Running Transaction Test Finished Transaction Test Transaction Test Succeeded Running Transaction Updating: zlib 100 % done 1/128 /sbin/ldconfig: File /usr/lib/liblapack.so.3.0.3.#prelink#.3qFZHx is empty, not checked.
and on the console I see...
ata3: command 0xca timeout .... ata3: status 0xda { Busy } SCSI error <2 0 0 0 > Current sda: sense key aborted command Additional sense: scsi parity error end_request: I/O error /dev/sda EXT3fs error: ... journal has aborted
OK, so it's pretty obvious this has nothing whatsoever to do with yum, except for yum causing quite a lot of random-access disk strain and thus causing the hardware or software (or likely the interface between the two) of the HDD to go flaky...
Cheers, MaZe.