RHEL 4 ES on VMWare 5.5.1: various intermittent problems?

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

Well, this one is actually still related to a thread I previously wrote; it was about intermittent X display problem. By the way, today I have tried again, and the display problem just disappears with no apparent reason. I don't know how, or why, but this time WinAxe works juuuust fine, without any changes being made to the system.

But damn, I still got another problem.

See, when I tried to execute Oracle Universal Installer (runInstaller.sh) from the CD, it gave me this one error message:

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`/media/cdrom/runInstaller': Input/output error

Then I tried to copy the whole CD to a directory named /src/ora10201/, and whoa, all and every files in the CD gave me the accursed Input/output error message:

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[root@linux /]# cp -r /media/cdrom/ /src/ora10201/
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/runInstaller': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Components/oracle.sysman.repository.db/10.2.0.1.0/1/DataFiles/filegroup1.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Components/oracle.xdk.server/10.2.0.1.0/1/DataFiles/filegroup1.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Dialogs/HTMLDBDialogs/10.2.0.1.0/1/HTMLDBDialogs.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Dialogs/TwoRadioStaticDynamicDialogs/2.5.0.0.27/1/TwoRadioStaticDynamic.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Dialogs/customDialogs/10.2.0.1.0/1/customDialogs.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/ClusterPreinstQueries/1.2.1/1/ClusterPreinstQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/ClusterQueries/10.2.0.1.0/1/ClusterQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/DLLQueries/1.1/1/DllQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/EmQueries/4.2.2/1/EmQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/HTMLDBQueries/10.2.0.1.0/1/HTMLDBQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/JDevOUIQueries/0.01.00.12/1/JDevOUIQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/LDAPGlobalQueries/1.2.1/1/LDAPGlobalQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/LDAPQueries/1.1.2/1/LDAPQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/SpawnQueries/1.1.4/1/SpawnQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/UtilQueries/10.2.0.1.0/1/UtilQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/WindowsGeneralQueries/10.2.0.0.0/1/WindowsGeneralQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/XMLFileQueries/2.1.0.4.2/1/XMLFileQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/areasQueries/10.2.0.1.0/1/areasQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/areasQueries/2.3.0.6.0/1/areasQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/dbQueries/10.1.0.2.0/1/dbQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/fileQueries/10.1.0.2.0/1/fileQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/Queries/rgsQueries/10.1.0.2.0/1/rgsQueries.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/prereq/oui/OraPrereqChecks.jar': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/stage/properties/oracle.server_PE.properties': Input/output error
cp: reading `/media/cdrom/welcome.html': Input/output error

Thus, I came to the conclusion that either the Oracle Installer CD or the CD-ROM drive is bad.

I inserted a different CD and tried to make a copy of it, but that other CD was copied flawlessly, so it's gotta' be the Oracle Installer CD, right? Uh, wrong, because when I copied the Oracle Installer CD on another computer, it worked.

Oddly enough, when I restarted the RHEL 4 (running on the VMWare virtual machine, like I said), and then tried to copy the Oracle Installer CD again, it worked.

See, it failed on the first time, but it worked after restarting the Linux, without any changes whatsoever. So what's the problem? This case has exactly just the same pattern with the PC X Server display problem I previously posted: sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't, and restarting the server solves the problem sometimes.

I really suspect it is the VMWare; is it actually the case? Anyone got experience with VMWare before?


PS: Adam, 'Input/output error' means bad media, doesn't it?

[Destructionator XV]

PS: Adam, 'Input/output error' means bad media, doesn't it?

Yeah it does, or less often, failing hardware. The most common cause is scratches in a CD or problems with an old floppy. Also occurs with a bad sector on a hard drive.

But since restarting VMWare seems to be solving it, I feel I might have to blame VMWare too. The CD could work sometimes and sometimes not, especially if it is a small scratch in an older CD drive, but that is just too bizarre. Can you reliably access the CD from Windows on the same machine in the same drive? If yes, the problem has got to be in VMWare since Linux is just as good (except when doing Audio CD copies, it is finicky there) as Windows on reading files from CD.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

Can you reliably access the CD from Windows on the same machine in the same drive?

Yes, I definitely could. Not only on the same machine, but I have tried accessing the CD on different machines as well, and those attempt were successful. Furthermore, there's visually nothing wrong with the CD; no scratches, etc.

There's nothing wrong with the CD-ROM drive either. I have tried inserting other CDs, and there were no problems with those either.

If yes, the problem has got to be in VMWare since Linux is just as good (except when doing Audio CD copies, it is finicky there) as Windows on reading files from CD.

That's also my biggest suspect. See, this is my first time of running (and using) Linux on virtual machines like VMWare, and suddenly many things go wrong.

The display problem I mentioned on this thread was actually the first. See, I have been using WinAxe 7.3 for years, and have never experienced a single problem with it, ever. RHEL, HP-UX, you name it. Either using "export DISPLAY" or X11 Forwarding, everything has been always a breeze (and yes, I have ever restarted WinAxe while still connected once or twice, and got no problem with that). And now, I suddenly got weird problems which can only be solved by restarting the motherfucking server! AAARRRGHHH!!

The 'Input/outpot error' is even weirder. I mean, why the CD can suddenly be read flawlessly after restarting the server, without making any changes whatsoever to the system? Such 'unexplained phenomenon' really drives me crazy. :thewall: