Help Input output error

[Lukky]

Hey guys,
I am trying to load linux for the first time and I am getting an input output error. I am guessing I either have a bad image or the ISO did not burn correctly to the DVD. I have never used linux before so any help would be great.

[cjlowe]

Go to the server you downloaded the image from. They will normally state the MD5sum of the file, either on the download page or as a file called (name_of_disk_image).md5sum - that file will open in Notepad and will only be a few bytes in size.

An "MD5sum" is a mathematical "hash" of the file which will always be the same for a file, as long as the content of the file doesn't change. By comparing the MD5sum of two files, you can quickly tell whether the two match or not. They can take a few seconds to calculate, depending on the size of the file.

Once you've got the MD5sum from the site, you can use a program like this one to check that the image you have on your computer (which you burned to disk) has the same MD5sum as the "known good" MD5sum from the website you got the CD from. Some MD5sum calculators will also let you calculate the MD5sum of a drive or CD - after all, the data in a .ISO is exactly the same, byte-for-byte, as the data on the CD.

This will let you check for sure that your CDs and image downloads were ok, and shouldn't take more than a few minutes. If this doesn't solve your issues, there may be several other causes, including but not limited to:
- The message actually came from the BIOS, and the computer has issues.
- The disk contains code not compatible with the computer, and you'll have to (for example, if you're trying Ubuntu) try the "alternative installer disk", or try installing in safe mode.
- Your computer is running out of memory or has a bad hard drive.
- etc, etc.

We can probably give you much better advice if you can tell us what the exact text of the error message was, what "distribution" (and version) of Linux you're trying (e.g. Knoppix 1.51, Fedora Core 6, Ubuntu 7.10, OpenSUSE 10.4...), and what exactly was going on when the error message appeared (for example, I had just put the CD in and booted. The computer just got past the BIOS test, then smoke started pouring out of the CD drive. At this point, the computer's screen said "IO Error. I'm bailing".

All the best, either way.