Attempt to upgrade in expert mode using hard disc image;
booted from boot-RHEA-1999:044.img with options "expert
updates". anaconda upates from updates-RHEA-1999:045.img
floppy were successfully read.
The hard disc image is known to be good: it has been used to
upgrade two other systems by nfs.

While "Reading Package information" is still
displayed:-Python traceback:-

File "/usr/bin/anaconda/real", line 225, in ?
  intf.run(todo, test=test)
File "/tmp/updates/text.py", line 1009, in run
  rc = apply(step[1](), step[2])
File "/tmp/updates/text.py", line 251, in __call__
  todo.upgradeFindPackages (root)
File "/tmp/updates/text.py", line 1177, in
upgradeFindPackages
  self.getCompsList ()
File "/tmp/updates/text.py", line 972, in getCompsList
  self.getHeaderList()
File "/tmp/updates/text.py", line 960, in getHeaderList
  self.hdList = self.method.readHeaders()
File "/tmp/lib/python1.5/site-packages/harddrive.py", line
45, in readHeaders
  isys.umount("/tmp/hdimage")
File "/tmp/lib/python1.5/site-packages/isys.py", line 8,
umount
  return _isys.umount(what)
SystemError: (16,'Device or resource busy')

(Pdb) list gives

3
4  def mount(device, location, fstype = "ext2"):
5      return _isys.mount(fstype, device, location)
6
7  def umount(what)
8  ->  return _isys.umount(what)
9
.......

mount on VC #2 shows:-

/dev/root / ext2 rw 0 0
/proc /proc proc rw 0 0
/dev/pts /dev/pts devpts rw 0 0
/tmp/ram3 /mnt/runtime ext2 rw 0 0
/tmp/hda3 /tmp/hdimage ext2 rw 0 0

VC#4: last two messages record the addition  two swap
partitions

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is /etc/fstab from the target machine:-
/dev/hda1   /     ext2 defaults 1 1
/dev/hda2   none    swap   sw
/dev/sdb3   none    swap   sw
none        /proc   proc   defaults
/dev/sdb4   /usr    ext2   defaults 1 2
/dev/sda2   /home   ext2   defaults 1 2
/dev/hda3   /fs0    ext2    defaults 1 2
/dev/hdb1   /fs1    ext2    defaults 1 2
/dev/sda1   /dos    msdos  rw 0 0
/dev/sdb1   /doze95 vfat   rw 0 0
#/dev/hdc   /cdrom  iso9660 ro,user 0 0
/dev/fd0    /mnt/floppy ext2   noauto,user 0 0

#/dev/sdb2  none  hpfs   defaults 0 0
#none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620       0 0

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That may make more sense in the light of /etc/lilo.conf:-
boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
delay =100
install=/boot/boot.b
prompt
timeout=100
image=/boot/zImage
        label=linux
        root=/dev/hda1
        append="mem=128M"
        read-only
image=/boot/zImage-2.2.12
        label=linux-2.2.12
        root=/dev/hda1
        append="mem=128M"
        read-only
image=/boot/zImage-2.2.10
        label=linux-2.2.10
        root=/dev/hda1
        append="mem=128M"
        read-only
image=/boot/zImage-2.2.9
        label=linux-2.2.9
        root=/dev/hda1
        append="mem=128M"
        read-only
other=/dev/sda1
        label=dos
        table=/dev/sda
#       loader=/boot/any_d.b    #old way
        map-drive=0x80
      to=0x82
        map-drive=0x82
          to=0x80
other=/dev/sdb1
        label=win95
#       table=/dev/sdb
#       loader=/boot/any_e.b
# 80 --> hda, 81 --> hdb, 82 --> sda (dos), 83 --> sdb (w95
boot)
        map-drive=0x80
          to=0x83
        map-drive=0x83
          to=0x80
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The 6.1 files were on /fs0 = /dev/hda3.

I *think* that the problem was associated with /dev/sd3
which has restriced permissions:-
brw-rw----   1 root     disk       8,  17 May  5  1998
/dev/sdb1
brw-rw----   1 root     disk       8,  18 May  5  1998
/dev/sdb2
brw-------   1 root     disk       8,  19 May  5  1998
/dev/sdb3
brw-rw----   1 root     disk       8,  20 May  5  1998
/dev/sdb4
brw-rw----   1 root     disk       8,  21 May  5  1998
/dev/sdb5

Perhaps some connection with bug #6287?

Hope this is useful.