Squashfs (?) errors during file copy (install phase)

[Kari Poutiainen]

In installing Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) "inside Windows" (i.e. with Wubi), the windows part of the installation works fine, but the linux part fails when copying files. Supposedly a problem with SquashFS, as the the installation is from a md5-verified .iso, and the hard drive is defragmented and chkdsk'd (without errors).

During the installation process the installer hits an error:

Failed to copy file; faulty CD/DVD or hard disk?
The following file did not match its source copy on the CD/DVD
(don't remember the name of the file, but it seems to vary randomly between installation attempts)

and gives choises [Skip], [Retry] and [Abort].

After choosing either Skip or Retry, the installer continues for some time, until it hits the similar error:

Failed to copy files; faulty CD/DVD or hard disk?
The installer encountered an error copying files to the hard disk
[Errno 5] Input/output error

and gives only [Ok] option to choose.

After that, it sometimes gives the "Installation failed, the system will now reboot" message, or alternatively pops into LiveCD desktop.

The message suggested that this might be caused by a bad CD media, but as the install was running from the ISO from HD (with md5 checked ok), I suspected that this could not be the case.I doubt that this could be a hard drive problem, as I have not had any other problems with that (from Windows), and also windows chkdsk reports no errors.

The system setup:
- Intel D845PESV board
- Intel Celeron 2 GHz processor
- 1 GB main memory
- 80 GB IDE Hard disk (Samsung SpinPoint series, I think)
- nVidia GeForce4 Ti 4800 graphics card
- SoundBlaster Audigy2 sound card
- Some LG IDE DVD-RW drive
- Windows XP Professional SP2
- One thing, perhaps worth mentioning, the system in installed on D: -partition (which is the only partition on that HD), there is no C: -drive on the system at all)

The installation_logs.zip is attached (with one additional file, errmsg.log which contains the texts from those error dialog boxes).

So, any suggestions? I am committed to get this thing installed (with Wubi, prefereably), no matter what it takes, so I am extremely grateful for any help on the subject. :)

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Please don't use the ubiquity project; if anything, use the ubiquity source package in Ubuntu.

At any rate, this isn't a ubiquity bug. I still think that it's more likely to be some kind of hardware bug than anything else, but if not that then it must be a kernel bug. I've created a bug task on the linux source package in Ubuntu for this.

Apr 28 19:31:56 ubuntu kernel: [ 2699.864449] SQUASHFS error: zlib_inflate returned unexpected result 0xfffffffd, srclength 131072, avail_in 0, avail_out 2206
Apr 28 19:31:56 ubuntu kernel: [ 2699.864469] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0x19961
Apr 28 19:31:56 ubuntu kernel: [ 2699.864475] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read fragment cache block [6649c33]
Apr 28 19:31:56 ubuntu kernel: [ 2699.864480] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 6649c33, size e8e0

[Agostino Russo (ago)]

#223085 logs also show similar issues:

Apr 28 21:29:34 ubuntu kernel: [ 254.804392] SQUASHFS error: zlib_inflate returned unexpected result 0xfffffffd, srclength 131072, avail_in 0, avail_out 1563
Apr 28 21:29:34 ubuntu kernel: [ 254.804399] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0x577d5
Apr 28 21:29:34 ubuntu kernel: [ 254.804401] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read fragment cache block [15deb15f]
Apr 28 21:29:34 ubuntu kernel: [ 254.804404] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 15deb15f, size a5b9

[vasanth (vasanth-planetoss)]

Bug 214237--Same issue i guess

[Kari Poutiainen (kari-poutiainen)]

Hmm, yes, with some google'ing around (keywords: squashfs zlib_inflate) there seem to be lot of (more or less) similar issues, resulting in and/or being caused by very similar SquashFS errors. Yet some (most) have no problems with that.

So, is there anything that I could do to help pinpointing / isolating the actual problem, or making it possible to reproduce it in "laboratory environment"?

One idea that I had (not sure if it would help, or if it is even possible to do) was to "unsquash" the installation disk beforehand, thus eliminating SquashFS from the installation process Or would this mean abadoning the whole installation process? (Still I myself might get a working installation with this, but not sure whether it is worth the effort)

In short, I am willing to help if there is anything that I can do here :)

[Agostino Russo (ago)]

Does this happen also when you use a Live CD?

[Kari Poutiainen (kari-poutiainen)]

Good question. I mean, with LiveCD it at least does work, to the extent I tried it, but i did not look for SquashFS errors in the logs.

I will check as soon as I can (hopefully during the weekend)

[vasanth (vasanth-planetoss)]

For me,Yes..when i tried to boot the Kubuntu kde4 CD, i was not able to see the X server but when i looked the virtual terminals,it showed lots of SQUASHFS error. I was not able to see the KDE4 desktop at all.

[Kari Poutiainen (kari-poutiainen)]

Hmm... I was about to try the LiveCD again, when decided to, just for the sake of it, run the Memory tester... and it hit into couple of errors in the very "end" of the memory (around 900+ Megs, out of 1 GB). This could explain the problem (and its non-existence in Windows side) to some extent, as I recall that Linux handles the memory a bit differently than Windows. So, I'll need to investigate this further, but I won't have the time nor possibility to do that until next week.

Is there a way to configure the kernel (at boot time) to block certain addresses / range of memory? Or alternatively I'll just try to reserve it in BIOS or as a last resort, remove the other memory module altogether.

[Kari Poutiainen (kari-poutiainen)]

Uh, indeed... Deepest apologies, the problem was really just my hardware, namely one memory module. The Ubuntu LiveCD memory test displayed two errors (never had there been any problems earlies, which I suppose goes in the "good luck" category), but after removing that module, the installation went smoothly as charm.

So at least from my point, this "bug" can be closed and forgotten. Once more, sorry about all the trouble caused.

[Kari Poutiainen (kari-poutiainen)]

The problem was caused by a hardware (memory) error.

[Kari Poutiainen (kari-poutiainen)]

The problem was caused by a hardware error (bad memory module)

[eneth80 (eneth80)]

Hi, I have the same problem with the Ubuntu 8.10 live cd and I cannot run the memory test till the end because the computer shuts down. I tried to install windows but it stopped at 64%. what can I do?
the errors are: when I install ubuntu:
SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 20b10063,size 68ae
SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0x82c5a

when I try ubuntu from live cd:
SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 214eae31,size e1b9
SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0x853e3

thanks

[Dimitrios Symeonidis (azimout)]

eneth, your problem is most likely caused by bad memory modules...

[eneth80 (eneth80)]

Hi,
I am trying to make that laptop computer work again, I hope this is the right place to post. I run windows, and it says that the partition cannot be recognized. I run the ubuntu installation with the acpi=off option, but the installation stops at 5%. A memtest86+ cannot be completed, the computer at a certain point goes off. It sounds to me that the hard disk is corrupted.
Question: I can buy a new hard disk, but how can I check that the memory modules (I have an additional external 1GB ram) are ok?
thanks

[Andres Mujica (andres.mujica)]

@eneth80: take into account that this is not a support forum, you can look at ubuntuforums.org or answers.launchpad.net for help.

As for your question, with memtest86+ from a livecd you can test your RAM modules, however it seems that your mem modules are bad.