[CentOS] netinstall problem -- corrupt alsa-utils-1.1.0-10.el6.i686.rpm?

Hello.  In short: I cannot help concluding that there is something
wrong with at least some centos mirrors.

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First, as I did not get any answer to the email below (about 3 weeks
ago), I ask one question: is this list not the proper place to ask
these types of questions (if so, please let me know of a better place)
or perhaps was my email not properly formulated?

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Nevertheless, I made some progress.  Before going into that, I try to
summarize my problem:

I tried to install CentOS with several installation media with the
netinstall iso;

The computers boot fine on the installation media; I choose the
language (us) and the keyboard type (fr-latin1); then, at the
"Installation method", I choose "URL" and enter

http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6/os/i386/

I choose "Basic Storage Devices", "Paris" as the "nearest city in [my]
time zone", the root password, "Use All Space", then click "Write
changes to disk", and choose "Desktop".

I then see a pop up saying "Installation Starting" with "Starting
installation process", and, about a few seconds afterward (no chance
to see any progress bar), an "Error" pop up that says:

The file alsa-utils-1.1.0-10.el6.i686.rpm cannot be opened.  This is
due to a missing file, a corrupt package or corrupt media.  Please
verify your installation source.


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Now the new stuff.

Last Thursday (Oct. 25), there was apparently a problem for this URL
(at least from my location):
http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6/os/i386/, so the installation
process failed right away (I checked that I could not access it from a
browser either).

After a bit of googling, and out of despair, I tried using
http://mirrors.sonic.net/centos/6/os/i386 instead of
http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6/os/i386/ for the URL selected during
the installation process.

>>>> The whole installation completed without any problem <<<<

The next day (Fri. Oct. 26),
http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6/os/i386/ was back to life, but with
it the installation failed as usual (alsa rpm issue).  I tried again
with http://mirrors.sonic.net/centos/6/os/i386, and... this time it
also failed (same alsa issue).  Then I tried
ftp://ftp.free.fr/mirrors/ftp.centos.org/6/os/i386 and it worked just
fine all along (installation successful).

Today (Wed. Oct. 31), I try again with the 3 URL just above, in the
same order, with the same results.

So from my experience, as described above and in my initial email
(Oct. 9), it seems to me that the most likely is that there is nothing
wrong with my installation media (various centos netinstall iso files,
written on 2 USB sticks and 1 DVD, with unetbootin or
livecd-iso-to-disk, on different computers, which all fail in the same
way), but that is something wrong with some centos mirrors.

Best regards,
AC



Alain.Cochard at unistra.fr writes on Tue  9 Oct 2018 14:22:
 > 
 > Hello.
 > 
 > I try to install from the netinstall iso file.  Everything works as I
 > expect up to the screen where I have to choose between "Desktop",
 > "Minimal Desktop", "Minimal", etc.
 > 
 > If I choose either "Desktop" or "Minimal Desktop", I have a pop up
 > saying "Installation Starting" with "Starting installation process",
 > and, about a few seconds afterward, an "Error" pop up that says:
 > 
 > The file alsa-utils-1.1.0-10.el6.i686.rpm cannot be opened.  This is
 > due to a missing file, a corrupt package or corrupt media.  Please
 > verify your installation source.
 > 
 > If I choose "Minimal", this is the same except that instead of the
 > alsa*.rpm, it is iputils-20071127-24.el6.i386.rpm.
 > 
 > I have successfully used this installation procedure in the past,
 > literally tens times (last time in January).  Since it says "verify
 > your installation source", I have now tried again with
 > 
 > CentOS-6.10-i386-netinstall.iso  
 > CentOS-6.9-i386-netinstall.iso
 > 
 > on two different USB sticks, written with unetbootin and
 > livecd-iso-to-disk on two different computers.  I also have a DVD with
 > some former CentOS version (perhaps 6.4).
 > 
 > I have tried the installation on 3 different computers (on one of
 > which the procedure worked in the past).  Every time it is the same.
 > 
 > NB: during the installation process, the URL I enter is 
 > http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6/os/i386/
 > 
 > Any "chance" there is a problem on the CentOS side?  
 > 
 > Otherwise, what could I be doing wrong now?
 > 
 > Thank you very much.
 > 
 > Regards,
 > Alain Cochard

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