able to turn the cache back on.

*If* this works for you, *please* let me know.  I'll try to coordinate
some of the data so that we have something solid to pass to the
developers.

Chris -)-----

On Aug 14, 11:24am, Luca Maranzano wrote:
> Subject: "Error in archive format" for boot1440_2.0.5-1.bin
: Hi all,
:
: I'm installing Debian 1.1 on a P90 with a NCR53c810 SCSI controller,
: so I grabbed the special kernel 'boot1440_2.0.5-1.bin' which supports
: this cotroller. The installation process proceeds fine until the
: "Install the Operating System Kernel" step. When I insert the
: boot floppy after a while I get the message:
:
: Error in archive format.
:
: I'm sure the floppy is good (I've tryed 2 different floppies
: formatted with fdformat) and the file boot1440_2.0.5-1.bin has
: been downloaded from ftp.debian.org. So my guess is that the
: original file is somehow corrupted.
:
: I've tryed to insert the "standard" boot disk and it has been read
: correctly, but there is an incompatibility between the version of the
: kernel of the 2 boot disks so I can't load the module for the
: ethernet card to continue the installation via NFS.
:
: Anyone has experienced similar problems?
:
: Thanks in advance for any answer.
:
: Regards,
: Luca.
:
>-- End of excerpt from Luca Maranzano

-- 
Christopher R. Hertel -)-----                   University of Minnesota
[email-masked]              Networking and Telecommunications Services

---

From: [email-masked] (Gilbert Ramirez Jr.)
Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 11:24:01 -0500 (CDT)

> boot floppy after a while I get the message:

The boot floppy has an MS-DOS filesystem on it. If you do a directory of
that disk, you'll find a file called MODULES.TGZ  This is the bad file.
Either use the DOS versions of gzip and tar, or upload this file to a Unix
system and rename it 'modules.tar.gz'

gzip -d MODULES.TGZ   works fine.

tar tf MODULES.TAR   recreates your error. It's a bad tar file.

All the special kernel disks have this.

I had to create my own MODULES.TGZ file on another Unix system by extracing
the pertinent modules from one of the Debian packages (I forget which one
now).

--gilbert

______________________________________________________________________
Gilbert Ramirez Jr.                     [email-masked]
University of Texas                     http://merece.uthscsa.edu/gram
Health Science Center at San Antonio    University Health System