Harry Kuhman wrote:
Actually, I don't. I still just poke around the CDs or DVDs a little, and have installed Debian to one system
I have done some considerable poking and prodding of these discs myself, but I have seen many of your posts in this forum, and along with several others, you all seem to have a pretty good handle on what's going on. Besides freely giving your time to help others, it's a great way to learn beyond the basics. Not to blow any smoke up where the sun doesn't shine, but I have learned quite a bit from lurking in this forum and have yet to fail to gain at least something everytime I visit. I myself have some experience outside of Linux, but seem to be learning enough to get it up and running to do some routine tasks. It's an adventure and keeps me from getting bored and going out of my skull, while going through the daily routines, although I have recently been deluged (volunteered) with enough work to keep me busy 24/7 for the next Millenium or so. I apologize for not posting again sooner, but it is the first chance I've had in a few days for "personal" stuff, like sleeping, eating, etc.

Now to get back on track. One other issue that I failed to mention before, regarding the spontaneous or random booting that MYSH had encountered. Excessive heat can also be a cause and that can be caused by poor airflow/cooling in the case, fans mounted to push air in the wrong direction, case fans that have failed, CPU heatsink/fans that have failed or become misaligned/dislodged, or a unit that is housed in an enclosure that is improperly vented. Dust or "Pet" hairs can collect on filters, fans, and heatsinks and seriously affect their efficiency as well. A good cleaning may be just the ticket. A Vacuum, a brush, and some compressed air have "fixed" quite a few systems with mysterious symptoms for me in the past. Especially those that appear to contain more hair than the pet currently does.

If memory fails while testing with something like Memtest86, a quick check of the BIOS settings and possibly less agressive memory settings can resolve it. Also mis-matched or dissimilar memory and socket metal types can be a cause. IE: gold plated memory module contacts and tin plated contacts on the MB. Not usually a problem these days, but it occasionally was years ago. Sometimes just removing and reseating the memory can resolve it, but it may return in time if it was the cause.

I suspect that the concerns that were encountered here by MYSH are probably a hardware/configuration issue but will provide the following anyway: Failed attempts at FTP downloads can sometimes be caused by using poor tools to download with. I use WS_FTP_Pro in Windows and have had excellent results, although I do usually check the MD5s of the larger or more important files. I have had very few errors if it is done right. Unfortunately it is not usually a free program. I am certain that there are many other good FTP programs that are either free or relatively inexpensive. Internet Explorer just doesn't seem to cut it for me and neither does FireFox, for files as large as these CD/DVD isos. I more recently just seem to prefer BitTorrent for these files, especially when the "seeders" outnumber the "leechers" like they do on the Knoppix torrents lately. The software has evolved to the point where it is quite reliable and stable. I have had great results myself with the BitTorrent version 4.0.4 and have been made aware of several successful downloads of the V 4.0.1 DVD with it. I did have numerous "stack" errors with the beta version 4.1.4, but did not encounter any after uninstalling it and going to 4.0.4 a few days later when it was first released. When a popular file is in high demand, the demand can bring the FTP mirrors down to a crawl, but more people participating in a Torrent seems to be a good thing. It is usually well worth the trouble to get it working.

I guess that puts me in this for the entire nickel now and not just my three cents worth as before. I would like to know what eventually resolves the issue. It sounds like it will be one for the textbooks. Please keep me posted on the results, good OR bad.

Thanks again!