Checksums of Ubuntu and OpenSUSE downloads

Question

I have downloaded Ubuntu and OpenSuse quite a few times over the last 6 months, most of the time their associated check sums don't match. I have downloaded them from their official sites. Should I be concerned if the checksums don't match?

EDIT: I tested the checksums using the md5sum command in linux

Answer 1

Yes

but you need to make sure:

1. You have the right files (CHECKSUM and .iso)
2. You are performing the check properly

If the answer is yes, then the disks are not what you want and could be corrupt. You might install and all goes well, but then again, you might tank something.

Try downloading them to a USB drive from a Linux live CD to ensure your OS isn't doing anything dodgy as a result of having a virus or bad hard-disk.

Good Luck

Answer 2

When this happened to me, it was because I had bad RAM in my computer. Memtest86 will tell you if that's the case. I also remember reading that a bad ethernet driver caused this issue for someone else but cannot find a reference to this.