I got the please append correct root= the 1st time I tried booting 2.6.2 (I have never gotten an initrd working with 2.4.22). The place to do it is in the mkinitrd.conf. Instead of ROOT = probe or anything linke that ROOT = "/dev/hdb1 ext3" -- substitute your boot device and file system. Quotes are necessary so that the interpreter keeps the group together.