Guys,

I have never had this problem before. I am trying to install (in text mode) REDHAT 7.1 from a bootable CD on a server with a large 40 GB Maxtor HDD. The installation stops with some weird error message regarding the HDD. I cannot see the whole error message as it disappears from the screen very fast. But then I have to reboot the server as the screen. I tried another 30 GB WD HDD and I get the same problem. I also tried another motherboard and I still get the same problem. It always appears at a different spot while installing the packages. I tried disabling the UDMA in the BIOS but same thing. I noticed that DiskDruid is reporting different numbers for heads, sectors and cylinders than what the BIOS is reporting.

Has anyone seen anything like this? Please help.

Try making your /boot partition small (about 20 MB) and make sure it is the first primary partition... example /dev/hda1. This fixed all the problems I ever had with large HDs and Linux.

What kind of server do you have? If your server has the AIX-7xxx controller then this is your problem. RH 7.1 has no problem with large IDE Disks.