Bug#729985: linux-image-3.2.0-4-486: Kernel panic Unable to mount root on old laptop with linux-image-3.2.0-4-486

[Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>]

Control: tag -1 moreinfo

On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 10:31:06PM +0100, sebek wrote:
> Package: src:linux
> Version: 3.2.51-1
> Severity: critical
> Justification: breaks the whole system
> 
> Dear Maintainer,
> 
> After an aptitude upgrade in debian wheezy, a new kernel linux-image-3.2.0-4-486 was installed.
> This kernel does not boot with following messages:
> 
> No filesystem could mount root: tried:
> Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
> and then a stack trace.
[...]

It sounds like the initramfs is missing or otherwise broken.
This is not something the kernel package itself does.

What does this command show (you need to run it as root):

    lsinitramfs /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-4-486

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings
Horngren's Observation:
                   Among economists, the real world is often a special case.