Error Opening RPM Database

This is my first post here! Greetings!

I am trying to install Mandriva Linux 3 CD Set on my second hard drive.

When I get almost all the way through the installation I get this:

An error occurred
Error opening RPM Database
Packages database in /mnt/var/lib/rpm

I understand this refers to the Red Hat Package Manager, and am learning more all the time.

This is a new install on a new hard drive (40 GB)

I did an automatical partition and it made 3 partitions for me.


I tried doing a bare minimum installation and I got:

An error occurred
MKINITRD Failed:
(MKINITRD -v -f /boot/initrd-2.6.12KDKSMP.IMG - -if needed
2.6.12-12 MDKSMP)).


Obviously I have no clue what to do next. I have searched this and other forums. I have used linux extensively at the University, but never installed it myself.

I checked all the MD5's and they are fine.
I will try burning another disk 1 and see if that changes anything.

Thanks for any help!

Just in case:

Dell Dimension 8400 - Purchased Jan. 2005
P4 3.4 GHz HT 1MB Cache
DVD - Player, DVD - Recorder
160GB Drive C
40 GB Drive F
512 MB Main Memory

Looks nasty! I've never seen that error before ... which disturbs me a little because I've seen quite a few with Mandriva. I had a look into what mkinitrd is / does and I found a howto which says:

Quote:

---

mkinitrd creates an initial image used by the kernel for preloading the block device modules (such as IDE, SCSI or RAID) which are needed to access the root filesystem.

---

So whatever's happening involves interaction with your kernel. I wonder if selecting an earlier kernel version would help? I think re-burning your disks is a good move. Let us know what happens.

Btw - where are you downloading from? It might just be that you have an incomplete download ...

Hey Thanks for the help and advice!

I reburned CD #1 and for a lot further into the install.
I get to the point of adding users and added just myself.
I then selected for automatically logging me in and using the KDE GUI by default. At that point I then get this like before:

An error occurred
mkinitrd failed:
(mkinitrd -v -f /boot/initrd-2.6.12-12mdksmp.img --if needed
2.6.12-12mdksmp)).

That 3rd line of the error looks like it is suggesting to me that I hit F1 for more options at the very first install screen and enter that command. Maybe I will try that.

How could I find out exactly what mkinitrd does, so that I can see what specifically is failing and maybe how to fix it? (I will look for this answer myself as well). I saw your post but need to see why it's failing.

I can't imagine what could be wrong. I have a new hard disk dedicated just for this Mandriva install (it is being assigned the drive letter 'F:' which I guess is OK). The only other thing I have is a C: drive with my Windows XP installation. They are supposed to be completely separate, and I should be able to pick any drive letter for Mandriva to be on.

Question: Is there another version of linux I could try that should be easier to set up for a beginner, I don't care which version I use, I just need to be able to compile and run SimpleScalar for high performance computing research. www.simplescalar.com

I hope this doesn't turn into months of trying to install Mandriva.

Thanks for your help again!!

- Richard

I tried to install in text only mode and got more information!

An error occurred
rebuilding of rpm database failed

rpmdb: program version 4.3 doesn't match environment version
error: DB4 error(-30974) from dbenv-> open DB_VERSION_MISMATCH: database environment version mismatch
error: cannot open packages index using db3 - (-30974)


When I hit OK it says:

An error occurred
basesystem package not selected