Not using downloaded repomd.xml because it is older than what we have:
Current : Fri Feb 26 18:03:06 2010
Downloaded: Thu Nov 5 20:40:44 2009
Then I ran yum clean all ; yum -d0 check-update and got
ftp://ftp.free.fr/mirrors/ftp.centos.org/5.4/extras/i386/repodata/primary.xml.gz: [Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
http://centos.mirror.connexeon.net/5.4/extras/i386/repodata/primary.xml.gz: [Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
http://centos.mirrors.skynet.be/pub/centos/5.4/extras/i386/repodata/primary.xml.gz: [Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
[repeat]
Looks like there's a problem with the extras repo.