very long delay contacting apt repository

[aftertaf]

When installed with a live net connection on eth0, but not a direct internet connection (ie
behind a proxy), the installer seems to hang and waits for 30+ minutes when setting up apt:

Contacting repository / checking for security updates takes a loooong time to end, as it can't
contact them.

Need to install without a network cable in, so it doesnt contact dhcp, for it to not trip up at
this point in the install.

[erbogasto (t2512tra)]

(In reply to comment #0)
> When installed with a live net connection on eth0, but not a direct internet
connection (ie
> behind a proxy), the installer seems to hang and waits for 30+ minutes when
setting up apt:
>
> Contacting repository / checking for security updates takes a loooong time to
end, as it can't
> contact them.
>
> Need to install without a network cable in, so it doesnt contact dhcp, for it
to not trip up at
> this point in the install.

 I had this problem too,when installing with dsl modem cable plugged in, wasted
more than 20 minutes waiting for apt to check repositories !!!
I wonder if it wouldn't be better (like the standar Debian Installer does
)before of starting just pointing a question about the sources of installation
(cdrom ftp http local-dir. ecc.) ?
Thanks Andrea carli Italy

[Rob Hague (rob-rho)]

I've had a similar problem, as detailed below:

Install of Ubuntu 5.10 Preview freezes at 85% of "Installing Packages" stage. No
package named in the box. Message is "Preparing for installation...". I left the
machine for >20min (I don't know exactly how long, as I wasn't attending it when
it got into the stuck state). Switching to another console, top shows no process
using an unusual amount of CPU or memory, and ps doesn't reveal anything that
looks out of the ordinary (with the caveat that I'm not at all familiar with the
Ubuntu install process, so there may well be something that I couldn't spot). A
brief summary of my hardware (I can provide more details if needed):

AMD Duron 733
Shuttle SN45Gv3 case with FN45 mainboard
nVIDIA nforce2 chipset including onboard ethernet (connected to LAN)
512 MB DDR
80MB Maxtor HDD and Samsung CD/DVD rewriter, connected via IDE (different busses)
nVIDIA-based AGP graphics card
PS2 mouse + keyboard
*NO* floppy drive

Killing aptitude seemed to get the installer running again, but left APT in a
broken state, so I started the install again from scratch, with the same
results. A search turned up bug 22225. Given this, I tried running the install
without the network cable plugged in, and it ran through fine. Once I'd logged
in to the installed system, sorted out the network settings, and added the
appropraite repositories, everything seemed (and seems) to be working fine.

The machine is connected to a wireless router (that also acts as a DHCP server),
which is in turn connected to my cable modem (from which it gets an external IP
address via DHCP). The firewall blocks incoming connections, but all outgoing
connections are permitted (using NAT, if memory serves). I was monitoring the
external connection throughout via my laptop connected to another port on the
router, and did not observe any faults or outage. I've not had any problems in
the past using Debian repositories, and as I said once Ubuntu is installed
non-networked and the connection set up after installation, it can access the
repositories with no problems.

If you need more details of something specific, or want me to try out some
variation or possible fix, I have a spare partition and so could reproduce the
installation procedure if neccesary - just let me know what you want.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

(In reply to comment #2)
> I've had a similar problem, as detailed below:
>
> Install of Ubuntu 5.10 Preview freezes at 85% of "Installing Packages" stage. No
> package named in the box. Message is "Preparing for installation...". I left the
> machine for >20min (I don't know exactly how long, as I wasn't attending it when
> it got into the stuck state).

This is an entirely different bug, and should be fixed in Colony 5.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

*** Bug 25711 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

This is also bug 14599. I'm not sure why I didn't mark it as such before ...