errors upgrading fc4 to fc5

[pbx]

hi,

I was trying to upgrade fc4 to fc5 and (after 60min aprox) a message said the DVD was corruped (i shouldn't skip the test!).
After that i've downloaded the 5 cds and proceeded with the instalation. I upgraded fedora but keeping the original boot (from fc4).
At the end of the installation (that took much less time, 15min aprox) i reboot the pc and after choosing fc in the boot menu an error message apeared saying:
" Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! " //similar error in http://forums.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=114070
Then i upgraded to fc5 but reinstalling the boot menu. And new error (imediatly after the the shutdown from th einstallation menu) messages saying:
" rpmdb : Panic : Fatal error detected " //or something tike this!! it was to fast!!
Then, when i reboot the pc and choose fc5, other error:
" Filesystem type is extfs, partition type 0x83 "
" kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5 ro root=/dev/hda2 rhgb quiet "
" Error 15: File not found "
" Press any key to continue ..."
And it then goes again to boot menu. If i choose fc5 it shows again the same error message and goes to the boot menu. (BTW ms_windox was not afected)

Please help,

Thanks in advance

P.S. i have really important files in this disk partition that i can not delete!!

[stoat]

Apparently no one has any suggestions for salvaging your wounded upgrade. I am sorry to say that I have none either. But, I am at least willing to tell you what I would do if I could not boot a system that contained important files. I would perform a clean installation of FC5 on another hard drive. When that was completed and working, I would manually copy my important data from the old drive. It is almost universally recommended by the old experts around here not to try upgrading versions. I would also devise some kind of backup method for my important work (wipe that old drive clean and use it for backups, for example). Imagine your predicament if your drive had simply broken like they sometimes do? You have had a wakeup call regarding your important files. I sincerely wish you luck in recovering your data.

[u-noneinc-s]

Did you run the media check on the CD's? I know you said the DVD failed the media check and that you read that this is not always a problem. There is a mediacheck bug in FC5, and running linux ide=nodma at the install prompt and running the mediacheck again will tell you if the disc is really bad or if it was the bug. If they fail the test with nodma option they are bad.

I was affected by the bug and tried to install (upgrade) anyway and it failed. I ran the nodma option and the upgrade was successful.

[pbx]

Thanks for the replies...

I'll try to install fc5 in a new partition...
If this fails I will reinstall fc5 anyway.

BTW the media chek on the 5 cds was fine.

Regards

[pbx]

hi,

i found a way how to workaround the problem of the data i had:
With this utility http://www.chrysocome.net/explore2fs i was able to recover all my documents. It can read ext file system from windows partition.
Then i reinstalled FC5 (not upgrade) and it works fine :)